Humberto is a coordinator of the Laboratory for Analysis and Satellite Image Processing (LAPIS) and a researcher in the area of climate and ecosystem services. He uses remote sensing and environmental monitoring tools, supporting government departments with satellite information.
After gaining a degree in atmospheric sciences, a Masters in remote sensing from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and a PhD in soil, water and environmental sciences at the University of Arizona, he started working with Meteosat and other European satellite data.
For the last few years he has been looking at how satellite data can be fully utilised to aid in the provision of information on the potential impacts of weather and climate in Brazil.
Humberto explains: "Over the last decades, the use of European satellites in Brazil has achieved remarkable advances in monitoring, and prediction of weather and climate, providing valuable information for decision-making to improve water and food security. Nevertheless, there exists a significant gap between information availability and the actual uptake by stakeholders.
"This has led to an abundance of publicly available data and information on the potential impact of weather and climate, but a lack of expert knowledge from the user side has limited the use of this information to effectively increase resilience to extreme events and to include these hydro-climatic services in proactive management strategies. This gap needs to be addressed in order for vulnerable communities to benefit from the foresight provided by remote sensing and climate science.
"To bridge this gap the concept of hydro-climate services in the northeast region of Brazil has been introduced as a response to these two basic facts:
- Everyone is impacted by weather and climate.
- Needs-based climate services are extremely effective in helping communities, businesses, organisations and governments to manage the risks and take advantage of the opportunities associated with the climate."
This work is explored further in Humberto's presentation Successes and lessons from the use of European satellites in Brazil and in the paper Evaluation of the Performance of SM2RAIN-Derived Rainfall Products over Brazil.
