Project Description:

The rate of global ice loss is increasing, with contributions from glaciers, the Greenland ice sheet, and the Antarctic ice sheet. Earth Observation satellites can be used to monitor the situation and improve our understanding of how the Earth’s ice is responding to climate change.

The EOLIS (Elevation Over Land Ice from Swath) product is produced by Earthwave and the University of Edinburgh for the European Space Agency (ESA) as part of the CryoSat ThEMatic PrOducts (CryoTEMPO) initiative. EOLIS is a synthetic aperture radar altimetry product using the satellite CryoSat-2. EOLIS allows users to easily monitor changes in land-ice globally (more information can be found on the product website https://cryotempo-eolis.org/).

This project will focus on investigating changes in land ice in specific regions that are hard to observe and analysing the effectiveness of the CryoTEMPO-EOLIS product in these areas. To do this, they will build upon Earthwave’s existing suite of processing tools. This investigation will aid product development and improve data accessibility helping to better understand the impact of our changing climate on land ice, which is crucial in determining its past, current, and future contributions to sea-level rise.

We aim for the project to be completed over two months starting in July 2024.

Find out more about SPIN and explore FAQs here.

Applicant Specification:

We are looking for someone who enjoys data analysis and problem-solving and is interested in its applications to Earth Observation. Prior experience programming in Python in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematical (STEM) context will be required.

Minimum requirements:

• Passion and enthusiasm

• Programming in Python.

• Post-secondary knowledge of statistics.

• Good communication and presentation skills.

• Analytically minded and well organised.

Preferred additional requirements:

Experience working with geospatial data, especially point cloud data, would be welcomed but not required.

Process details:

• 8 weeks minimum fixed term contract to be agreed with the successful candidate

• In-person/hybrid induction event to be held on 24th June 2024 at the Satellite Applications Catapult in Harwell

• Creation of an academic poster describing the project upon completion, to be presented at an in-person showcase event (date and venue TBD)

• 5 days holiday to be taken during the placement

About us:

Earthwave is a small data science company that creates novel Earth Observation products to help understand, predict, and mitigate the effects of Climate Change. We are part of multiple Europe-wide consortia, delivering scientific research and processing algorithms using a wide range of satellite data for mapping ice trends, and making environmental data easily accessible and understandable.

Experienced in working with multispectral, SAR, and altimetry datasets, Earthwave has been able to improve the accuracy of prototype elevation models through the use of artificial intelligence. Additionally, Earthwave has built a high-performance geospatial-temporal query platform for earth observation data: https://cs2eo.org/. The platform enables users to discover, visualise and download the spatial and temporal intersections between ESA, NASA, and other earth observation datasets.

Earthwave currently employs one ex-intern, has previously hosted three SPINterns, and has hosted several other industry internships for Ph.D. and Masters students. We look forward to welcoming a new member into our friendly and dynamic team!