Edmund Lea’s Placement Report

I joined Earthwave Ltd for three months at the start of 2026 as a data science intern, working on a range of short projects relating to their suite of glacier and ice sheet change data products (known collectively as CryoTempo EOLIS). These products are derived using radar altimetry data from the CryoSat-2 satellite launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2010, and include monthly elevation maps of glacierised regions around the world, used to monitor changes in ice volume at high spatial and temporal resolutions. One piece of analysis I conducted assessed the consequences on monthly spatial coverage of these data of an orbit change performed in 2020 as part of ESA’s Cryo2ice project. A second piece of work contributed functional code to Earthwave’s operational codebase to improve the calculation of uncertainties assigned to interpolated data in CryoSat-2’s Antarctic “pole hole”. The final weeks of the placement were spent on a range of analyses assessing the spatial and temporal limitations on the calculation of rates of glacier change in Iceland from CryoTempo EOLIS data, which will inform Earthwave’s contributions to the second global Glacier Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise (GlaMBIE-2).

I found my time at Earthwave challenging but enjoyable, with opportunities for practical and professional development balanced by the positive community experience of being a valued member of a small but highly skilled team. I faced a steep learning curve when it came to writing and testing code in line with the company’s protocols, but through working on small projects in different parts of the CryoTempo codebase, I gained an appreciation of the benefits of having such clear and intentional guidelines in place when developing such a large piece of software. More broadly, the degree of organisation within the company, down to the management via dedicated spreadsheets of tea and coffee supplies and watering of plants in the communal office, was a welcome surprise that has made me rethink some of my less efficient academic working practices, including how I handle large datasets and research projects. I was also challenged by the schedule of weekly meetings to work on my presentation skills, so that I could better summarise and communicate the results of my analyses in close to real time, to allow for a more fast-paced and collaborative experimental process than I have been used to in my independent study. I’m very grateful to the whole team at Earthwave for making the placement a supportive, instructive, and rewarding experience, and to Iapetus for facilitating and funding it.