Philemon Tsela

Tel: +27 (0) 12 420 4939
email: philemon.tsela@up.ac.za
Office: 1-14, Geography Building

QUALIFICATIONS OBTAINED (From University of Pretoria):

• Bsc (IT) Information and Knowledge Systems (2005-2007)
• Bsc (Hons) GeoInformatics (2008)
• Msc GeoInformatics (2009-2011) - Cum Laude

COURSES PRESENTED

• GMA 220 Remote Sensing (2013 - current)
• GIS 220 Geographical Data Analysis (2011 - current)
• GIS 221 Introductory GIS (2011 - current)
• UNI 792 GIS Research Project (2011 - 2012)

CURRENT STUDENT PROJECT(S)

RESEARCH

External work:

• Project Name: Validation of burned-area and active-fire detections from satellite 
  Funded by: CSIR for the Period: 2011-2012

      Collaboration:

• The Remote Sensing Research Unit (RSRU), Meraka Institute, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa (http://www.csir.co.za/meraka/rsru)  

      Research interests:

• Biomass burning and emissions modeling research by use of remote sensing techniques:
  • Analysis of global Biomass Burning Emission Inventories
  • Modeling net carbon fluxes in the troposphere
  • Burned area detection
  • Burn-severity assessment
  • Validation of remotely-sensed thematic data-sets

• Tsela, P. L., P. Frost, K. Wessels, S. Archibald and O.J. Botai. 2012. Validation of MODIS satellite burned area products across four fire-prone biomes in South Africa. Remote Sensing of Environment (Forthcoming).
  
• Tsela, P.L. 2011. Validation of the moderate-resolution satellite burned-area products across different biomes in South Africa. M.Sc. University of Pretoria
• Tsela, P. L., P. van Helden, P. Frost, K. Wessels and S. Archibald. Validation of the MODIS Burned-area products across different biomes in South Africa, Proceedings of the 2010 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, ISBN: 978-1-4244-9566-5, pages 3652-3655, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, July 25 - 30, 2010.
  
  

• Gave an oral presentation at the 2010 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium in Hawaii/USA on "Validation of the MODIS Burned-area products across different biomes in South Africa".   
• Participated in the 2011 SANSA-COSPAR training workshop on Advanced Land-Surface Characterisation in Cape Town 

• Academic Honorary Colours certificate