Dr. Makan Karegar
Scientific staff member
Biography
Dr. Makan Karegar joined the Institute for Geodesy and Geoinformation (IGG), Astronomical, Physical and mathematical Geodesy Group at the University of Bonn, in March 2018. His research focuses on using geodetic techniques to study Earth surface deformation across various time scales.
Web of Science: https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/D-8197-2017
GitHub: https://github.com/MakanAKaregar
- Ph.D. (Thesis title: Theory and Application of Geophysical Geodesy for Studying Earth Surface Deformation), University of South Florida, School of Geosciences, Tampa, USA,
2018. - M.Sc. (Thesis title: Molodensky’s Method for Determination of Geoid), Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology, Faculty of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, Tehran, Iran, 2009.
- Since Aug. 2018 Research Associate at the Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformation (Astronomical Physical and Mathematical Geodesy Group), University of Bonn.
- Jun. 2018 Ph.D. in Geology, School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, USA.
- Jun. 2016 – Aug. 2018 Visiting Researcher at the Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformation (Astronomical Physical and Mathematical Geodesy Group), University of Bonn.
- Aug. 2012 – Aug. 2018 Doctoral student in Geosciences, University of South Florida, School of Geosciences, Tampa, USA.
- Oct. 2006 – Aug. 2009 M.Sc. in Geodesy, Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology, Faculty of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering, Tehran, Iran.
- Coastal subsidence and flooding and their interactions with human activities and climate changes
- Measuring and modeling hydrological loading
- Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning and interferometric reflectometry applications in Earth science
- Regional sea-level rise
- M.Sc. level: Geodetic Earth Observation (Winter, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023)
- Advanced Data Analysis: Physical Geodesy (Summer, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
- Mass Transport Modelling and Monitoring (one lecture on Coastal Subsidence, Summers 2018 - 2023)
- Satellite Geodesy and Earth System (two lectures on GNSS, Winter 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023)
- Profile Fundamentals (Winter, 2019)
- 2024-2028: Member of SWOT Science Team Projects
- 2020 - Present: Chair and co-chair of Coastal Subsidence Session. European Geoscience Union, General Assembly Meeting, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024.
- 2023 - 2027: Chair of IAG Inter-Commission Committee on Geodesy for Climate Research (ICCC): GNSS- IR working group on Exploitation of ground-based GNSS Interferometric Reflectometry for climate applications
- 2023 - 2027: Co-chair of IAG ICCC working group on Hydrological loading: measuring and modeling
- 2023 - 2027: Member of IAG ICCC working group GNSS mass-market devices in climate and environmental sensing: approaches, opportunities, challenges, and social impact
- Oct. 2023 – Present: Member of Transdisciplinary Research Area Innovation and Technology for Sustainable Futures, The University of Bonn
- 2023 - 2025: Member of International Space Science Institute team: Past, Present and Future of the Asian Mega-Deltas: The Role of Space Observations
- Jan. 2022 – Present Member of Collaborative Research Centre 1502
- 2024: TRA Sustainable Futures, TRA 6 Call for Postdoctoral Researchers 2023, The University of Bonn, (grant)
- 2022: The Winner of Ideas Competition at the University of Bonn
- 2021 - 2023: Argelander Starter-Kit Grant, Argelander Program for Early-Career Researchers - Reaching for the Stars, The University of Bonn, (grant)
- 2015 - 2018: Fellowship: NASA Earth Surface Interior Program, Integrating GRACE, surface deformation from InSAR, GPS, and land surface models to investigate hydrological signal. Award to University of South Florida, Tampa, USA
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Sefton, J., Kemp, A.C., Engelhart, S., Ellison, J.C., Karegar, M.A., Charley, B., McCoy, M.D. (2022) Implications of Anomalous Relative Sea-level Rise for the peopling of Remote Oceania, Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, 119 (52), e2210863119, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2210863119.
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Karegar, M.A., Kusche, J., Nievinski, F.G., Larson, K.M. (2022) Raspberry Pi Reflector (RPR): a Low-cost Water-level Monitoring System based on GNSS Interferometric Reflectometry, Water Resources Research, 58, e2021WR031713, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR031713.
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Karegar, M.A., Kusche, J. (2020) Imprints of COVID‐19 Lockdown on GNSS Observations: An Initial Demonstration Using GNSS Interferometric Reflectometry. Geophysical Research Letters, 47 (19), doi.org/10.1029/2020GL089647.
