Multi-Sensor Ocean Colour Course

Dr Ben Loveday (course coordinator)
(Languages: English)

Ben is a physical oceanographer with a background in marine Earth observation and numerical modelling. He completed his PhD on western boundary current dynamics at the University of Cape Town prior to joining the Remote Sensing group at Plymouth Marine Laboratory. He now lives and works in Germany where he provides marine training services to EUMETSAT as lead of their Copernicus Marine Training Service.

You'll usually find him scowling at his computer, trying to solve some geospatial Python problem whilst trying to fend off the attentions of his two curious cats. In his spare time, he makes awful noise with guitars, watches motorbike racing and travels for diving as often as he can.

Contact info:

Email: training@eumetsat.int
LinkedIn: Ben Loveday

Dr Hayley Evers-King
(Languages: English)

Hayley is the Lead Marine Applications Expert in the User Support and Climate services division at EUMETSAT where she leads user support and training activities for the marine data streams from Copernicus and EUMETSAT satellite missions. She has a PhD from the University of Cape Town on the use of ocean colour data for coastal algal bloom detection, and worked for 5 years developing a wide range of marine satellite data applications at Plymouth Marine Laboratory; including harmful algal blooms and water quality services for aquaculture, ocean heat flux, carbon pools, climate model validation and marine spatial planning. Hayley is and passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion - having worked on various intersectional equality initiatives - and seeks to bring this in to all aspects of her work.

Hayley loves to combine her love of science with her love of cooking - often found working up a sustainable seafood recipe, or trying to make a satellite out of cake. She is a keen traveller and diver, and an avid collector of books, wine, and Lego.

Contact info:

Email: training@eumetsat.int
LinkedIn: Hayley Evers-King

Dr Anna Windle
(Languages: English)

Anna is a research scientist supporting NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite mission. She earned her Ph.D. in 2023 from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) at Horn Point Lab, where she focused on satellite and drone remote sensing of coastal waters. Her research expertise spans satellite and drone remote sensing, ocean color, and optical oceanography. 

Anna serves as the lead organizer of the NASA PACE Data Hackweek, where she develops tutorials and open workflows to help scientists and students access, analyze, and interpret PACE mission data. 

When she’s not working, Anna can usually be found near, on, or in the water and spending time with her family. 

Contact info: 

Email: anna.windledipaola@nasa.gov
LinkedIn: Anna Windle

Dr Carina Poulin
(Languages: English, French)

Carina is a scientific designer for The Ocean Ecology Laboratory (OEL) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center with Science Systems and Applications, Inc. (SSAI). Her work includes leading the Help Hub, a web page gathering the OEL’s data processing help resources and transforming PACE data into engaging visuals to help explain scientific concepts to the public.

During her graduate studies and postdocs, she worked on the physiology and inherent optical properties of phytoplankton grown in cultures and has also worked on bioluminescence.

Outside of work, Carina enjoys sailing, hiking, and eating all the delicious food she can find.

Contact info: 

Email: carina.poulin@nasa.gov 
LinkedIn: Carina Poulin

Dr Javier Concha
(Languages: English, Spanish)

Javier is an Ocean Colour Specialist working for SERCO at ESA-ESRIN, helping supervising ESA-funded projects. Originally from Chile, he holds a PhD in Imaging Science from the Rochester Institute of Technology (USA) and has previously worked at NASA Goddard’s Ocean Ecology Laboratory and Italy’s National Research Council (CNR). His expertise includes satellite remote sensing, ocean optics, atmospheric correction, and the validation of ocean colour products to advance applications in climate and environmental monitoring. Among roles are reviewing deliverables from projects, generating scientific and technical notes, and helping organize meetings and workshops. 

Contact info: 

Email: JavierAlonso.Concha@esa.int 
LinkedIn: Javier Concha

Dr Thomas Jackson
(Languages: English)

Thomas is a Climate Product Expert at EUMETSAT with a background in Earth sciences, biological oceanography and remote sensing.  After completing a PhD at Oxford on remote sensing and Arctic phytoplankton, he spent a decade working on Ocean Colour climate record production and derived datasets at Plymouth Marine Laboratory.  He now works on the creation, validation and improvement of Climate Data Records as part of the EUMETSAT USC team.

When not busy digging into code and data you can often find Thomas getting muddy on a mountain bike, painting, playing games or learning the drums.

