Dr. Ferdinand Briegel

Dr. Ferdinand Briegel
Visiting Scientist / Postdoc @ KIT

Werthmannstrasse 10
79085 Freiburg
Room 00.002

Biography

Ferdinand Briegel studied Environmental Science and Hydrology at the University of Freiburg from 2012 to 2016 (Bachelor of Science). From 2016 to 2019 he studied Environmental Science with the elective track Environmental Modelling and GIS (Master of Science).  From June 2020 to December 2020 he worked as a research assistant in the urbisphere project (database management) at the Chair of Environmental Meteorology at the University of Freiburg.  From January 2021 to April 2024 he worked in the I4C project and did his PhD, also at the Chair of Environmental Meteorology. Since April 2024 he has been working at the Karlruhe Institute of Technology IMK-TRO.

Research interests

In his doctoral thesis, he developed a multi-scale deep learning model for predicting thermal stress in urban areas. In a first step, physical-numerical microscale models were coupled and then approximated by deep learning models. This model enables the downscaling of entire climate change projections to building resolved level and allows a quantitative investigation of heat stress in urban areas.

Current Research Projects

• I4C - Intelligence for Cities (KI-Leuchttürme, BMU)

Review Engagement

Geoscientific Model Development, Sustainable Cities and Society, Meteorologische Zeitschrift, Journal of Planning Education and Research

Publications

Articles in peer-reviewed journals

• Briegel F, Pinto JG, Christen A, 2025: Is satellite land surface temperature an appropriate proxy for intra-urban variability of daytime heat stress? Remote Sensing of Environment, 331, 115045.

• Briegel F, Schrodi S, Sulzer M, Brox T, Pinto JG, Christen A, 2025: Deep learning enables city-wide climate projections of street-level heat stress. Urban Climate, 62, 102564.
• Wösle, J., Briegel, F., Zeeman, M., Plein, M., Christen, A., Matzarakis, A., 2025: Intra-urbane Variabilität der Intensität und Häufigkeit von Hitzebelastung im Stadtgebiet von Freiburg. Gefahrstoffe, 85, 7-8, 175-182.

• Briegel F, Wehrle J, Schindler D, Christen A, 2024: High-resolution multi-scaling of outdoor human thermal comfort and its intra-urban variability based on machine learning, Geoscientific Model Development, 17, 1667–1688.
• Fenner D, Christen A, Grimmond CSB, Meier F, Morrison W, Zeeman M, Barlow J, Birkmann J, Blunn L, Chrysoulakis N, Clements M, Glazer R, Hertwig D, Kotthaus S, König K, Looschelders D, Mitraka Z, Poursanidis D, Tsirantonakis D, Bechtel B, Benjamin K, Beyrich F, Briegel F, Feigel G, Gertsen C, Iqbal N, Kittner J, Lean H, Liu Y, Luo Z, McGrory M, Metzger S, Paskin M, Ravan M, Ruhtz T, Saunders B, Scherer D, Smith ST, Stretton M, Trachte K, Van Hove M 2024: urbisphere -Berlin campaign: Investigating multi-scale urban impacts on the atmospheric boundary layer. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc.,105, E1929–E1961.
• Briegel F,  Makansi O, Brox T, Matzarakis A, Christen, A, 2023: Modelling long-term thermal comfort conditions in urban environments using a deep convolutional encoder-decoder as a computational shortcut. Urban Climate, 47, 101359.

• Lee S-C, Christen A, Black TA, Jassal RS, Briegel F, Nesic Z, 2021: Combining flux variance similarity partitioning with artificial neural networks to gap-fill measurements of net ecosystem production of a Pacific Northwest Douglas-fir stand. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 303, 108382.

• Briegel F, Lee S-C, Black TA, Jassal RS, Christen A, 2020: Factors controlling long-term carbon dioxide exchange between a Douglas- fir stand and the atmosphere identified using an artificial neural network approach. Ecological Modelling, 435, 109266.

Conference contributions

• Briegel F, Pinto JG, Christen A, 2025: Land Surface Temperature as a Proxy for Outdoor Thermal Comfort? ICUC12, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 07–11 July 2025.
• Briegel F, Schrodi S, Sulzer M, Brox T, Pinto JG, Christen A, 2025: High Resolution City-Scale Climate Projections of Urban Heat Stress based on an Deep Learning Approach. ICUC12, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 07–11 July 2025
• Briegel F, Middel A, Schrodi S, Wehrle J, Brox T, Fünfgeld H, Pinto JG, Schindler D, Christen A, 2025: Can AI-based Approaches help us to map High Resolution Outdoor Heat Stress in Cities? D·A·CH 2025 Conference, Bern, Switzerland, 23-27 June 2025.

• Briegel F, Schrodi S, Sulzer M, Brox T, Christen A, Pinto JG, 2024: Downscaling climate projections to map future outdoor thermal comfort in cities based on a deep learning approach. EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 14-19 April 2024.