Dr Ana Paula Aguiar
Ana Paula is interested in land change processes, including deforestation, forest transition, desertification, urbanization and agricultural expansion and intensification. She has a Bachelor degree in Computer Science (UNICAMP), MSc in Remote Sensing/Image Processing and PhD in Remote Sensing/Environmental Modeling (INPE). Her role within the project is monitor the land use and land cover change modelling.
Dr Hsi-Kai Chou
Hsi-Kai is a Postdoctoral Research Associate working with Prof Peter Cox. His research utilised the land surface model, the JULES, for hydrology, carbon cycle, and forest demography evaluation in the Robust Ecosystem Demography model (RED). He currently focuses on human intervention in the Amazon rainforest under the Amazon-SOS project.
Peter is a Professor of Climate System Dynamics in Mathematics and the Director of the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter. He previously worked at the Met Office-Hadley Centre (1990-2004) and the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (2004-2006). Peter is an international leader in understanding the interactions between the land biosphere and climate change. He led the development of the first coupled Earth System Model (ESM) to highlight the potential risk of climate-driven dieback in the Amazon rainforest (Cox et al., 2004). Peter will co-lead the RED modelling in Amazon-SOS.
Dr Simon Jones
Simon is a Postdoctoral Research Associate working with Prof. Peter Cox on the CSSP Brazil project. His research focuses on improving the JULES land surface model by refining the representation of stomatal behavior and plant hydraulic failure using stomatal optimization theory. He is also working to enhance the modeling of non-structural carbohydrates (NSC), which are essential for plant growth and survival during environmental stress like drought.
Lina has been with the UNEXE since June 2011 holds a 30% subcontract with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) in Wallingford, UK, where she previously worked as a land surface modeller. She maintains a close collaboration with the multidisciplinary JULES modelling team at CEH, which specialises in hydrological modelling, land-atmosphere interactions, and ecological processes. Lina will co-lead with Peter Cox the JULES modelling in Amazon-SOS focusing on ecophysiology in JULES and Plant Functional Types (PFTs) in JULES-RED.
Stephen is a Professor and Chair in Climate Change at the University of Exeter (UNEXE). He leads the international land carbon model project (TRENDY), which contributes annually to the Global Carbon Budget. He has led NERC- and Newton-funded research on tropical forest function and the carbon cycle. He also holds ESA funding to use remote sensing data for regional carbon assessments and the global stocktake, and currently leads an ESA grant on extreme fires. He is the Principal Investigator on Amazon-SOS and Work Package 3 (Integrating empirical understanding, remote-sensing and modelling).