The PhD candidate will develop a system for high resolution mapping soil organic carbon (SOC) at the field scale covering the entire Walloon territory (16 900 km²) in the framework of the Plan de Relance de la Wallonie. The focus will be on croplands as these are most vulnerable to SOC loss. The soil mapping performances of European Sentinel 2 and Sentinel 1 satellites as well as of the Italian PRISMA and the German EnMAP satellites will be investigated.
Methods will have to be developed based on a reference sampling strategy and the scaling up to the Walloon region will have to be assessed precisely. The system should be based on Earth Observation data calibrated and validates by regional soil data bases and should provide up-to-date SOC maps for at least two separate time slices (with an interval of 3-5 years).
Requirements
Research Field Geosciences » Other
Education Level Master Degree or equivalent
Research Field Agricultural sciences » Soil science
Education Level Master Degree or equivalent
Skills/Qualifications
We welcome applications from early career scientists having a MSc. degree in geography, bioengineering (agronomy or environmental sciences), geomatics or a related scientific discipline by the appointment start date. We look for a highly motivated PhD student with an affinity for remote sensing and digital soil mapping. Additional experience in machine learning using R or Python algorithms is an asset.
Languages ENGLISH
Level Good
Languages FRENCH
Level Basic
Additional Information
Work Location(s)
Number of offers available 1
Company/Institute UCLouvain
Country Belgium
Where to apply
E-mail bas.vanwesemael@uclouvain.be
Contact
City Louvain-la-Neuve
Street Place Louis Pasteur
Postal Code B-1348
E-Mail bas.vanwesemael@uclouvain.be