ML4Earth: National Excellence Center for Machine Learning in Earth Observation

The Technical University of Munich (TUM) has been working closely with IMF in the past years to establish European’s largest research capacity when it comes to applying Machine Learning in Earth observations. Starting in 2022, we will launch a national ML4Earth center of excellence with high visibility. We will tackle fundamental methodical challenges in AI4EO at the international level and their application to the European mission of a Digital Twin Earth. ML research directions will include physics-aware machine learning, reasoning, uncertainty estimation, Explainable AI, Sparse Labels and Transferability, as well as Deep Learning for Complex Structures. These novel methods will be applied to practical tasks such as predicting European water storage, quantifying permafrost thawing, sea level budget, climate and earth system modeling, soil parameter mapping, and multi-sensor segmentation, together with our partners at renowned international and national institutes such as Bonn University, Alfred Wegener Institute, University of Bristol, Leipzig University, and the German Aerospace Center.