In June 2019, Boris Ouattara joined the Institute of Geography and Geology as a PhD student in the project WASCAL-DE-Coop. He is working under the Department of Physical Geography and is based at the Department of Remote Sensing. Boris will work on estimating the influence of small and/or fragmented fires induced carbon emissions at the scale of the West African savannah landscape. Therefore, he will develop a hybrid algorithm for prototype biomass and burnt area products by means of high-resolution satellite data/products and in-situ measurement.
His research within the project WASCAL-DE-Coop seeks to be a base for a stable regional information systems service in West Africa by providing supportive timely and geographically specific information to regional and local fire managers and other users (NGOs, various international initiatives and commitments) related to carbon emissions.
Boris was part of the WASCAL Graduate School on Climate Change and Human Security at the Université de Lomé (Togo). He has worked at the WASCAL Competence Center (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso) in the earth observation and application unit on environmental risk, food and water security and as an intern at ECOWAS Commission (Abuja, Nigeria) on disaster risk management.
Before joining the WASCAL program, he completed his studies in Earth Sciences from Université Félix Houphouët Boigny (Côte d’Ivoire).