Internship in Copernicus Mission Development Division

Internship in Copernicus Mission Development Division

Internship title: Cloud-Native Earth Observation Data Formats

The increasing volume and complexity of Earth Observation data is creating a need for efficient approaches for storing, accessing and analysing multidimensional datasets. Cloud native data formats such as Zarr have emerged as an approach to address these challenges. These formats are also being considered in the Earth Observation domain, making it increasingly important to understand their advantages, limitations and use cases. Therefore, this project will provide a practical assessment of cloud native EO data formats and contribute to the preparation for data processing upgrades.

As an intern you will explore the use of modern cloud-native data formats for Earth Observation with a particular focus on Zarr and understand their practical advantages and limitations compared with existing formats such as NetCDF, work with a small representative EO datasets and investigate how they can be accessed, organized, visualized, converted and compared. Finally, support implementation of a lightweight EO Dataset viewer tool for inspection of Zarr datasets and NetCDF-Zarr comparison tool.

Duties

• Become familiar with the Earth Observation datasets and their data structures;

• Investigate the characteristics of NetCDF and Zarr;

• Explore the differences between legacy EO data access and cloud native approaches;

• Investigate how different chunking configuration affect data access

• Develop a lightweight viewer for Zarr/Xarray datasets from specific missions;

• Identify how equivalent NetCDF and Zarr datasets can be identified and compared;

• Develop a NetCDF-Zarr Comparison Tool for specific missions;

• Prepare a final technical note and demonstrate the developed tools.

LOCATION

Darmstadt, Germany

QUALIFICATIONS

The internships are open to bachelor and master students with mandatory internship requirements in relevant disciplines such as Computer Science, Data Science, Earth Observation/Remote Sensing, Software Engineering.

LANGUAGES

The official languages of EUMETSAT are English and French. It is necessary to be able to work effectively in English.

DEADLINE

19 November 2026

Skills and Experience

• Have the ability to work effectively in English;

• Be computer literate;

• Be intrinsically motivated and curious about the internship subject;

• Be able to work independently and collaboratively;

• Have the ability to take the initiative in researching ideas;

• Have the ability to collect, collate, conceptualize and present information clearly.

Additional advantageous requirements:

• Ability to work with structured and multidimensional datasets;

• Programming skills (e.g. Python programming);

• Basic experience with data analysis.

Employment Conditions

Length of internship: 3 months Anticipated start date: 2027

The internship will require a non-disclosure agreement and potentially a basic background check for the intern, due to the sensitivity of the provided information.

No salary is paid to interns who are still in studies, however a daily allowance and contribution to travel / accommodation costs may be provided.

Interns may be granted a daily allowance of EUR 25 per day, relocation cost reimbursement of up to EUR 400, and accommodation cost reimbursement of up to EUR 1000 per month.

Interns are responsible for providing their own health and accident insurance and for finding their own accommodation in Darmstadt.

Consideration may also be given if the internship is not a mandatory part of curriculum, for a maximum duration of three months.

EUMETSAT is committed to providing an equal opportunities work environment for men and women. Please note that only nationals of EUMETSAT Member States may apply. The EUMETSAT Convention requires that Staff shall be recruited on the basis of their qualifications, account being taken of the international character of EUMETSAT.

About EUMETSAT

EUMETSAT is Europe’s meteorological satellite agency. Its role is to establish and operate meteorological satellites to monitor the weather and climate from space - 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This information is supplied to the National Meteorological Services of the organisation's Member States in Europe, as well as other users worldwide.

EUMETSAT also operates several Copernicus missions on behalf of the European Union and provide data services to the Copernicus marine and atmospheric services and their users.

As an intergovernmental European Organisation, EUMETSAT has 30 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.)