On November 28, researchers and students of the Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Geomatics (RCAIG) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University gathered for the third monthly workshop. This workshop series was designed to promote intellectual exchange and showcase cutting-edge research in geomatics, artificial intelligence, and their various applications. Hosted by Prof. Qihao Weng, Chair Professor of Geomatics and Artificial Intelligence, and chaired by Dr. Pir Mohammad, Research Assistant Professor, the workshop series provided a vibrant platform for lab members to share innovative ideas and discuss emerging trends and technologies in the field.
During the third workshop, Dr. Yijie Wu presented her work on using emerging satellite and point-cloud embeddings to reveal the morphological origins of Local Climate Zone temperature variability across the global cities. Dr. Peiyi Yin explored the mechanisms underlying phenological changes in the Northern Hemisphere and highlighted the importance of extraction definitions for land surface phenology in response to climate change. Dr. Ali Ismaeel’s presentation covered the modeling of PM2.5 using a chemical transport model informed by the local emission inventory and examined the health burden of air pollution under both actual and mitigated scenarios. Dr. Binbin Li gave a presentation on how ICESat-2 laser altimeter data and other remote sensing data can be used to assess the potential risks of major global river delta areas, sharing progress on the potential risk distribution for the world’s main river deltas.
Dr. Rui Sun presented new findings on the warming impact of tropical deforestation, highlighting the significant role of post-deforestation fires, based on a regional Amazon study and broader tropical-wide experiments. Dr. Xiaoyan Lu shared her research on the fusion, analysis, and application of multimodal remote sensing data, with particular emphasis on how visual foundation models and depth estimation foundation models can be utilized for large-scale tree mapping. Dr. Baoling Gui shared his exploration of the nonlinear, climate-dependent, and phenology-linked regulatory mechanisms governing urban vegetation cooling. By integrating multi-year satellite observations with interpretable machine learning frameworks, he quantified the direct cooling effect of vegetation growth on surface temperatures across 100 global cities. These findings collectively provide evidence-based decision support for climate-resilient planning in an increasingly warming world. Dr. Haider Abbas presented new results on how humid–hot (HH) compound extremes are intensifying across East and South Asia under continued warming climate. Using bias-corrected regional climate model (REMO2015) simulations and conditional-probability feedback analysis, he showed that HH events significantly elevate the risk of subsequent heat or dryness extremes, especially in winter and spring, even as background heat becomes more common.
The workshop also featured presentations from several doctoral students. Miss Lihong Wang’s study analyzed global forests, distinguishing between natural and planted types. She investigated how previous pheno-phases and environmental factors influence subsequent pheno-phases to determine the primary drivers of vegetation phenology. Mr. Weipeng Lu demonstrated the error issues in deep learning regression and explored how these errors can be used to examine the coupling between human and land development.
Mr. Xin Li presented research on how the microclimatic edge effect of urban green spaces influences their cooling efficiency. Mr. Ziyun Yan’s presentation discussed the issue of representation degradation and potential solutions for common self-supervised learning (SSL) methods in the domain of remote sensing time series, given the success of large language and vision models.
A highlight of the workshop was Professor Weng’s insightful feedback and constructive suggestions on the researchers’ projects, which will help guide and shape their future research directions. His thoughtful advice not only addressed specific challenges faced by the presenters but also encouraged interdisciplinary collaboration and innovative thinking among the participants. The engaging discussions and supportive atmosphere fostered by Professor Weng inspired researchers to pursue new ideas and further advance their work, reinforcing RCAIG’s commitment to excellence in research and academic exchange.
