Kirsty Forbes, postgraduate researcher, CDT SuMMeR: Cohort 3

I completed my BSc and Masters in Environment at the University of Leeds, graduating in July 2024. This included a year abroad at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which first piqued my interest in Earth Observation. I was able to study a range of subjects within this degree from oceanography to glaciology to nutrient cycles. My masters thesis was focused on the impact of embankments on flood depth and extent in Nepal.

I am passionate about using remote sensing data to better understand the behaviour of lakes and rivers. In summer 2023, I carried out a research internship with Sense CDT (Centre for Satellite Data in Environmental Science). This project involved looking at different digital elevation models and comparing them to data from ICESat-2. I was then able to do further research using ICESat-2 for my master’s thesis on flooding. This honed my skills in using remote sensing data as well as my interest in hydrology.

The project combines AI, remote sensing, and citizen science to create a monitoring system that can track the movement of pollution from the land to the sea. Coastal ecosystems are hugely important for several ecosystem services and biodiversity, and it is essential that we can monitor any potential dangers to them, such as pollution.

The project will begin by looking at water movement in Wales, using high temporal resolution satellite data from the Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission (SWOT). As SWOT was only launched in December 2022, the data is still relatively unexplored; this project will help us understand what this satellite can tell us about our lakes and rivers. We will investigate how the data varies with time and space; in particular, we will look at how much more information we can learn from having access to daily satellite data, which has not been available before.

By understanding water movement, we will be able to follow the potential path of pollutants as they travel to the sea. This work can then be scaled up to include different variables such as water quality or to look at different areas beyond Wales.

I was drawn to CDT SuMMeR because of their focus on interdisciplinary research; everything that happens in the environment is linked through different cycles so research should also be interconnected. I believe that this focus will help me to produce richer outputs, which are more applicable to the wider community of scientists and policymakers. Throughout my degree, I was able to study a range of topics and pick up different skills and I saw that CDT SuMMeR would enable me to continue learning in this way.