Dr. Almudena García-García
Academic Staff
Department Remote Sensing
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental
Research - UFZ
Permoserstraße 15
04318 Leipzig
Research interests
- Land - Atmosphere interactions
- Climate extremes and climate variability
- Satellite remote sensing data
- Process-based modeling and data-driven methods
Academic Background
2016 - 2020
Ph.D in Environmental Sciences, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Newfoundland, Canada
2014 - 2016
Master in Earth Sciences, St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia, Canada
2009 - 2014
BSc. in Physics, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
Awards
- Moire A. Wadleigh Award for Excellence in Environmental Science (PhD. Memorial University of Newfoundland)
- Governor General Graduate Medal for the highest overall average in a thesis-based graduate program (Master, St. Francis Xavier University)
- Nomination to attend the 73rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. Germany
Projects
- 4DHydro - Hyper-resolution Earth observations and land-surface modeling for a better understanding of the water cycle (2023-2025) https://4dhydro.eu/
- iDiv - Flexpool Remote sensing for mapping biodiversity and ecosystem functioning revisited (2024-2026)
Publications
Index:
You could use our publication index for further requests.
2025 (3)
- Fan, D., Zhao, T., Jiang, X., García-García, A., Schmidt, T., Samaniego, L., Attinger, S., Wu, H., Jiang, Y., Shi, J., Fan, L., Tang, B.-H., Wagner, W., Dorigo, W., Gruber, A., Mattia, F., Balenzano, A., Brocca, L., Jagdhuber, T., Wigneron, J.-P., Montzka, C., Peng, J. (2025):
A Sentinel-1 SAR-based global 1-km resolution soil moisture data product: Algorithm and preliminary assessment
Remote Sens. Environ. 318 , art. 114579 10.1016/j.rse.2024.114579 - Fan, D., Zhao, T., Jiang, X., García-García, A., Schmidt, T., Samaniego, L., Attinger, S., Wu, H., Jiang, Y., Shi, J., Fan, L., Tang, B., Wagner, W., Dorigo, W., Gruber, A., Mattia, F., Balenzano, A., Brocca, L., Jagdhuber, T., Wigneron, J.-P., Montzka, C., Peng, J. (2025):
A global soil moisture product at 1 km resolution based on Sentinel-1 (2016-2022) [dataset]
PANGAEA 10.1594/PANGAEA.968754 - Greve, P., Schmitt, A.U., Miralles, D.G., McDermid, S., Findell, K.L., García-García, A., Peng, J. (2025):
Observational evidence of increased afternoon rainfall downwind of irrigated areas
Nat. Commun. 16 , art. 3415 10.1038/s41467-025-58729-y
2024 (10)
- García-García, A., Peng, J. (2024):
Generation and evaluation of energy and water fluxes from the HOLAPS framework: Comparison with satellite-based products during extreme hot weather
Remote Sens. Environ. 315 , art. 114451 10.1016/j.rse.2024.114451 - García-Pereira, F., González-Rouco, J.F., Melo-Aguilar, C., Steinert, N.J., García-Bustamante, E., de Vrese, P., Jungclaus, J., Lorenz, S., Hagemann, S., Cuesta-Valero, F.J., García-García, A., Beltrami, H. (2024):
First comprehensive assessment of industrial-era land heat uptake from multiple sources
