Internship – Evaluation of rainfall forecast over Zimbabwe
Your Assignment
Rain-fed agriculture in Zimbabwe is governed by the fluctuation of dry and wet seasons. Over the past three years, Weather Impact has provided detailed weather information and farming advice to help smallholder farmers make crucial decisions about their agricultural activities. Recently, a strong El Niño event resulted in an extremely anomalous season, with a very late onset of rains and frequent dry spells. This led to big challenges for farmers and underscores the critical need for accurate weather forecasts.
In this internship, you will undertake the task of validating and evaluating our weather forecasts from the past seasons, with a specific focus on rainfall prediction. You will work with operational ECMWF data, ground observations, and satellite products to assess the accuracy of our predictions. Validation is essential to monitor the skill of our services and highlight potential improvement areas. But more importantly, you will contribute to delivering more accurate and reliable weather information to support Zimbabwean farmers.
Who are you?
We are looking for a student with excellent study results, who wants to be challenged in data-driven mod-elling, simulation and optimization, while using huge datasets of meteorological modelling outputs and monitoring data. You are following a MSc study of Meteorology, Physics, Technical Geosciences or comparable at an University in the Netherlands.
• You have excellent programming skills (Python)
• You love data analytics
• You think independently of creative solutions
• You have good communication and writing skills in English
Weather Impact
Weather Impact is a Dutch company specialized in weather and climate services. We operate worldwide and provide advice and operational services to the agricultural and business sectors. Our innovative tools allow users to assess weather and climate impacts and make effective decisions to reduce risks. We are experts in data management, analytics and algorithms. We also provide training to support local partners in the sustainable continuation of the service. We actively work with NGOs, government organizations and research institutes to support climate adaptation.
What do we offer?
We are a young company with a dedicated team of colleagues, working in an international setting. Our office is located in an historic building near the city centre of Amersfoort and at walking distance from Amersfoort Central Station. You will receive a monthly allowance, we provide all ICT and office facilities needed for the study, as well as excellent coffee!
Interested?
For more information about Weather Impact, please check www.weatherimpact.com. If you have any questions concerting this vacancy, please contact Lorenzo Occelli at +31 (0)33 4753535. To apply, please send a CV, mark list and motivation letter to info@weatherimpact.com.
