Internship title: Remote sensing for wildfires

The main topic of the internship is the analysis of the role of lightnings in the ignition of wildfires in the European area.

The proposed project of analysing lightning-ignited wildfires offers the opportunity to the intern to work on a highly relevant scientific and environmental-societal topic. EUMETSAT is one of the leading producers of operational satellite-based wildfire monitoring products for the European area and is also operating the only space-based lightning detection system over Europe. EFFIS, managed by the JRC Wildfire Team is the only source of harmonized historical wildfire information in Europe. The Wildfire Team at JRC additionally provides deep expertise on the scientific and operational exploitation of this data for integration in monitoring and decision-making support systems. This combination of expertise provides a unique support environment for the intern to achieve significant results.

The main project goals are:

• After compiling suitable datasets of wildfire events and lightning activity, explore and analyse relationships between wildfire events and lightning activity, e.g. by varying spatial and temporal search windows around identified ignitions.
• For observed lightning ignition cases, analyse the characteristics of the lightning activity and cloud properties to identify patterns that could serve as a predictor, optionally including also other data sources.
• Potentially, develop a prototype for a lightning-ignition risk model, e.g. using AI/ML techniques.

• Review of literature regarding remote sensing-based wildfire monitoring and lightning-induced wildfires.
• Identify suitable datasets of satellite-based (e.g. MTG-FCI) and ground-based (e.g. EFFIS and national databases) wildfire events, as well as suitable lightning datasets (e.g. MTG-LI and possibly ground-based lightning detection networks).
• Pre-process, filter and prepare the datasets for further analysis

• Exploration and analysis of relationships between wildfire (ignitions) and lightning activity.
• Analyse of lightning, cloud properties and other environmental characteristics around observed lightning ignitions.
• Optional: development of a prototype for lightning-ignition risk estimation.

• Have the ability to work effectively in English;
• Be computer literate;
• Be intrinsically motivated and curious about the internship subject;
• Be able to work independently and collaboratively;
• Have the ability to take the initiative in researching ideas;
• Have the ability to collect, collate, conceptualize and present information clearly.

Additional advantageous requirements:

• Knowledge of EO/remote sensing data;
• Programming skills (Python strongly preferred), experience with Linux environments;
• Knowledge of data analysis/data science techniques;
• Knowledge of AI/ML techniques is beneficial.