Earth Syst. Dynam. 15 (3), 547 - 564 10.5194/esd-15-547-2024 - García-Pereira, F., González-Rouco, J.F., Schmid, T., Melo-Aguilar, C., Vegas-Cañas, C., Steinert, N.J., Roldán-Gómez, P.J., Cuesta-Valero, F.J., García-García, A., Beltrami, H., de Vrese, P. (2024):
Thermodynamic and hydrological drivers of the subsurface thermal regime in Central Spain: open data and code (1.0) [Data set]
Zenodo 10.5281/zenodo.7499419 - García-Pereira, F., González-Rouco, J.F., Schmid, T., Melo-Aguilar, C., Vegas-Cañas, C., Steinert, N.J., Roldán-Gómez, P.J., Cuesta-Valero, F.J., García-García, A., Beltrami, H., de Vrese, P. (2024):
Thermodynamic and hydrological drivers of the soil and bedrock thermal regimes in central Spain
Soil 10 (1), 1 - 21 10.5194/soil-10-1-2024 - González-Rouco, J.F., Camilo, M.-A., Steinert, N.J., Garcia-Bustamante, E., de Vrese, P., Jungclaus, J., Lorenz, S., Hagemann, S., Cuesta-Valero, F.J., García-García, A., Beltrami, H. (2024):
Dataset: First comprehensive assessment of industrial-era land heat uptake from multiple sources
Zenodo 10.5281/zenodo.14223792 - Hannemann, M., Garcia-Garcia, A., Poyatos, R., Mahecha, M.D., Peng, J. (2024):
Estimating transpiration globally by integrating the Priestley-Taylor model with neural networks [Data set]
Zenodo 10.5281/zenodo.13338223 - Hannemann, M., Garcia-Garcia, A., Poyatos, R., Mahecha, M.D., Peng, J. (2024):
Estimating transpiration globally by integrating the Priestley-Taylor model with neural networks
Environ. Res. Lett. 19 (11), art. 114089 10.1088/1748-9326/ad8506 - Mahecha, M.D., Bastos, A., Bohn, F.J., Eisenhauer, N., Feilhauer, H., Hickler, T., Kalesse-Los, H., Migliavacca, M., Otto, F.E.L., Peng, J., Sippel, S., Tegen, I., Weigelt, A., Wendisch, M., Wirth, C., Al-Halbouni, D., Deneke, H.M., Doktor, D., Dunker, S., Duveiller, G., Ehrlich, A., Foth, A., García-García, A., Guerra, C.A., Guimarães- Steinicke, C., Hartmann, H., Henning, S., Herrmann, H., Hu, P., Ji, C., Kattenborn, T., Kolleck, N., Kretschmer, M., Kühn, I., Luttkus, M.L., Maahn, M., Mönks, M., Mora, K., Pöhlker, M., Reichstein, M., Rüger, N., Sánchez-Parra, B., Schäfer, M., Stratmann, F., Tesche, M., Wehner, B., Wieneke, S., Winkler, A.J., Wolf, S., Zaehle, S., Zscheischler, J., Quaas, J. (2024):
Biodiversity and climate extremes: known interactions and research gaps
Earth Future 12 (6), e2023EF003963 10.1029/2023EF003963 - Meng, X., Peng, J., Hu, J., Li, J., Leng, G., Ferhatoglu, C., Li, X., García-García, A., Yang, Y. (2024):
Validation and expansion of the soil moisture index for assessing soil moisture dynamics from AMSR2 brightness temperature
Remote Sens. Environ. 303 , art. 114018 10.1016/j.rse.2024.114018 - Oswald, S.E., Angermann, L., Bogena, H.R., Förster, M., García-García, A., Lischeid, G., Paton, E.N., Altdorff, D., Attinger, S., Güntner, A., Hartmann, A., Hendricks Franssen, H.-J., Hildebrandt, A., Kleinschmit, B., Orth, R., Peng, J., Ryo, M., Schrön, M., Wagner, W., Wagener, T. (2024):
Hydrology on solid grounds? Integration is key to closing knowledge gaps concerning landscape subsurface water storage dynamics
Hydrol. Process. 38 (11), e15320 10.1002/hyp.15320
2023 (9)
