Biography
Bernardo joined NPL in 2020, having worked at world-class institutes in Italy, the UK & Portugal. He received a degree in Geophysics (2001) from the University of Lisbon and a PhD in Forestry (2012) from the Technical University of Lisbon and has authored/co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed, conference and technical publications.
Bernardo has 20 years of experience working in the field of environmental & climate influences, developing ECV products from satellite remote sending data. Bernardo has worked with optical sensors to develop methods, tools and products in ECVs as diverse as FAPAR, burnt area and landslide detection. A particular emphasis in his work has been in cross-ECV consistency and the interoperability of sensors to understand the quality assurance of the developed products. As a fire researcher, Bernardo has also contributed to several studies characterising the role and impact of biomass burning activities and the assimilation of fire data into climate models. Bernardo has contributed to the C3S QA and F4P platform together with various CCIs and other international projects.
Expertise
- Data mining and analysis for the development of logical information systems to manage and interpret the impact of environmental and climate change.
- Expert use of remote sensing and environmental data for mapping, monitoring and risk assessment of fire and landslide events across the globe.
- Benchmarking activities to evaluate EO ECV products and cross-ECV consistency
- Burned Area detection and Fire Radiative Power algorithm developer based on EO imagery
Current interests
Bernardo continues to focus on the application of the core metrological concepts to land ECV products derived from satellite Earth observation and to in-situ measurements. He is currently working on several projects focused on: performing in-situ measurements in vegetation sites (FRM4VEG); developing robust uncertainty tools for EO data (QA4EO); and assessing and proposing Cal/Val requirements for the Sentinel missions (CCVS)
Bernardo is reviewing the current UK methods for Green House Gas emission accounting for the land use, land use change and forestry sector, by developing EO based measuring standards. This includes a special focus on the biomass burning emissions to assess the impact on Net-Zero targets under different climate change scenarios.
Bernardo works on the NPL-proposed TRUTHS satellite, studying its scientific feasibility and applicability.
Email Bernardo Mota