“What I greatly appreciated about the fellowship was ESA’s flexibility and support, especially during COVID-19 times, which made it possible to adapt the schedule and adjust some of the foreseen objectives according to the project development. The fellowship gave me the opportunity to independently manage a project for the first time and encouraged the collaboration …
“I began my post-doc in September 2020, just after the big COVID crisis. Despite this, I could meet other ESA fellows and researchers (especially from ESA) during the Living Planet Symposium in May 2022, which was a great experience!” After the end of the Living Planet Fellowship, Cassandra was doing a post-doc of 2 …
Living Planet Fellowship research project carried out by Cassandra Normandin. In the context of the ESA BIOMASS Earth Explorer mission, the Namib Desert was selected as a test site to assess the performance of P-band SAR for subsurface imaging in arid environments. In cooperation with the Gobabeb Research and Training Centre, a study of the paleo-hydrology of …
Ocean currents are a key component to understanding many oceanic and climatic phenomena and furthermore the knowledge we have of them is crucial for navigation and operational applications. Therefore, a key problem in oceanography is the estimation of the synoptic (or “big picture”, large-scale, simultaneous conditions over a broad area) velocity field. Thanks to satellite …
Arctic sea ice extent during the summer months has declined considerably over the satellite record. Surface melt ponds, which form on sea ice during the spring, play an important role in the decay of sea ice and seasonal reduction in ice extent because they influence how much solar radiation is absorbed into the sea ice-ocean …
High-resolution images collected over a mixed forest ecosystem with the HyPlant sensor, deployed as an airborne demonstrator of the forthcoming ESA-FLEX satellite have been exploited in this study to explore the potential of a novel metric based on far-red sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (F760) to map the functional diversity of terrestrial ecosystems. Plant functional diversity, defined …
“This fellowship has been very important to consolidate my research with more time and flexibility to reconsider different strategies. Working in close collaboration with ESA colleagues means that this is not just research but it is embedded into the development strategy for different EO missions” After the fellowship, Javier continues its research at the …
Living Planet Fellowship research project carried out by Javier Gorroño. In the last decade, some missions started to offer operational Level-1 (L1) uncertainty estimates for top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiance/reflectance factor. Among them, the Sentinel-2 (S2) mission delivers uncertainty products associated to the L1C products using the Radiometric Uncertainty Tool (RUT). The delivery of uncertainty products represents …
“I felt that scientific exchange was fostered both directly through collaboration with external partners on the project and through invitation to and participation in ESA meetings, which I found both very valuable and enjoyable. I also appreciated any chance to exchange with other fellows on their experiences and professional choices.” After the end of …
Living Planet Fellowship research project carried out by Sophia Walther. Variations of water availability drive plant growth and vegetation carbon uptake from the atmosphere. At present, this induces substantial fluctuations in the global carbon balance and in year-to-year accumulation of atmospheric carbon. Under climate change, water stress is likely to be amplified by more frequent …