- Cuesta-Valero, F.J., Beltrami, H., García-García, A., Krinner, G., Langer, M., MacDougall, A.H., Nitzbon, J., Peng, J., von Schuckmann, K., Seneviratne, S.I., Thiery, W., Vanderkelen, I., Wu, T. (2023):
GCOS EHI 1960-2020 Continental Heat Content (Version 2)
World Data Center for Climate (WDCC) 10.26050/WDCC/GCOS_EHI_1960-2020_CoHC_v2 - Cuesta-Valero, F.J., Beltrami, H., García-García, A., Krinner, G., Langer, M., MacDougall, A.H., Nitzbon, J., Peng, J., von Schuckmann, K., Seneviratne, S.I., Thiery, W., Vanderkelen, I., Wu, T. (2023):
Continental heat storage: contributions from the ground, inland waters, and permafrost thawing
Earth Syst. Dynam. 14 (3), 609 - 627 10.5194/esd-14-609-2023 - García-García, A., Cuesta-Valero, F.J., Miralles, D.G., Mahecha, M., Quaas, J., Reichstein, M., Zscheischler, J., Peng, J. (2023):
Soil heat extremes can outpace air temperature extremes
Nat. Clim. Chang. 13 (11), 1237 - 1241 10.1038/s41558-023-01812-3 - Hannemann, M., García-García, A., Peng, J. (2023):
Transpiration in forest ecosystems based on deep learning and sap flow observations
EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023
EGUsphere
Copernicus Publications, EGU23-14104 10.5194/egusphere-egu23-14104 - Li, S., Wang, G., Zhu, C., Hannemann, M., Poyatos, R., Lu, J., Li, J., Ullah, W., Hagan, D.F.T., García-García, A., Liu, Y., Liu, Q., Ma, S., Liu, Q., Sun, S., Zhao, F., Peng, J. (2023):
Spatial patterns and recent temporal trends in global transpiration modelled using eco-evolutionary optimality
Agric. For. Meteorol. 342 , art. 109702 10.1016/j.agrformet.2023.109702 - Liu, Q., Yao, F., Garcia-Garcia, A., Zhang, J., Li, J., Ma, S., Li, S., Peng, J. (2023):
The response and sensitivity of global vegetation to water stress: A comparison of different satellite-based NDVI products
Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinf. 120 , art. 103341 10.1016/j.jag.2023.103341 - Peng, J., García-García, A. (2023):
A new satellite-based product for studying land-atmosphere interactions
EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023
EGUsphere
Copernicus Publications, EGU23-2078 10.5194/egusphere-egu23-2078 - von Schuckmann, K., Minière, A., Gues, F., Cuesta-Valero, F.J., Kirchengast, G., Adusumilli, S., Straneo, F., Ablain, M., Allan, R.P., Barker, P.M., Beltrami, H., Blazquez, A., Boyer, T., Cheng, L., Church, J., Desbruyeres, D., Dolman, H., Domingues, C.M., García-García, A., Giglio, D., Gilson, J.E., Gorfer, M., Haimberger, L., Hakuba, M.Z., Hendricks, S., Hosoda, S., Johnson, G.C., Killick, R., King, B., Kolodziejczyk, N., Korosov, A., Krinner, G., Kuusela, M., Landerer, F.W., Langer, M., Lavergne, T., Lawrence, I., Li, Y., Lyman, J., Marti, F., Marzeion, B., Mayer, M., MacDougall, A.H., McDougall, T., Monselesan, D.P., Nitzbon, J., Otosaka, I., Peng, J., Purkey, S., Roemmich, D., Sato, K., Sato, K., Savita, A., Schweiger, A., Shepherd, A., Seneviratne, S.I., Simons, L., Slater, D.A., Slater, T., Steiner, A.K., Suga, T., Szekely, T., Thiery, W., Timmermans, M.-L., Vanderkelen, I., Wjiffels, S.E., Wu, T., Zemp, M. (2023):
Heat stored in the Earth system 1960–2020: where does the energy go?
