ESA’s 2026 EarthCARE MAAP Hackathon
April 20 - April 24
ESA-ESRIN
Background
ESA invites you to its first EarthCARE MAAP Hackathon!
EarthCARE — Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer — is a joint satellite mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). It is the sixth mission selected under ESA’s Earth Explorer Programme and was launched on 28 May 2024. By the time of the Hackathon, it will be approaching its second full year in orbit. EarthCARE offers a unique combination of four active and passive instruments for observing clouds, aerosols, and radiation. This hackathon offers an exciting opportunity for experts (and not-yet EarthCARE experts) to collaborate, share insights, become more familiar with EarthCARE data, and help improve the MAAP analysis and data platform in a hands-on week of coding to better understand our Earth’s atmosphere.
Objectives
The main objectives of the hackathon are to:
- Explore the usage of EarthCARE data through the mission’s Collaborative Environment hosted on the ESA MAAP (Multi-mission Analysis and Algorithm Platform): All EC data are now open, free, and accessible through the MAAP, which provides computing capabilities co-located with the data, along with a suite of tools tailored to support research in this field.
- Enhance Accessibility: the focus is on making high-quality data resources readily available to users without additional complications, so that researchers can dedicate themselves to the science and not the tools; the hackathon will be the chance to gather feedback for improvements on the MAAP.
- Promote Collaboration: the hackathon will encourage data sharing and collaborative workflows, allowing experts to work together on the analysis of EC data, on comparisons with other missions, in-situ data, and/or climate models, and on finding novel usage cases for EC data.
Content
The following is a list of preliminary topics of interest for the hackathon. Participants can suggest additional topics or express interest in one or more of the preliminary ones.
During the event, participants will split into groups and work together on a selection of topics.
| ID | Topic | Project |
| 1 | Stratocumulus Clouds | Cloud structure transitions – EC vs Models |
| 2 | Stratocumulus Clouds | Aerosol-cloud interactions – aerosol hitting clouds |
| 3 | Stratocumulus Clouds | Aerosol-cloud interactions – below cloud aerosol |
| 4 | Lightning | Vertical structure of lightning-producing storms |
| 5 | Lightning | Lightning prediction during convective storms |
| 6 | Tipping Points | Aerosol-cloud interactions – monsoonal precipitation |
| 7 | ML vs EC | ML classification vs EC classifications |
| 8 | ML vs EC | ML 3D reconstruction vs EC |
| 9 | Detection | Ship tracks detection and analysis |
| 10 | Detection | Contrails detection and analysis |
| 11 | Detection | Ashes and SO2 from fires and volcanoes |
| 12 | Global Maps | Global snowfall estimates |
| 13 | Global Maps | Global/Monthly/Seasonal maps and analysis |
| 14 | Comparisons | PACE, CALIPSO, ECVT, Climate models comparisons |
| 15 | Dust | Haboob analysis and Model comparison |
| 16 | Visualisation | Creation of new visualisations/dashboards/products |
| 17 | Format | Comparison of data formats, e.g., Zarr vs HD5 |
Preliminary Programme
Participation
- The 5-day hackathon will be held in-person between April 20 – 24, 2026 at ESRIN – ESA’s centre for Earth Observation programmes – in Frascati (near Rome), Italy
- Post graduate, PhD students, post-doctoral research scientists interested in climate physics, atmospheric science, EarthCARE and its applications are invited to apply.
- You should be familiar with Python programming.
- The official language of the hackathon is English.
- No participation fees will be charged for the hackathon. Participation is limited and subject to a first come first served principle. ESA can provide partial funding for travel and accommodation. We suggest reaching out to your institution or company to hear if they are interested in covering the cost of the hack week.
- For registration, please fill in this form (Update 11/03: We have reached capacity – new registrations will be put in the reserve list in case of cancellations!)
Registration closes on Sunday 29th March 2026 at 23:59 CEST.
Contact Info
- For any questions or enquiries, please contact: b.abis@stariongroup.eu and saskia.brose@esa.int.