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Karegar, M.A., Larson, K.M., Kusche, J., Dixon., T.H. (2020) Novel quantification of shallow sediment compaction by GPS interferometric reflectometry and implications for flood susceptibility, Geophysical Research Letters, 47(14), e2020GL087807. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087807.
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Klos, A., Karegar, M.A., Kusche, J., Springer, A. (2020) Quantifying noise in daily GPS height time series: harmonic function versus GRACE-assimilating modeling approaches, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, doi: 10.1109/LGRS.2020.2983045.
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Springer, A., Karegar, M.A., Kusche, J., Kurtz, W., Keune, J., Kollet, S. (2019) Evidence of daily hydrological loading in GPS time series over Europe. Journal of Geodesy, 93(10), 2145-2153, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-019-01295-1.
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Karegar, M.A. (2018) Theory and Application of Geophysical Geodesy for Studying Earth's Surface Deformation. Graduate Theses and Dissertations, School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, USA, P. 242, June 2018. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7255.
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Karegar, M.A., Dixon, T. H., Kusche, J., Chambers, D. P. (2018) A new hybrid method for estimating hydrologically induced vertical deformation from GRACE and a hydrological model: An example from Central North America. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 10. doi.org/10.1029/2017MS001181.
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Karegar, M.A., Dixon, T., Malservisi, R., Kusche, J., Engelhart, S. (2017) Nuisance Flooding and Relative Sea-Level Rise: the Importance of Present-Day Land Motion. Nature Scientific Reports, 7, doi.10.1038/s41598-017-11544-y.
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Dixon T.H., Karegar M.A. (2017) Coastal Subsidence: Harbinger of Future Flooding?, Speaking of Geoscience, The Geological Society of America’s Guest blog.
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Karegar, M.A., Dixon, T.H., & Engelhart, S.E. (2016) Subsidence along the Atlantic Coast of North America: Insights from GPS and late Holocene relative sea level data. Geophysical Research Letters, 43(7), 3126-3133. doi:10.1002/2016GL068015.
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Karegar, M.A., Dixon, T.H., & Malservisi, R. (2015) A three-dimensional surface velocity field for the Mississippi Delta: Implications for coastal restoration and flood potential. Geology, 43(6), 519-522. doi:G36598.1.
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Karegar, M.A., Dixon, T.H., Malservisi, R., Yang, Q., Hossaini, S.A., & Hovorka, S.D. (2015) GPS-based monitoring of surface deformation associated with CO 2 injection at an enhanced oil recovery site. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 41, 116-126. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2015.07.006.
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Marshall, A., Connor, C., Kruse, S., Malservisi, R., Richardson, J., Courtland, L., ... & Karegar, M.A. (2015) Subsurface structure of a maar–diatreme and associated tuff ring from a high-resolution geophysical survey, Rattlesnake Crater, Arizona. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 304, 253-264. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2015.09.006.
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Eshagh, M., Karegar, M.A. (2012) Software for generating gravity gradients using a geopotential model based on an irregular semivectorization algorithm. Computers & geosciences, 39, 152-160. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2011.06.003.
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Karegar, M.A., Alamdari, M. (2011) Application of Molodensky's Method for Precise Determination of Geoid in Iran. Journal of Geodetic Science, 1(3), 259-270. doi: https://doi.org/10.2478/v10156-011-0004-0.
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Eshagh, M., Karegar, M.A. (2010) Semi-vectorization: an efficient technique for synthesis and analysis of gravity gradiometry data. Earth Science Informatics, 3(3), 149-158. doi: s12145-010-0062-3.
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Eshagh, M., Karegar, M.A. (2009) The effect of geopotential perturbations of GOCE on its observations-A numerical study. Acta Geodaetica et Geophysica Hungarica , 44 (4), 385-398. doi: AGeod.44.2009.4.2.
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Eshagh, M., Karegar, M.A., Najafi-Alamdari, M. (2008) Simplification of geopotential perturbing force acting on a satellite. Artificial Satellites , 43 (2), 45-64. doi: https://doi.org/10.2478/v10018-009-0006-7.
