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Niklas Bohn

Research Technologist

About

Bio

Niklas Bohn is an expert in atmosphere and snow radiative transfer and primarily works with coupled physics-based forward models. Over the past years, he developed new retrieval methods for snow and ice surface parameters including comprehensive uncertainty quantification from spaceborne imaging spectroscopy measurements, amongst others, creating first ever spectroscopic maps of the Greenland Ice Sheet. His research advanced joint atmosphere and surface inversion methods for scattering and absorptive properties of water in its three states. He is a member of the SBG-VSWIR mission core science team, serving as snow algorithm development and cryosphere community lead, and coordinates AVIRIS-NG related algorithms and logistical planning within NASA's ARCSIX campaign to Greenland. Overall, he organized and participated in multiple field and airborne campaigns. In addition, he has nearly a decade of software development experience including GitHub and GitLab management, published several Python software packages, and is the top code contributor to JPL’s ISOFIT open-source multi-mission atmospheric correction software.

Education

  • Ph.D. Meteorology, Free University of Berlin, Germany, June 2022
  • M.S. Environmental Geography and Management, Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, Germany, August 2017
  • B.S. Geography, Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, Germany, September 2014

Research Interests

  • Analyses of algae blooms on the Greenland Ice Sheet with remote sensing methods
  • Integration of comprehensive uncertainty quantification for imaging spectroscopy retrievals
  • Development of coupled physics-based atmosphere and surface forward models

Topic Area(s)

Experience

Professional Experience

  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (2022-2024)
  • Research Associate, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences (2017-2022)
  • Visiting Scholar Research Intern, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (2019-2021)
  • Research Intern, UN-SPIDER (2016)

Achievements

Awards & Recognitions

Publications

N. Bohn, E. Greenberg, P. G. Brodrick, J. Chapman, R. Eckert, M. Gierach, R. O. Green, M. König, J. Kravitz, K. Luis, J. Susiluoto, D. R. Thompson (2025). Simultaneous modeling of water-leaving reflectance and sun and sky glint contributions from imaging spectroscopy measurements. Applied Optics, in review.

N. Bohn, E. H. Bair, P. G. Brodrick, N. Carmon, R. O. Green, T. H. Painter, D. R. Thompson (2025). Do we still need reflectance? From radiance to snow properties in mountainous terrain: a case study with the EMIT imaging spectrometer. Cryosphere, 19, 1279-1302, doi:10.5194/tc-19-1279.

B. Di Mauro, S. Cogliati, N. Bohn, G. Traversa, R. Garzonio, G. Tagliabue, G. Bramati, E. Cremonese, T. Julitta, L. Guanter, A. Kokhanovsky, C. Giardino, C. Panigada, M. Rossini, R. Colombo (2024). Evaluation of PRISMA products over snow in the Alps and Antarctica. Earth Space Sci., 11 (7), e2023EA003482, doi: 10.1029/2023EA003482.

N. Bohn, E. H. Bair, P. G. Brodrick, N. Carmon, R. O. Green, T. H. Painter, D. R. Thompson (2023). Estimating Dust on Snow - Application of a Coupled Atmosphere-Surface Model to Spaceborne Emit Imaging Spectrometer Data. IGARSS 2023 - 2023 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Pasadena, CA, USA, 2023, 685-688, doi: 10.1109/IGARSS52108.2023.10283084.

T. Storch, H.-P. Honold, S. Chabrillat, M. Habermeyer, P. Tucker, M. Brell, A. Ohndorf, K. Wirth, M. Betz, M. Kuchler, H. Mühle, N. Bohn, et al. (2023). The EnMAP imaging spectroscopy mission towards operations. Remote Sens. Environ., 294 (20), 113632, doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2023.113632.

N. Carmon, A. Berk, N. Bohn, P. G. Brodrick, J. Dozier, M. Johnson, C. E. Miller, D. R. Thompson, M. Turmon, C. M. Bachmann, R. O. Green, R. Eckert, E. Liggett, H. Nguyen, F. Ochoa, G. S. Okin, R. Samuels, et al. (2023). Shape from Spectra. Remote Sens. Environ., 288, 113497, doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2023.113497.

D. R. Thompson, Bohn, N., Brodrick, P.G., Carmon, N., Eastwood, M.L., Eckert, R., Fichot, C.G., Harringmeyer, J.P., Nguyen, H.M., Simard, M. and Thorpe, A.K., 2022. Atmospheric lengthscales for global VSWIR imaging spectroscopy. J. Geophys. Res.-Biogeo., 127(6), e2021JG006711, doi: 10.1029/2021JG006711.

N. Bohn, B. Di Mauro, R. Colombo, D. R. Thompson, J. Susiluoto, N. Carmon, M. J. Turmon, et al. (2022). Glacier ice surface properties in South-West Greenland Ice Sheet: first estimates from PRISMA imaging spectroscopy data. J. Geophys. Res.-Biogeo., 127, 3, e2021JG006718, doi: 10.1029/2021JG006718.

N. Bohn, T. H. Painter, D. R. Thompson, N. Carmon, J. Susiluoto, M. J. Turmon, M. C. Helmlinger, R. O. Green, J. M. Cook, et al. (2021). Optimal estimation of snow and ice surface parameters from imaging spectroscopy measurements. Remote Sens. Environ., 264, 112613, doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2021.112613.

N. Bohn, L. Guanter, T. Kuester, R. Preusker, K. Segl (2020). Coupled Retrieval of the Three Phases of Water from spaceborne Imaging Spectroscopy Measurements. Remote Sens. Environ., 242, 111708, doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2020.111708.