doc. Mgr. Jan Kropáček, Ph.D.

Research interests

Impact of climate change on the cryosphere and hydrological cycle in High Asia

Landslides and erosion in the Ethiopian Highlands and Tibetan Plateau

Remote sensing methods: monitoring of inland waters using optical satellite data, Microwave remote sensing, satellite altimetry of glaciers and lakes, use of historical aerial and satellite photography

Education

Bachelor's and Master's studies at the Faculty of Science of Charles University completed in 1996

PhD defense at the same faculty in 2004

Habilitation at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences of the Czech University of Life Sciences in 2019

Internships and stays abroad

Uniwersytet Kazimierza Wielkiego, Bydgoszcz, teaching a one-week Remote Sensing in Physical Geography course within the project "Focusing on the development of UKW" co-financed by the EU operational program "Knowledge Education Development", December 5-16 2022

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Geography, Department of Climate Geography, internship within the DFG project 'Glacial lake outburst floods in the Halji region, Nepal', 1 month in 2021

Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tibetan Plateau Research Institute, Beijing, China, Scholarship under the Chinese Academy of Sciences President's Scholarship Initiative (PiFi), three months in 2018

Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun, India, exchange internship within the Czech-Indian government agreement, three months in 1997

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA, Water and Carbon Cycles Group of the Science Division, Pasadena, USA, ten-day internship in 2007

Work experience

Czech University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, 2016-2020

University of Tübingen (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen), Department of Geosciences, 2012-2015

Technical University of Dresden (TU Dresden), Institute of Cartography, 2012-2015

University of Tübingen, Institute of Geography, 2008-2011

European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra, Italy, 2004-2008

AQUATEST a.s., Prague, 2002-2004

Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic, 1997-2001

Selected publications

Kropáček, J., 2024, A novel approach for the representation of multispectral samples in a planar pentagon plot. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 127, 103658.

Bhattacharya, A., Mukherjee, K., King, O., Karmakar, S., Remya, S. N., Kulkarni, A. V., Kropáček, J., & Bolch, T., 2023, Influence of climate and non-climatic attributes on declining glacier mass budget and surging in Alaknanda Basin and its surroundings. Global and Planetary Change, 104260.

Pandey, A., & Kropáček, J., 2023, Rapid formation and drainage of a new glacial lake in the Monte Rosa Massif, Swiss Alps, as observed on Sentinel-2 imagery. Annals of Glaciology, 1-3.

Hasheminasab, S., Rahimi, D., Zakerinejad, R., & Kropáček, J., 2022, Assessment of climate change impact on surface water: a case study—Karoun River Basin, Iran. Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 15(9), 904.

Kropáček, J., Vilímek, V. & Mehrishi, P., 2021, A preliminary assessment of the Chamoli rock and ice avalanche in the Indian Himalayas by remote sensing. The Landslides, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-021-01742-1

Nyssen, J., Debever, M., Gebremeskel, G., De Wit, B., Hadgu, K. M., De Vriese, S., Verbeurgt, S. Frankl, A., Besha, B., Kropáček, J., Forceville, A., Demissie, B., 2021, Online digital archive of aerial photographs (1935–1941) of Ethiopia, Geoscience Data Journal, https://doi.org/10.1002/gdj3.115

Perrone, M., Scalici, M., Conti, L., Moravec, D., Kropáček, J., Sighicelli, M., ... & Malavasi, M., 2021, Water Mixing Conditions Influence Sentinel-2 Monitoring of Chlorophyll Content in Monomictic Lakes. Remote Sensing, 13(14), 2699.

Cama, M., Schillaci, C., Kropáček, J., Hochschild, V., Bosino, A., & Märker, M., 2020, A probabilistic assessment of soil erosion susceptibility in a head catchment of the Jemma Basin, Ethiopian Highlands. Geosciences, 10(7), 248.

Kropáček, J., 2019, Erosion dynamics in the southern Tibetan Plateau at a century time scale from historical photographs. Journal of Arid Environments, 161, 47-54.

Maerker, M., Schillaci, C., Melis, R. T., Kropáček, J., Bosino, A., Vilímek, V., ... & Mussi, M., 2019, Geomorphological processes, forms and features in the surroundings of the Melka Kunture Palaeolithic site, Ethiopia. Journal of Maps, 15(2), 797-806

Engel, Z., Kropáček, J., & Smolíková, J., 2019, Surface elevation changes on Lachman Crags ice caps (north-eastern Antarctic Peninsula) since 1979 indicated by DEMs and ICESat data. Journal of Glaciology, 65(251), 410-421.

Kropáček, J., Vařilová, Z., Nyssen, J., 2018, Historical aerial and terrestrial photographs for the investigation of mass movement dynamics in the Ethiopian Highlands, Land Degradation & Development, 30, 5, 483-493, doi:10.1002/ldr.3220

Kropáček, J., 2018, Erosion dynamics in the southern Tibetan Plateau at a century time scale from historical photographs, Journal of Arid Environment, 161, 2019, 47-54, doi: 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2018.10.00

Kropáček, J., Schillaci, C., Salvini, R., & Märker, M., 2017, Assessment of gully erosion in Upper Awash, Central Ethiopian Highlands based on comparison of archived aerial photographs and very high resolution satellite images. Geografia Fisica e Dinamica Quaternaria, 39, 161-170.

