Gerald Blasch
Research Assistant
Natural and Environmental Sciences
New Castle University
United Kingdom
Biography
I am a Research Associate with focus on Digital Soil Mapping and Precision Agriculture in the Integrated Agriculture Production Research Group led by Dr James A. Taylor in the School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development at Newcastle University, UK. I have extensive work and research experience in the application of GIS and Remote Sensing for soils, crop yield, agriculture, and contaminated sites as well as for multi-parameter environmental monitoring and landscape analysis. I graduated with a Diploma university degree in Geography from University of Regensburg (Germany) with focus on Physical Geography, Soil Science, Landscape Ecology and Statistics. My PhD studies at GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences Potsdam and University of Technology Berlin (both Germany) addressed the potential of soil reflectance pattern using satellite time series for soil mapping, organic matter estimation and precision agriculture in Germany. My current project at Newcastle University involves investigating the applicability and transferability of the Multitemporal Soil Pattern Analysis (MSPA) method to different geographical regions in China (PNMiC, PAFiC projects) and the UK (NU farms). Education: Higher education (Diploma degree) in Geography - University of Regensburg, Germany (2007) PhD "Multitemporal Soil Pattern Analysis for Organic Matter Estimation at Croplands using Multispectral Satellite Data" - University of Technology Berlin, Germany (submitted 10/2015; viva 05/2017)
Research Interest
Precision agriculture and site-specific management - Digital soil mapping/modelling - Crop yield modelling/mapping - Grain protein sensing - Climate/ecosystems interactions, monitoring and land use change - Remote sensing, image analysis and Geographic Information Systems
Publications
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Stammel B, Cyffka B, Geist J, Mueller M, Pander J, Blasch G, Fischer P, Gruppe A, Haas F, Kilg M, Lang P, Schopf R, Schwab A, Utschik H, Weissbrod M. Floodplain restoration on the Upper Danube (Germany) by re-establishing back water and sediment dynamics: a scientific monitoring as part of the implementation. River systems 2011, 20, 55-70
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Blasch G, Spengler D, Hohmann Ch, Neumann C, Itzerott I, Kaufmann H. Multitemporal soil pattern analysis with multispectral remote sensing data at the field-scale. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 2015, 113, 1-13.
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Blasch G, Spengler D, Itzerott I, Wessolek G. Organic Matter Modelling at the Landscape Scale Based on Multitemporal Soil Pattern Analysis using RapidEye Data. Remote Sensing 2015, 7(9), 11125-11150
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Blasch G, Spengler D, Itzerott S, Hierold W, Sommer M, Wessolek G. Transferability of the Multitemporal Soil Pattern Analysis Method to Estimate Soil Organic Matter at Croplands using RapidEye Imagery. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science 2016. Submitted.
