Mgr. Daniel Paluba, Ph.D.

I am Daniel, a fresh PhD graduate from Charles University in Prague, Czechia in Earth Observation. I focus on detecting forest change and dynamics using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, machine learning and time series analysis. I am also involved in my research team's land cover research and in various educational amd capacity building activities promoting remote sensing and GIS at all levels of education from primary schools to universities.
e-mail: daniel.paluba@natur.cuni.cz
Work experience
- March 2025-present Postdoctoral researcher at the Department of applied geoinformatics and cartography, Faculty of Science, Charles University
- 2017-present Researcher working on various research- and education-oriented projects (projects listed below) and lecturer at the Department of applied geoinformatics and cartography, Faculty of Science, Charles University
- June-October 2024 Senior Non-Key Expert in Land Cover Mapping at the “EU Support to the National Land Audit in Zambia” project, DAI Global, Lusaka, Zambia
- 2018-2024 Web and IT support. Public relations department, Faculty of Science, Charles University
Education
- 2020-2025 Ph.D. programme focused on Earth Observation, thesis "Advancing Forest Monitoring using Sentinel-1 C-band SAR Time Series and Machine Learning Approaches"
- 2018-2020 Master's programme Cartography and geoinformatics, thesis "A correction of the local incidence angle of SAR data"
- 2015-2018 Bachelor's programme Social geography and geoinformatics, thesis "Evaluation of methods and input data for land cover classification: case study of the former military areas Ralsko and Brdy"
Interships
- January-March 2023 at the European Space Agency (ESA), Φ-lab – Climate Action, Sustainability and Science Department (EOP-S) Department, Earth Observation Programmes Directorate, European Space Agency (ESA/ESRIN), Frascati, Italy
Selected publications
- PALUBA, D.; LE SAUX, B.; SARTI, F.; ŠTYCH, P. (2025): Estimating Vegetation Indices and Biophysical Parameters for Central European Temperate Forests with Sentinel-1 SAR Data and Machine Learning. Big Earth Data. DOI: 10.1080/20964471.2025.2459300.
- PALUBA, D.; LE SAUX, B.; SARTI, F.; ŠTYCH, P. (2024): Identification of Optimal Sentinel-1 SAR Polarimetric Parameters for Forest Monitoring in Czechia, AUC Geographica 59(2), 1–15. DOI: 10.14712/23361980.2024.18
- PALUBA, D.; PAPALE, L.G.; PERIVOLIOTI, T.; KALAITZIS, P.; KARADIMOU, G.; MOURATIDIS, A.; ŠTYCH, P.: Tracking burned area progression in an unsupervised manner using Sentinel-1 SAR data in Google Earth Engine. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics on Remote Sensing. doi: 10.1109/JSTARS.2024.3427382.
- PALUBA, D.; PAPALE, L.G.; PERIVOLIOTI, T.; ŠTYCH, P.; KALAITZIS, P.; KARADIMOU, G.; PAPAGEORGIOU, E.; MOURATIDIS, A. (2023): Unsupervised Burned Area Mapping In Greece: Investigating The Impact Of Precipitation, Pre- And Post-Processing Of Sentinel-1 Data In Google Earth Engine. Proceedings of the IEEE IGARSS 2023. DOI: 10.1109/IGARSS52108.2023.10283130
- ONAČILLOVÁ, K.; KRIŠTOFOVÁ, V.; PALUBA, D. (2023): Automatic forest cover classification using Sentinel-2 multispectral satellite data and machine learning algorithms in Google Earth Engine, Acta Geographica Universitatis Comenianae, Vol. 67, No. 2 pp. 163-185. URL to the published article.
- ONAČILLOVÁ, K.; GALLAY, M.; PALUBA, D.; PÉLIOVÁ, A.; TOKARČÍK, O.; LAUBERTOVÁ, D. (2022): Combining Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 Data in Google Earth Engine to Derive Higher Resolution Land Surface Temperature Maps in Urban Environment. Remote Sensing. DOI: 10.3390/rs14164076
- SVOBODA, J.; ŠTYCH, P.; LAŠTOVIČKA, J.; PALUBA, D.; KOBLIUK, N. (2022): Random Forest Classification of Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) Using Sentinel-2 Data—A Case Study of Czechia. Remote Sensing. DOI: 10.3390/rs14051189
- PALUBA, D.; LAŠTOVIČKA, J.; MOURATIDIS, A.; ŠTYCH, P. (2021): Land Cover-Specific Local Incidence Angle Correction: A Method for Time-Series Analysis of Forest Ecosystems. Remote Sensing. DOI: 10.3390/rs13091743
- LAŠTOVIČKA, J.; ŠVEC, P.; PALUBA, D.; KOBLIUK, N.; SVOBODA, J.; HLADKÝ, R.; ŠTYCH, P (2020): Sentinel-2 Data in an Evaluation of the Impact of the Disturbances on Forest Vegetation. Remote Sensing. DOI: 10.3390/rs12121914
- ŠTYCH, P.; PALUBA, D.; LAŠTOVIČKA, J.; OUTRATA, D. (2018): Hodnocení změn krajinného pokryvu bývalého vojenského újezdu Brdy pomocí dálkového průzkumu Země. Bohemia Centralis, 34, s. 51–73. URL to the published article.
