Vitus Benson

Hi Friend, great to have you here!

I am Vitus, currently an ELLIS PhD candidate at Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, ELLIS Unit Jena and ETH Zürich. I am conducting my research under the supervision of Markus Reichstein and Fanny Yang.

I train deep neural networks on data of the Earth system. More specifically, I am focusing on two applications. On the one hand, I am interested in the applicability of large-scale AI to Early Warning Systems. Within the EarthNet initiative we are leveraging high resolution satellite imagery to build data-driven impact early warning systems – with applications to anticipatory action for droughts and heat waves. On the other hand, I study the carbon cycle with neural network emulators. In particular, I am assessing the use of AI for atmospheric transport and inverse modeling – analogous to how recent works have revolutionized numerical weather prediction and other areas of scientific machine learning.

My research interests are broadly speaking Deep Learning, Biogeochemistry, Climate Risk Mitigation and Complex Systems. I believe solving global challenges requires working together. Let us do just that!