Open Master Topics

At the Earth Observation and Remote Sensing group, we offer various topics for a master thesis. Interested students should inquire at for more information. General guidelines can be found here, while more information regarding citation etiquette can be found here.

MSc Thesis / Project Position: Satellite-based Mine Monitoring in Namibia using Sentinel Data

We offer a MSc project for developing an open-source remote sensing processing pipeline for mine activity monitoring in Namibia. The project potentially will be part of a pilot research project between ETH and NUST (Namibia University of Science and Technology) that aims to provide a low-cost solution to the increasing problem of illegal mining in the country.

The tasks of the students will include design, implementation and documentation of a workflow to download the Sentinel images using the SNAP toolbox, with particular emphasis on code clearness and reproducibility.

Once this is achieved, the student will implement two multispectral indices derived from Sentinel-2 (NDVI, NDMI) and explore coherence time-series using Sentinel-1. If time allows, the results of the optical datasets and SAR datasets will be compared.

Required skills and profile:
This project combines applied remote sensing, Python scripting, and reproducible research practices. We are looking for a motivated, independent, and well-organised MSc student with solid Python programming skills. Strong interest in Earth observation and the ability to work autonomously are essential.