- PALUBA, D.; ŠTYCH, P.; LAŠTOVIČKA, J. (2018): Hodnotenie metód a dát DPZ pre účely klasifikácie krajinnej pokrývky na príklade bývalých vojenských obvodov Brdy a Ralsko. Kartografické listy / Cartographic letters, 2, 26, s. 76–90. URL to the published article.
Articles in popular science magazines:
- PALUBA, D., ŠTYCH, P. (2024): Družicová data v rozvojové pomoci a ochraně přírody v Zambii. Geografické rozhledy. Číslo 33/4: Commonwealth. Obsah čísla: https://www.geograficke-rozhledy.cz/archiv/170.
- ŠTYCH, P., PALUBA, D., LAŠTOVIČKA, J., SVOBODA, J. (2024): Satelity nad Lusakou: Stav a změny životního prostředí v Zambii hodnocené pomocí družic. Přírodovědci 3/2024.
- ŠTYCH, P.; LAŠTOVIČKA, J., PALUBA, D. (2019): Změny české krajiny okem družic. Vesmír 4(98 (149)):218-221.
Book contributions:
- SEMOTANOVÁ, E. et al. (2019): Český historický atlas. Kapitoly z dějin 20. století = Czech Historical Atlas. Chapters on the History of the 20th Century. Book.
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Mapping applications of the collective ČERNICKÝ, D., ŠÍDLO, L., PALUBA, D., ŠAFFOVÁ, M., ŠTYCH, P. (2020) in the “Analysis of the take-up and provision of selected healthcare services in Czechia based on patient and provider geodemographic characteristics” project. Mapping application for diabetology, cardiology and psychiatry.
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Map sheets No. 24 – 30 and map sheet No. 32 in Semotanová, E. et al.: Historický atlas měst České republiky. Svazek č. 30 – Polička. [Historic Towns Atlas of the Czech Republic. Vol. 30 – Polička.] Praha: Historický ústav AV ČR, v. v. i., 2019.
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Map sheets No. 32 and 33 in Semotanová, E. et al. Historický atlas měst České republiky. Svazek č. 31 – Jaroměř. [Historic Towns Atlas of the Czech Republic. Vol. 31 – Jaroměř.] Praha: Historický ústav AV ČR, v. v. i., 2020.
Conference/training presentations: IEEE IGARSS 2024 (Athens, Greece, 2024), IEEE IGARSS 2023 (Pasadena, California, USA, 2023 - poster), Trans-Atlantic Training 2023 (Prague, Czechia, 2023), 39-th ISRSE (Antalya, Turkey, 2023), EARSeL conference (Cyprus, 2022), ESA Living Planet Symposium (Bonn, Germany, 2022), České uživatelské fórum Copernicus a dálkový průzkum Země (Prague, Czechia, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024), Spationomy 2.0 (Ostrava, Czechia, 2022), ESA 10tn Advanced Training Course on Land Remote Sensing (Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2021), GISáček (Ostrava, Czechia, 2021), “XV. Felvidéki Tudományos Diákköri Konferencia” (Komárno, Slovakia, 2020), Sympozium GIS Ostrava (Ostrava, Czechia, 2019), Fórum mladých geoinformatikov (Zvolen, Slovakia, 2018), Military and Postmilitary Landscapes (Prague, Czechia, 2018)
Involvement in research projects
- 2025 – present: Geohazards project
- 2025 – present: ESA EO Training Academy
- 2019 – present: Copernicus Academy Czech Team
- 2022-2024: Principal investigator of a research project funded by Grant Agency, Charles University named “Evaluation of forest disturbances and recovery using radar and optical satellite data in Czechia”
- January-April 2024: SLIM project (Czech Development Agency; Zambia)
- 2020 – 2023: Erasmus+ EO4Edu
- 2018 – 2023: UNCE and Progres Charles University
- 2020–2021 :DG Clima (European Commision)
- 2016–2022: NAKI Topography of the History of Natural Sciences
- 2017-2018: YCHANGE Erasmus+ project
- ORCID ID:
- 0000-0001-9738-938X
- ResearcherID:
- AAM-6875-2020
- Scopus Author ID:
- 57205752334