Analyzing Impacts of Climate and Environmental Gradients on Vegetation Health Using Google Earth Engine

Contract

This is a UNV contract. More about UNV contracts.

Morobe Development Foundation Inc. is a not-for-profit organization based in Papua New Guinea and was established to promote sustainable community development initiatives and thereby address several exigent issues – ranging from environmental conservation to women's rights – that are hindering the progress of the country. Few of our ongoing projects focus on applications of various remote sensing technologies for monitoring forest biomass, tracking land use land change patterns, evaluating climate change impacts and conserving sea turtle habitats.

To that end, we are currently looking for four online volunteers with experience in Google Earth Engine who can help us with global earth data analysis (approximately 15-20 hours per week) regarding the topic on “analyzing impacts of climate and environmental gradients on vegetation health”.

The task will greatly benefit and support MDF with a remote sensing project to map a reserve land in Huon District of Morobe Province Papua New Guinea, specifically in Kamiali Wildlife Management Area where the results will be useful when drawing up conclusion on the status of the reserve land.

Morobe Development Foundation Inc. is looking for four online volunteers who have expertise in Google Earth Engine and a background in the field of forestry, hydrology, climate, remote sensing, or related fields.

Selected volunteers are expected to perform global scale earth data analysis (for example: calculating LST, Drought Intensity, Vegetation Greenness, NDVI, and various other spectral indices and evaluate how they vary w.r.t. topography, drainage, land cover, etc.) utilizing open-source satellite imagery such as Landsat series. Candidates with experience in machine learning, data fusion, and/or deep learning are preferred. The analysis results will be included in a peer-reviewed journal article, and based on the level of contributions, the volunteers would be acknowledged (with a certificate) and/or invited to be co-authors.

The online volunteers will be assigned with the task of performing the actual remote sensing survey, provide advice and guidance, and analyze the results from the remote sensing. These tasks will be delegated among the selected online volunteers accordingly.

The ideal candidates should have demonstrated Google Earth Engine experience and have a Ph.D. or Master’s degree or equivalent (e.g. bachelor's degree with 3+ years) in an area related to forestry, hydrology, meteorology, climate change, remote sensing, or related fields. Must have good communication and be very attentive, responsive, and proactive, as our projects are very fast-paced. Please apply with your CV, which includes a section (~ 200 words) highlighting your experience with GEE and why you would be the best candidate for this role. Without the aforementioned information, the applicant wouldn’t be considered for this position.