Earth Syst. Sci. Data 15 (4), 1675 - 1709 10.5194/essd-15-1675-2023 - von Schuckmann, K., Minière, A., Gues, F., Cuesta-Valero, F.J., Kirchengast, G., Adusumilli, S., Straneo, F., Allan, R.P., Barker, P.M., Beltrami, H., Blazquez, A., Boyer, T., Cheng, L., Church, J., Desbruyeres, D., Dolman, H., Domingues, C.M., García-García, A., Gilson, J.E., Gorfer, M., Haimberger, L., Hendricks, S., Hosoda, S., Johnson, G.C., Killick, R., King, B., Kolodziejczyk, N., Korosov, A., Krinner, G., Kuusela, M., Langer, M., Lavergne, T., Lawrence, I., Li, Y., Lyman, J., Marti, F., Marzeion, B., Mayer, M., MacDougall, A.H., McDougall, T., Monselesan, D.P., Nitzbon, J., Otosaka, I., Peng, J., Purkey, S., Roemmich, D., Sato, K., Sato, K., Savita, A., Schweiger, A., Shepherd, A., Seneviratne, S.I., Slater, D.A., Slater, T., Simons, L., Steiner, A.K., Szekely, T., Suga, T., Thiery, W., Timmermans, M.-L., Vanderkelen, I., Wjiffels, S.E., Wu, T., Zemp, M. (2023):
GCOS EHI 1960-2020 Earth Heat Inventory Ocean Heat Content (Version 2)
World Data Center for Climate (WDCC) 10.26050/WDCC/GCOS_EHI_1960-2020_OHC_v2
2022 (5)
- Cuesta-Valero, F.J., Beltrami, H., García-García, A., Krinner, G., Langer, M., MacDougall, A.H., Nitzbon, J., Peng, J., von Schuckmann, K., Seneviratne, S.I., Smith, N., Thiery, W., Vanderkelen, I., Wu, T. (2022):
GCOS EHI 1960-2020 Continental Heat Content (Version 1)
World Data Center for Climate (WDCC) 10.26050/WDCC/GCOS_EHI_1960-2020_CoHC - Cuesta-Valero, F.J., Beltrami, H., Gruber, S., García-García, A. (2022):
A new bootstrap technique to quantify uncertainty in estimates of ground surface temperature and ground heat flux histories from geothermal data
Geosci. Model Dev. 15 (20), 7913 - 7932 10.5194/gmd-15-7913-2022 - García-García, A., Cuesta-Valero, F.J., Beltrami, H., González-Rouco, J.F., García-Bustamante, E. (2022):
WRF v.3.9 sensitivity to land surface model and horizontal resolution changes over North America
Geosci. Model Dev. 15 (2), 413 - 428 10.5194/gmd-15-413-2022 - Melo-Aguilar, C., González-Rouco, F., Steinert, N.J., Beltrami, H., Cuesta-Valero, F.J., García-García, A., García-Pereira, F., García-Bustamante, E., Roldán-Gómez, P.J., Schmid, T., Navarro, J. (2022):
Near-surface soil thermal regime and land–air temperature coupling: A case study over Spain
Int. J. Climatol. 42 (15), 7516 - 7534 10.1002/joc.7662 - von Schuckmann, K., Minière, A., Gues, F., Cuesta-Valero, F.J., Kirchengast, G., Adusumilli, S., Straneo, F., Allan, R.P., Barker, P.M., Beltrami, H., Blazquez, A., Boyer, T., Cheng, L., Church, J., Desbruyeres, D., Dolman, H., Domingues, C.M., García-García, A., Gilson, J.E., Gorfer, M., Haimberger, L., Hendricks, S., Hosoda, S., Johnson, G.C., Killick, R., King, B., Kolodziejczyk, N., Korosov, A., Krinner, G., Kuusela, M., Langer, M., Lavergne, T., Lawrence, I., Li, Y., Lyman, J., Marti, F., Marzeion, B., Mayer, M., MacDougall, A.H., McDougall, T., Monselesan, D.P., Nitzbon, J., Otosaka, I., Peng, J., Purkey, S., Roemmich, D., Sato, K., Sato, K., Savita, A., Schweiger, A., Shepherd, A., Seneviratne, S.I., Slater, D.A., Slater, T., Simons, L., Steiner, A.K., Szekely, T., Suga, T., Thiery, W., Timmermans, M.-L., Vanderkelen, I., Wjiffels, S.E., Wu, T., Zemp, M. (2022):
GCOS EHI 1960-2020 Earth Heat Inventory Ocean Heat Content (Version 1)
World Data Center for Climate (WDCC) 10.26050/WDCC/GCOS_EHI_1960-2020_OHC
2021 (1)
- Cuesta-Valero, F.J., García-García, A., Beltrami, H., Finnis, J. (2021):
First assessment of the earth heat inventory within CMIP5 historical simulations
Earth Syst. Dynam. 12 (2), 581 - 600 10.5194/esd-12-581-2021
2020
- García-García A., Cuesta-Valero F.J., Beltrami H., González-Rouco J.F., García-Bustamante E., and Finnis J. (2020). Land Surface Model influence on the simulated climatologies of temperature and precipitation extremes in the WRF v.3.9 model over North America. Geoscientific Model Development, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-5345-2020.
