Hi, my name is
Cemal Melih Tanis.
I build and manage Earth Observation services.
I'm a Geospatial Engineer based in Finland with over a decade of experience specializing in remote sensing, GIS, and the delivery of operational data services that turn complex satellite data into reliable, actionable information.
Get In TouchAbout Me
With a background in Electronics Engineering and a Master's in Space Science, my career has been dedicated to the practical application of technology in Earth Observation. For over 11 years at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, I have been at the forefront of developing and maintaining operational services that are critical for monitoring our planet's cryosphere and hydrological systems.
My work involves not just deep technical analysis and algorithm development, but also leading FMI's contributions to major international projects. This experience has cultivated a passion for not only solving technical challenges but also for improving processes and fostering collaboration.
Skills
Remote Sensing & GIS
- Satellite and Webcam Data
- Optical, Multispectral and SAR
- GIS Software (QGIS, SNAP, Panoply)
- Vector & Raster Data Processing
- INSPIRE compliant metadata
- Research
Programming & Data
- Python (Primary language since 2014)
- Matlab, C
- Geospatial Data Formats (GeoTIFF, netCDF, BUFR, Shapefile, GeoJSON)
- Linux Systems, NRT Processing, HPC (SLURM)
- API Integration
- Version Control (Git)
Web, Cloud & Mobile
- Web Technologies (HTML, CSS, JS, PHP, FlutterFlow)
- Frontend Tools (Bootstrap, Leaflet, Dygraphs)
- Cloud-native (Docker, Object Storage APIs)
- Mobile Development (FlutterFlow)
Leadership & Management
- Project Leadership & Team Coordination
- Operational Planning & Process Improvement
- Performance Monitoring (KPIs)
- Stakeholder Communication
- Project Management Tools (JIRA, MS Planner)
Experience
Research Engineer, Product Owner, Project Lead
Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) | June 2013 – Present
- Operational Delivery: Manage FMI's technical delivery for the Copernicus High Resolution Snow & Ice (HRWSI) service. Monitor and report on KPIs for Copernicus SWE and EUMETSAT H-SAF snow products to ensure robust operational quality and consistency.
- Project Leadership: Lead FMI's technical team in international projects (e.g., Copernicus HRWSI), coordinating tasks, setting priorities, and ensuring alignment with consortium-wide goals.
- Stakeholder Collaboration: Serve as the primary technical liaison between the FMI team and external partners, providing clear, consistent progress updates and fostering effective collaboration across different countries.
- Technical Innovation: Develop and enhance data processing capabilities through innovative tools (FMIPROT) and advanced algorithms, directly improving the quality and efficiency of data analysis.
- Risk Management: Proactively identify technical risks impacting service delivery and develop robust contingency plans to ensure operational resilience.
Sole Proprietor
T-DEV Tmi | 2022 – Present
- Consultancy: Provide expert consultancy services, including delivering technical presentations and webinars on specialized topics.
- Web Development: Design and develop custom websites and web applications for clients, managing projects from conception to delivery.
- Mobile App Development: Independently developing a commercial mobile application, handling the full product lifecycle from initial concept and design to market launch strategy.
Projects
CLMS HRSI & HRWSI Current
Pan-European High Resolution Snow and Ice Monitoring service, part of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service.
QA4EO IDEAS+ & QA4EO-2 Current
Developing innovative Cal/Val methods for satellite snow products using webcam and in-situ data. Further developed the FMIPROT & FMI ARK SAT QA Portal platforms.
CLMS Globland Current
Involved in the production and performance monitoring of hemispheric snow information services for climate research.
E-Shape Past
Developed a unified web service for a hydropower climate service pilot, combining hydrological model data with EO and in-situ snow observations.
MONIMET Past
Studied vegetation/snow phenology from webcam imagery and managed data repositories. First created FMIPROT in this project.
H-SAF Past
Developed, maintained, and improved snow status (dry/wet) and snow cover extent products using SSMIS, METImage, and AVHRR data.
FMI Webcam-snow Pilot Past
Investigated methods to reliably measure snow depth from webcam data in low-snow conditions using snow on/off data.
BalticSatApps Past
Involved in capacity building, organising and mentoring in hackathons to steer startups and SMEs to use satellite data.
Core-Climax Past
Focused on capacity building and the evaluation of European snow cover products as an Essential Climate Variable.
ERA4CS INDECIS Past
Studied climate indicators for high-priority sectors such as agriculture, disaster risk reduction, energy, and health.
Harmosnow Past
A European network for a harmonised monitoring of snow for the benefit of climate change scenarios, hydrology and NWP.
Products & Platforms
CLMS HRSI & HRWSI Products
Product Owner for key operational services including Gap-Filled Snow Cover Fraction, Snow Phenology (S1+S2), Ice Cover Duration, and Water/Ice Cover (S1).
FMIPROT & Camera Network Portal
A SaaS platform for NRT processing of camera images from multiple networks, providing output data via the FMIPROT API.
FMIPROT Software Toolbox
A core software toolbox for processing image series from camera networks, which serves as a foundational service for other platforms.
FMI ARK SAT QA Portal
Owned and developed an automated SaaS platform for the quality assessment of satellite-derived snow products, utilising the FMIPROT API.
EUMETSAT H-SAF H11 & H12
Served as Product Owner for the H11 snow status product (SSMIS) and maintained the H12 effective snow cover product (AVHRR).
Kemijoki HOPS Webapp
Owned the development of the user-facing B2B web application for a major hydropower client, translating complex hydrological model data into an intuitive visualisation tool.
Publications
Use of Webcams in Support of Operational Snow Monitoring
Geosciences, 2023
Tracking vegetation phenology of pristine northern boreal peatlands by combining digital photography with CO2 flux and remote sensing data
Biogeosciences Discussions, 2022
Benchmarking algorithm changes to the Snow CCI+ snow water equivalent product
Remote Sensing of Environment, 2022
Snow depth time series retrieval by time-lapse photography: Finnish and Italian case studies
The Cryosphere, 2021
Recent trends and remaining challenges for optical remote sensing of Arctic tundra vegetation: A review and outlook
Remote Sensing of Environment, 2020
Cross-country assessment of H-SAF snow products by Sentinel-2 imagery validated against in-situ observations and webcam photography
Geosciences, 2019
Networked web-cameras monitor congruent seasonal development of birches with phenological field observations
Agricultural and forest meteorology, 2018
Webcam network and image database for studies of phenological changes of vegetation and snow cover in Finland...
Earth system science data, 2018
Automated webcam monitoring of fractional snow cover in northern boreal conditions
Geosciences, 2017
Digital photography for assessing the link between vegetation phenology and CO2 exchange in two contrasting northern ecosystems
Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems, 2016
Analysis of current validation practices in Europe for space-based climate data records of essential climate variables
International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 2015
Get In Touch
I'm currently seeking new opportunities and my inbox is always open. Whether you have a question or just want to say hi, I'll do my best to get back to you!
Say Hello+358 50 505 8547