Bhattacharya, A., Bolch, T., Mukherjee, K., Pieczonka, T., Kropáček, J. and Buchroithner, M.F., 2016, Overall recession and mass budget of Gangotri Glacier, Garhwal Himalayas, from 1965 to 2015 using remote sensing data, Journal of Glaciology, 1–19, doi: 10.1017/jog.2016.96.

Kropáček J, Schillaci C, Salvini R, Märker M (2016) Assessment of gully erosion in the Upper Awash, Central Ethiopian highlands based on a comparison of archived aerial photographs and very high resolution satellite images Geografia Fisica e Dinamica Quaternaria 39:161-170 doi:10.4461/GFDQ2016.39.15

Kropáček, J., Vařilová, Z., Baroň, I., Battacharya, A., Eberle, J. and Hochschild, V., 2015, Remote sensing for characterisation and kinematic analysis of large slope failures: Debre Sina landslide, Main Ethiopian Rift escarpment, Remote Sensing, 7(12), 16183-16203.

Kropáček, J.; Neckel, N.; Tyrna, B.; Holzer, N.; Hovden, A.; Gourmelen, N.; Schneider, C.; Buchroithner, M. & Hochschild, V., 2015, Periodic Glacial Lake Outburst Floods threatening the oldest Buddhist monastery in north-west Nepal, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 15(10), 2425-2437. doi: 10.5194/nhess-15-2425-2015.

Haider, V. L., Kropáček, J., Dunkl, I., Wagner, B. & von Eynatten, H., 2015, Identification of peneplains by multi-parameter assessment of digital elevation models, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 40 (11), 1477–1492, doi: 10.1002/esp.3729.

Huintjes, E., Sauter, T., Schröter, B., Maussion, F., Yang, Y., Kropáček, J., Buchroithner, M., Scherer, D., Kang, S., Schneider, C., 2015, Evaluation of a coupled snow and energy balance model for Zhadang glacier, Tibetan Plateau, using glaciological measurements and time-lapse photography, Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 47 (3), 573-590, doi:10.1657/AAAR0014-073.

Neckel, N., Kropáček, J., Schröter, B., Scherer, D., 2015, Effects of HudHud Cyclone captured by high altitude Automatic Weather Station in north-western Nepal, Weather, 70 (7), 208-210.

Kropáček, J., Neckel, N., Bauder, A., 2014, Estimation of Mass Balance of the Grosser Aletschgletscher, Swiss Alps, from ICESat Laser Altimetry Data and Digital Elevation Models, Remote Sensing, 6, 5614-5632.

Neckel, N., Kropáček, J., Bolch, T. & Hochschild, V., 2014, Glacier mass changes on the Tibetan Plateau 2003–2009 derived from ICESat laser altimetry measurements, Environmental Research Letters, 2014, 9, 014009.

Neckel, N., Braun, A., Kropáček, J., and Hochschild, V., 2013, Recent mass balance of the Purogangri Ice Cap, central Tibetan Plateau, by means of differential X-band SAR interferometry, The Cryosphere, 7, 1623-1633, doi:10.5194/tc-7-1623-2013.

Kropáček, J., Maussion, F., Chen, F., Hoerz, S., and Hochschild, V., 2013, Analysis of ice phenology of lakes on the Tibetan Plateau from MODIS data, The Cryosphere, 7, 287-301, doi:10.5194/tc-7-287-2013.

Kropacek, J., Braun, A., Kang, S., Feng, C., Ye, Q., Hochschild, V., 2012, Analysis of lake level changes of Nam Co in Central Tibet by synergy of satellite altimetry and evaluation of optical satellite imagery. - International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 17, 3-11.

Kropacek, J., De Grandi, G., Rauste, Y., 2011, Georeferencing of continental scale JERS-1 SAR mosaics based on matching homologous features with a digital elevation model: theory and practice, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 33, (8), 2413-2433.

Kropacek, J., Feng, C., Alle, M., Kang, S., Hochschild, V., 2010, Temporal and Spatial Aspects of Snow Distribution in the Nam Co Basin on the Tibetan Plateau from MODIS Data, Remote Sensing, 2, 2700-2712.

De Grandi, G.D., Lucas, R.M., Kropacek, J., 2009, Analysis by Wavelet Frames of Spatial Statistics in SAR Data for Characterizing Structural Properties of Forests, IEEE Tranactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 47, (2), 494 – 507.

Durieux, L., Kropacek, J.,  De Grandi, G.F., Achard, F., 2007, Object-oriented and textural image classification of the Siberia GBFM radar mosaic combined with MERIS imagery for continental scale land cover mapping, International Journal of  Remote Sensing, 28 (18), 4175-4182.