Over the past two weeks, I had the incredible opportunity to embark on a Short Term Scientific Mission (STSM) to the renowned Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Potsdam, Germany. I was warmly hosted by the wonderful Dr. Christopher Reyer and Dr. Thirza van Laar, whose kindness and expertise made this experience truly memorable. During my time at PIK, I focused on advancing my research on model comparison to evaluate the performance of models in simulating forest mortality in drought-affected forest plots. Our objective was not only to conduct a simple comparison of these models based on the accuracy of mortality percentages (between simulated and observed) but also to delve into the comparison between the actual drivers of mortality and those simulated by the forest models using statistical models.

I am thrilled to share that we successfully initialized the 4C forest model on drought-affected forest plots from Spain. This achievement will significantly aid in comparing the results from our model, iLand, and contribute to addressing model gaps in simulating drought-related mortality in forests. A highlight of my visit was getting to meet my Master's university senior, Dr. Ritika Srinet, who was also on an STSM to PIK. And let's not forget, Potsdam is home to some wonderful birdlife!

I would like to thank the EU COST Association and the COST Action CA19139 PROCLIAS for supporting this STSM.