Contact info: 

Email: training@eumetsat.int 
LinkedIn: Thomas Jackson

Dr Juan Gossn
(Languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese)

Juan Gossn was born in 1990 in San Isidro, Argentina. He is a remote sensing scientist specializing in Ocean Colour remote sensing. With a background in Physics from the University of Buenos Aires, he obtained his Ph.D. from the Argentinean Institute of Astronomy and Space Physics (IAFE – CONICET/UBA), focusing on the extremely turbid waters of Río de la Plata. In 2021, he joined EUMETSAT's Ocean Colour Services team, where he contributes to the improvement of operational ocean colour products through the analysis of in situ data and managing scientific studies.

Contact info: 

Email: JuanIgnacio.Gossn@eumetsat.int
LinkedIn: Juan Ignacio Gossn

Dr Ana B. Ruescas
(Languages: Spanish, English. Italian, Catalan)

Ana is a geographer with a background in Earth Observation applications and machine learning. She completed her PhD on thermal remote sensing application at the University Jaume I of Castellón, prior to joining the Global Change Unit at the University of Valencia (UV) and later moved to ESRIN-ESA for a post-doc stay. She has worked for Brockmann Consult in Germany since 2011, first full time and now as external consultant, while lecturing at the Department of Geography at the UV and researching at the Image and Signal Processing group.

Ana supervises graduation and master's thesis focused on several EO applications, so she is always keen to learn new approaches and technologies.She has a broad knowledge of SNAP and is an active member in the SNAP forum.

Contact info: 

Email: ana.ruescas@brockmann-consult.de
LinkedIn:  Ana Ruescas

Dr Aida Alvera-Azcárate
(Languages: Spanish, English, French)

Aida is a physical oceanographer working at the University of Liège (Belgium). She obtained a degree in Marine Science from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain) in 2000 and a PhD in Science from the University of Liège in 2004. She was a research associate at the College of Marine Science of the University of South Florida from 2004 to 2007. Since then, she is a researcher at the GeoHydrodynamics and Environment Research (GHER) group, of the University of Liège.

Aida specialises on the development and application of analysis techniques to improve the quality of remote sensing data of the ocean, like the reconstruction of missing data in remote sensing ocean products, like sea surface temperature, colour and salinity using DINEOF. The use of different datasets to provide an integrated view of the ocean, and their interaction at different spatial and temporal scales, are also among her interests.

She loves nature, hikes, birds, and in general anything that makes her spend time outdoors with her kids. A good book and a good coffee can keep her indoors. 

Contact info: 

Email: a.alvera@uliege.be

Dr Vittorio Brando
(Languages: English, Italian)

Vittorio graduated cum Laude in Environmental Sciences at the University of Venice in 1995 and obtained a PhD in Environmental Systems Modelling at the University of Padua in 2000.  His research activities focus on optical oceanography and earth observation of optically complex waters in inland, coastal and marine environments.

Vittorio was at CSIRO in Australia from 2000 to 2013, in 2014 he returned to CNR in Italy. Since 2020, Dr. Brando is Dirigente di Ricerca (Research Director) at CNR-ISMAR in Rome where he serves as the Leader of the Ocean Colour Thematic Assembly Center in the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service as well as partner PI and/or WP leader for several collaborative projects funded by EU’s H2020/HE, ESA, EUMETSAT, and ASI.

He is Committee Member of the International Ocean-Colour Coordinating Group (IOCCG), Member of the ESA Mission Advisory Group for Copernicus Sentinel-3 NextGen Optical and of the DLR EnMAP Science Advisory Group.

Contact info: 

Email: vittorioernesto.brando@cnr.it
LinkedIn: Vittorio Brando

Carolina Mander
(Languages: English, Italian)

Carolina is a a PhD student, based at the Institute of Marine Sciences - CNR in Rome. She has ha background in pure mathematics, data science and machine learning. She got into the Remote Sensing field during the development of her master thesis, developing a project focussed on forest classification from Sentinel 2 Imagery. Now she is exploring IOPs and Rrs in the optically complex waters of the Baltic Sea, learning PACE and focusing on the retrieval of biogeochem parameters. She attended the 2025 Pace Hack Week, and will bring her experience of this event to the course.

In her free time she plays sport (volleyball mainly), goes on walks with her dog, watches TV series and enjoys nature. She is eager to learn more about the science and grateful of having the opportunity to be of help for the community.

Contact info: 

LinkedIn: Carolina Mander

Ivan Farace
(Languages: English, Italian)

Ivan is a PhD student at CNR-ISMAR working in the field of ocean colour, remote sensing, and oceanographic instrumentation. At CNR, he manages autonomous hyperspectral radiometer systems, handling the design and configuration, field deployments, data analysis,
troubleshooting, and quality control. His research focuses on ocean color validation, satellite match-ups using custom Python scripts. I am
involved in oceanographic field campaigns to collect optical measurements. He attended the 2025 Pace Hack Week, and will bring his experience of this event to the course.