Biography

Holding a master’s degree in mathematics, I’ve transitioned into the world of atmospheric and earth observation science. At the Science Hub I was a Belgian Trainee dedicated to air-quality projects, mostly related to Sentinel 5P. As of January 2024 I started working as a PhD student at BIRA-IASB in Uccle, working on retrieval algorithms of BrO and OClO for the ALTIUS mission.

Research

I’m a National trainee from Belgium, working in Earth Observation Science. Coming from a mathematical background, I’ve been working on air quality projects in collaboration with atmospheric scientists at the ESRIN. Before this, I did a 10-week internship at the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB).

In my current role at ESA, I’ve been mainly focused on a project related to ESA’s Green Transition Information Factory (GTIF). It’s a web tool that helps users explore how we can transition to a greener future by 2050. My primary job was to check the provide traffic data, addressing any glitches or anomalies that could potentially hinder the demonstrator’s successful launch.

Once we made sure the traffic data was good to go, I started looking into how this data could be connected to the air quality data from the Sentinel 5P satellite. We tried to see if there was any relationship between the measured concentration of NO2 over an area and the number of cars that had driven in that area for the previous 4 hours. Considering the seasonal changes, we found some rudimentary connections between this data, highlighting the known impact of traffic on the air quality in the surrounding area. The results which will be displayed on the GTIF platform.

In the final semester of my traineeship, my focus shifted towards Ozone retrievals via solar occultation, as a set-up for my future endeavours.