World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
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Environmental Sciences
USA
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Environmental Sciences

D-Index
112
Citations
44222
World Ranking
181
National Ranking
85

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Environmental Sciences in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Environmental Sciences in United States Leader Award
  • 2014 - James B. Macelwane Medal, American Geophysical Union (AGU)
  • 2014 - Fellow of American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Overview

Christian Frankenberg is affiliated with the California Institute of Technology in the United States. Their research primarily falls within the field of Environmental Science, with significant focus on Global and Planetary Change, Ecology, and Atmospheric Science, among other subfields. The scientist's work spans Environmental Engineering and Plant Science, demonstrating an interdisciplinary approach to understanding environmental processes.

The research topics addressed by Frankenberg include Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics, Remote Sensing in Agriculture, Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics, Climate Variability and Models, Atmospheric Ozone and Climate, Atmospheric Chemistry and Aerosols, and Land Use and Ecosystem Services. These topics reflect an emphasis on the interaction between biological and physical aspects of the environment as observed through environmental sensors and atmospheric measurements.

Frankenberg has contributed to a number of published articles in well-known scientific venues. Frequent publication venues for their work include Remote Sensing of Environment, Geophysical Research Letters, Biogeosciences, Environmental Research Letters, and Zenodo hosted by CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research.

Examples of recent publications illustrate the scope and focus of Frankenberg's work:

  • The Global Methane Budget 2000-2017 (2020), published in NOAA Institutional Repository
  • Optical Vegetation Indices for Monitoring Terrestrial Ecosystems Globally (2022), published in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment
  • Soil Moisture-Atmosphere Feedback Dominates Land Carbon Uptake Variability (2021), published in Nature
  • Quantifying Methane Emissions from the Global Scale Down to Point Sources Using Satellite Observations of Atmospheric Methane (2022), published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
  • Satellite-Based Survey of Extreme Methane Emissions in the Permian Basin (2021), published in Science Advances

Collaborations form an integral part of this scientist's research efforts. Frequent co-authors include Philipp Köhler, Troy S. Magney, Yujie Wang, Yi Yin, and D. R. Bowling. The frequency of these collaborations suggests a networked approach to advancing understanding in environmental science and atmospheric studies.

Christian Frankenberg has received recognition in their field, including being named a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in 2014 and receiving the James B. Macelwane Medal from the same organization in the same year. These awards denote professional acknowledgment within the geophysical research community.

Best Publications

  • The global methane budget 2000–2017

    Marielle Saunois;Ann R. Stavert;Ben Poulter;Philippe Bousquet

  • Linking chlorophyll a fluorescence to photosynthesis for remote sensing applications: mechanisms and challenges

    Albert Porcar-Castell;Esa Tyystjärvi;Jon Atherton;Christiaan van der Tol

  • The global methane budget 2000–2012

    Marielle Saunois;Philippe Bousquet;Ben Poulter;Anna Peregon

  • New global observations of the terrestrial carbon cycle from GOSAT: Patterns of plant fluorescence with gross primary productivity

    Christian Frankenberg;Joshua B. Fisher;John Worden;Grayson Badgley

  • Global and time-resolved monitoring of crop photosynthesis with chlorophyll fluorescence

    Luis Guanter;Yongguang Zhang;Martin Jung;Joanna Joiner

  • Optical vegetation indices for monitoring terrestrial ecosystems globally

    Unknown

  • Global monitoring of terrestrial chlorophyll fluorescence from moderate-spectral-resolution near-infrared satellite measurements: methodology, simulations, and application to GOME-2

    J. Joiner;L. Guanter;R. Lindstrot;M. Voigt

  • Remote sensing of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) in vegetation: 50 years of progress.

    Gina H. Mohammed;Roberto Colombo;Elizabeth M. Middleton;Uwe Rascher

  • OCO-2 advances photosynthesis observation from space via solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence

    Y. Sun;C. Frankenberg;J. D. Wood;D. S. Schimel

  • The ACOS CO 2 retrieval algorithm – Part 1: Description and validation against synthetic observations

    C. W. O'Dell;B. Connor;H. Bösch;D. O'Brien

  • Retrieval and global assessment of terrestrial chlorophyll fluorescence from GOSAT space measurements

    Luis Guanter;Luis Guanter;Christian Frankenberg;Anu Dudhia;Philip E. Lewis

  • Assessing Methane Emissions from Global Space-Borne Observations

    C. Frankenberg;J. F. Meirink;M. van Weele;U. Platt

  • Observing terrestrial ecosystems and the carbon cycle from space

    David Schimel;Ryan Pavlick;Joshua B. Fisher;Gregory P. Asner

  • Toward accurate CO2 and CH4 observations from GOSAT

    A Butz;A Butz;S Guerlet;O Hasekamp;D Schepers

  • Soil moisture–atmosphere feedback dominates land carbon uptake variability

    Vincent W. Humphrey;Alexis M. Berg;Philippe Ciais;Pierre Gentine

  • Prospects for Chlorophyll Fluorescence Remote Sensing from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2

    Christian Frankenberg;Chris O'Dell;Joseph Berry;Luis Guanter

  • Satellite observations of atmospheric methane and their value for quantifying methane emissions

    Daniel J. Jacob;Alexander J. Turner;Joannes D. Maasakkers;Jianxiong Sheng

  • Inverse Modeling of Global and Regional CH4 Emissions Using SCIAMACHY Satellite Retrievals

    Peter Bergamaschi;Christian Frankenberg;Jan Fokke Meirink;Maarten Krol;Maarten Krol

  • Overview of Solar-Induced chlorophyll Fluorescence (SIF) from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2: Retrieval, cross-mission comparison, and global monitoring for GPP

    Ying Sun;Ying Sun;Christian Frankenberg;Martin Jung;Joanna Joiner

  • The on-orbit performance of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) instrument and its radiometrically calibrated products

    David Crisp;Harold R. Pollock;Robert Rosenberg;Lars Chapsky

  • Forest productivity and water stress in Amazonia: observations from GOSAT chlorophyll fluorescence

    Jung-Eun Lee;Christian Frankenberg;Christiaan van der Tol;Joseph A. Berry

  • Large-Scale Controls of Methanogenesis Inferred from Methane and Gravity Spaceborne Data

    A. Anthony Bloom;Paul I. Palmer;Annemarie Fraser;David S. Reay

  • Satellite chartography of atmospheric methane from SCIAMACHY on board ENVISAT: 2. Evaluation based on inverse model simulations

    P. Bergamaschi;C. Frankenberg;J. F. Meirink;J. F. Meirink;M. Krol;M. Krol

  • Global Methane Budget 2000-2012

    M. Saunois;P. Bousquet;B. Poulter;A. Peregon

Frequent Co-Authors

Ilse Aben
Ilse Aben Netherlands Institute for Space Research
Luis Guanter
Luis Guanter Universitat Politècnica de València
Debra Wunch
Debra Wunch University of Toronto
Christopher W. O'Dell
Christopher W. O'Dell Colorado State University
Sander Houweling
Sander Houweling Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Otto Hasekamp
Otto Hasekamp Netherlands Institute for Space Research
Joanna Joiner
Joanna Joiner Goddard Space Flight Center
Paul O. Wennberg
Paul O. Wennberg California Institute of Technology
Justus Notholt
Justus Notholt University of Bremen
Peter Bergamaschi
Peter Bergamaschi Heidelberg University

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