Datasets:
1. Karegar, M.A. (2022) RPRatWesel: RPR daily data (2020 - 2023). In Water Resources Research (NMEA, Vol. 58, Numbers e2021WR031713). Zenodo. doi: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8077379
Selected featured research in public media
- "Unter Brücken und im Weltraum – Die neue Ära der GNSS-Reflektometrie passt in einen Schuhkarton", Zeitschrift für Geodäsie, Geoinformation und Landmanagement, Januray (2023).
- "Ein neues Gerät misst, ob alles im Fluss bleibt", General-Anzeiger, Januray 8 (2023).
- "Low-cost sensor records the level of rivers", Press at the University of Bonn, ScienceDaily, November 23 (2022).
- "Flood risks: More accurate data due to Covid-19", Press at the University of Bonn, EurekAlert | AAAS, ScienceDaily, September 23 (2020).
- Dirmeyer P., "Bulging, Shrinking, and Deformation of Land by Hydrologic Loading", American Geophysical Union, Earth and Space Science News (Eos), Editors’ Highlights for Karegar et al. (2018), June 19 (2018).
- Schifman L., "Sea-Level Rise & the State of Sinking: A Brief Discussion of Land Subsidence Factors in the US", envirobites, December 3 (2018).
- Cartier K., "Playing with Water: Humans Are Altering Risk of Nuisance Floods", Interview with Earth and Space Science News (EOS), 98, American Geophysical Union, September 28 (2017).
- Radford T., "US faces higher risk of floods", Climate News Network, September 25 (2017).
- "Oostkust VS zinkt langzaam onder water", De Morgen, September 13 (2017).
- "The USA Threatened by More Frequent Flooding", Interview with Press at the University of Bonn and Spiegel Magazine, September 11 (2017).
- "Jedes Jahr drei Millimeter – US-Ostküste versinkt langsam im Meer", Die Welt, September 11 (2017).
- Frischkorn K., "What Are All The Ways That Land Can Disappear Beneath Your Feet?" Smithsonian, June 29 (2017).
- Dixon T.H., Karegar M.A., "Coastal Subsidence: Harbinger of Future Flooding?", Speaking of Geoscience, The Geological Society of America’s Guest blog, February 22 (2017).
- Rowan L., "Subsiding Atlantic Coast Due to Geologic Adjustment and Groundwater Extraction", Geodetic Science Snapshot, UNAVCO, Novembe, 28 (2016).
- Upton. J., "Sinking Atlantic Coastline Meets Rapidly Rising Seas", Climate Central, April 14 (2016).
- "Engineering a better future for the Mississippi Delta", PHYS.ORG, EurekAlert | AAAS, ScienceDaily, Geological Socity of America, April 28 (2015).
Past and current students
BSc thesis:
- Carolin Köß "Analysing Seismic Signals Collected by the Raspberry Shake in Todenfeld, Germany" (2021).
- Nadja Jonas "Concepts for Retrieving Sea-level Change from GPS Interferometric Reflectometry" (2019).
MSc thesis:
- Sree Ram R. Krishnan "InSAR Observation of the Subsiding Pohnpei Island in Remote Oceania: Constraints on Per- Class Incidence Angle Correction" (2023).
- Alonso Vega Fernandez "Implementing real-time water level retrieval for GNSS interferometric reflectometry" (2022).
- Meryem Aydin "From Static GNSS Positioning to Measuring Flooding" (2022).
- Mingyao Li "AVGR: A Python-based Framework for Estimating Linear Rate Uncertainty in Geodetic Time Series using Allan Variance (2022).
- Waruna Don "How fast are Western Tropical Pacific Islands uplifting? Geodetic constraints from GPS, Satellite Altimetry and Tide Gauge" (2021).
- Christian Mielke "The quantification of drought and water loss using GNSS in South Africa" (2021).
PhD students:
- Soran Parang (2020 - present, Co-supervisor: Towards an improved understanding of vertical land motion and sea-level change in eastern North America). Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Ottawa, Canada.
- Artur Fischer (2022/6 - 2022/8, Supervising research visit: Real-time monitoring of river level with a low-cost GNSS receiver). Department of Geodesy, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland.
Student assistant(s):
- Abu Talha: "GNSS-Buoy system" (2024-2025).
- Sajjad Hussain: "GNSS-Buoy system" (2024-2025).
- Sree Ram R. Krishnan "SWOT for river hydrology" (2022).
- Simran Suresh "SWOT for river hydrology" (2022).
- Waruna Don "Compiling Sediment Compaction Data. 2. Assembling RPR Sensors" (2021).