Hi! My name is Nick van Nuland, and I’d like to share my experience as an intern at the geospatial information company 52° North. Before going into the details, let me tell you a little about myself.

I grew up near Münster and completed a Bachelor’s degree in Geography and Political Science at the University of Osnabrück. Currently, I’m pursuing my Master’s in Earth System Data Science and Remote Sensing at Leipzig University. My interaction with 52° North began with a job interview where I learned about their projects. One project in particular, I-CISK, stood out to me and became the focus of my internship.

I-CISK is an EU funded project involving universities and stakeholders across Europe and beyond, including farmers engaged through so-called “Living Labs.” Its goal is to mitigate climate change impacts by forecasting changes in variables like rainfall patterns and river flow, enabling communities to adapt more effectively. During my eight weeks at 52°North, I contributed to this initiative, focusing primarily on the Spanish Living Lab in Andalusia.

At the Spanish Living Lab, I worked with weather and climate data to visualize past trends and predict future scenarios. The webapp was written in R, a programming language I was familiar with but hadn’t fully mastered. I focused on creating visualizations to make complex data more accessible to farmers. The goal was to provide them with information that could help them adapt their agricultural practices to changing climate conditions.

 

One of the highlights of my work was analyzing historical weather patterns and simulating future scenarios. These forecasts aimed to help farmers anticipate the amount of expected rainfall in the coming season, as can be seen in the figure.

During my internship, I improved my skills in R and also learned new technologies like React, a JavaScript library for building user interfaces. Working on the front end of data visualization tools helped me explore a new area I hadn’t worked in before.

I also gained a better understanding of how remote sensing data can be applied to real-world problems. Coming from an academic background, it was satisfying to see how the data and methods I had studied could help in real world scenarios.

The team at 52°North was very supportive and easy to collaborate with. The open environment made it easy to ask questions and share ideas, which helped me learn and contribute effectively. In fact, i liked it so much that after my internship, I decided to stay on at 52°North to write my Master’s thesis, which is also associated with the I-CISK project. I’m excited to continue working in the field, building on the project I started during the internship. For anyone considering an internship in geospatial information, it’s a great place to gain hands-on experience and grow professionally.