- von Schuckmann, K., Cheng, L., Palmer, M. D., Hansen, J., Tassone, C., Aich, V., Adusumilli, S., Beltrami, H., Boyer, T., Cuesta-Valero, F. J., Desbruyères, D., Domingues, C., García-García, A., Gentine, P., Gilson, J., Gorfer, M., Haimberger, L., Ishii, M., Johnson, G. C., Killick, R., King, B. A., Kirchengast, G., Kolodziejczyk, N., Lyman, J., Marzeion, B., Mayer, M., Monier, M., Monselesan, D. P., Purkey, S., Roemmich, D., Schweiger, A., Seneviratne, S. I., Shepherd, A., Slater, D. A., Steiner, A. K., Straneo, F., Timmermans, M.-L., and Wijffels, S. E. (2020). Heat stored in the Earth system: where does the energy go?. Earth Syst. Sci. Data, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2013-2020.
2019
- Cuesta-Valero F.J., García-García A., Beltrami H., Zorita E. and Jaume-Santero F. (2019). Long-term Surface Temperature (LoST) database as a complement for GCM preindustrial simulations. Climate of the Past, doi:10.5194/cp-15-1099-2019.
- García-García A., Cuesta-Valero F.J., Beltrami H. and Smerdon J.E.(2019). Characterization of air and ground temperature relationships within the CMIP5 historical and future climate simulations. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres,https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD030117.
2017
- McPherson M., García-García A., Cuesta-Valero F.J., Beltrami H., Hansen-Ketchum P., MacDougall D. and Ogden N. (2017). Expansion of the Lyme Disease Vector Ixodes Scapularis in Canada inferred from CMIP5 Climate Projections. Environmental Health Perspectives, doi:10.1289/EHP57.
2016
- Cuesta-Valero F.J., García-García A., Beltrami H. and Smerdon J.E. (2016). First Assessment of Continental Energy Storage in CMIP5 Simulations. Geophysical Research Letters, 43, doi:10.1002/2016GL068496.
- García-García A., Cuesta-Valero F.J., Beltrami H. and Smerdon J.E. (2016). Simulation of air and ground temperatures in PMIP3/CMIP5 last millennium simulations: implications for climate reconstructions from borehole temperature profiles. Environmental Research Letter, 11(4):044022, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/4/044022.
Other Publications
- von Schuckmann K., Roca R., Steiner A., Trenberth K., Kuhlbrodt T., Mayssignac B., Straneo F., Seneviratne S.I., Stevens G., Boyer T., Loeb N., Gulev S., Cheng L., Hakuba M., Haines K., Shepherd A., Kato S., Yang C., Mayer M., Soden B., Nowicki S., Lauritzen P., Wild M., L’Ecuyer T., Llovel M., Beltrami H., Cuesta-Valero F.J., García-García A., and Tokarska K.B. (2019). Final report on the WCRP workshop "The Earth’s Energy Imbalance and its implications". Submitted to WCRP on March 14th, 2019.
- Jamieson, R., Kurylyk, B., Rapaport, E., Manuel, P., Van Proosdij, D., Beltrami, H., Hayward, J., KarisAllen, J., Clark, K., Tusz, C., Jahncke, R., García-García, A., and Cuesta-Valero, F.,J. (2019). Standards for the incorporation of climate change into riverine and coastal flood mapping in Nova Scotia. Technical report prepared for the Government of Nova Scotia. Halifax, Nova Scotia.
- García-García A., Cuesta-Valero F.J., and Beltrami H. (2019). Climatology Group Report on State of the Art Climate Data and Simulations Available for Floodline Mapping in Atlantic Canada. In: Standards for the incorporation of climate change into riverine and coastal flood mapping in Nova Scotia (Jamieson R., Kurylyk B., Rapaport E., Manuel P., Van Proosdij D., Beltrami H., Hayward J., KarisAllen J., Clark, K., Tusz C., Jahncke R., García-García A., and Cuesta-Valero F.J.). Technical report prepared for the Government of Nova Scotia. Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.