Topics Master in Earth Sciences ETH

Master's thesis topics on research group websites

Engineering Geology

Master's thesis topics in SiROP

Many research groups in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences advertise Master's theses through the external page student research project website SiROP.

The feed below shows a selection of currently available projects.

Formation of photochemical hazes in the atmosphere of early Earth and habitable exoplanets: an organic source for the origin of life

Experimental Planetology

Photochemical hazes are solid particles produced by organic chemistry in planetary atmospheres that may have contributed to the formation of sugars and amino acids after settling on the surface of early Earth. Their formation and production rate driven by UV irradiation efficiency and radical gas phase chemistry remain poorly known. In this project, the student will develop a numerical scheme to consider haze production in an atmospheric model and evaluate the influence of the oxidation state, UV flux and temperature on the solid production rate. More details are available in the attached pdf file.

Keywords

early Earth, habitability, aerosols, origin life, exoplanets

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Semester Project , Internship , Master Thesis

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Research Questions 1. How to best model haze production: The complex chemical process of haze formation remains largely unknown. By comparing different chemical reactions and kinetics data, a state-of-the-art scheme can be constructed to reproduce the known production rates on Titan using a simple scheme. In oxidizing environments, as expected for early Earth’s atmosphere, the scheme that can best reproduce laboratory experiments is targeted. 2. Influence of oxidation state on haze production: How does the high abundance of carbon dioxide available in early Earth’s atmosphere influenced the production of photochemical hazes compared to the reduced environment of Titan? The influence of the CH4/CO2 ratio in the atmosphere will be assessed. 3. Influence of the star on haze production: Exoplanets characterized today mostly orbit cool stars known as M dwarfs which are characterized by different UV emissions. How does the UV stellar spectra influence the production rate of photochemical hazes? Should we expect exoplanets around other types of stars to generate more solid organic material? 4. Delivery of hazes at the surface of planets: What are the main atmospheric properties influencing the flux of solid particles to the surface? Is it sensitive to atmospheric mixing? Is it sensitive to the thermal atmospheric profile? All these parameters can be explored in the atmospheric model. Methodology • Implementation of haze production rates in the VULCAN atmospheric model : VULCAN is an open-source atmospheric model ( GitHub - shami-EEG/VULCAN: Chemical Kinetics For Exoplanetary Atmospheres · GitHub ) designed to study the chemistry of planetary atmospheres. It only includes a simplified haze consideration at the moment. The aim is to implement the consideration of new chemical reactions which include solid-gas interactions. The model already considers settling of cloud particles to the surface which will be adapted to photochemical hazes as well. • Kinetic database for haze formation: Few reactions are currently known to generate photochemical hazes. These reactions are simplified to fit observations of Titan’s atmosphere and laboratory experiments. The aim is to collect the known chemical reactions to date and compile them into VULCAN to consider haze formation in the presence of C-, N-, O- and H-bearing species in the atmosphere. • Exploration of the parameter space: The main parameters expected to influence haze production rates are the atmospheric composition (and its oxidation state), the thermal profile and stellar UV flux. The primary aim is to identify the conditions best suited for an efficient delivery of solid organic material at the surface of early Earth and exoplanets. This last part is of particular importance as NASA’s future mission, the Habitable Worlds Observatory, and the Swiss-led Large Interferometer For Exoplanets, will be particularly sensitive to photochemical hazes and their radiative effects in the atmosphere of exoplanets. Expected Outcomes • A new routine in the VULCAN atmospheric model to consider haze formation and quantify production rates • Identification of the most suitable conditions for organic atmospheric haze production in habitable planetary atmospheres

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Published since: 2026-06-23 , Earliest start: 2026-10-04 , Latest end: 2027-06-25

Applications limited to ETH Zurich , University of Berne

Organization Experimental Planetology

Hosts Sossi Paolo

Topics Earth Sciences , Chemistry , Physics

Site Selection for Artificial Ice Reservoirs (aka Ice Stupas) for Water Security in semi-arid Mountain Regions

Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

Artificial ice reservoirs are a promising adaptation strategy against the loss of snow and glaciers in water-scarce mountain regions. This thesis will develop a remote sensing and modelling based site selection workflow combining spatial data analysis, climate downscaling, and energy balance modelling to identify optimal locations across semi-arid mountain regions.

Keywords

Artificial ice reservoirs, ice stupas, climate adaptation, energy balance modelling, climate downscaling, water security

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Master Thesis

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Published since: 2026-06-08 , Earliest start: 2026-06-01 , Latest end: 2027-06-30

Organization Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

Hosts Fugger Stefan , Farinotti Daniel

Topics Earth Sciences

Improving the Detection and Classification of GLOF-Prone Emerging Glacial Lakes from Remote Sensing

Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

Supra- and peri-glacial lakes forming rapidly over weeks to years pose a growing GLOF hazard. This thesis will improve remote-sensing-based glacial lake detection, classification and volume estimates and contribute towards GLOF early-warning.

Keywords

Glacial lake outburst floods, SAR remote sensing, SWOT, lake detection, emerging lakes, early warning

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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)

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Published since: 2026-06-01 , Earliest start: 2026-06-01 , Latest end: 2027-05-31

Organization Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

Hosts Fugger Stefan , Miles Evan , Farinotti Daniel

Topics Earth Sciences

Triggering Conditions of Glacier Lake Outburst Floods: Leveraging Remote Sensing and Machine Learning for GLOF alerts

Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

Supra- and peri-glacial lakes forming over the timeframe of weeks to years pose a growing GLOF hazard. This thesis will leverage and extend databases of past outburst events from emerging glacial lakes, analyse their triggering conditions using additional topographic information, remote sensing and reanalysis weather data, and develop a classifier for integration into a lake detection and alerting tool.

Keywords

Glacial lake outburst floods, triggering conditions, machine learning, early warning, remote sensing

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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)

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Published since: 2026-06-01 , Earliest start: 2026-06-01 , Latest end: 2027-05-31

Organization Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

Hosts Fugger Stefan , Farinotti Daniel , Miles Evan

Topics Earth Sciences

Himalayan firn: vulnerability to climate changes at Ganchempo, Nepal

Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

Due to the concurrent ablation and accumulation seasons, Himalayan glaciers may be particularly vulnerable to temperature increases. Here, we use measurements from a firn core in Nepal to constrain meteorology and assess the glacier’s future sensitivity to climate warming.

Keywords

Glaciology, energy-balance modelling, firn

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Master Thesis

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Published since: 2026-05-20 , Earliest start: 2026-07-01 , Latest end: 2027-07-01

Applications limited to ETH Zurich , EPFL - Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne , Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research , University of Berne , University of Fribourg , University of Zurich , University of Lausanne

Organization Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

Hosts Farinotti Daniel , Miles Evan

Topics Earth Sciences

Deciphering firn densification from published profiles

Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

Converting measurements of glacier volume change to mass change remains a major challenge in glaciology, as firn areas of glaciers can change in density. Here, we gather key literature datasets of firn density and demonstrate their utility for modelling firn and constraining these conversions.

Keywords

Glaciology, firn densification, data mining

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Published since: 2026-05-20 , Earliest start: 2026-07-01 , Latest end: 2027-07-01

Applications limited to EPFL - Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne , ETH Zurich , Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research , University of Berne , University of Fribourg , University of Geneva , University of Lausanne , University of Zurich

Organization Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

Hosts Huss Matthias , Farinotti Daniel , Miles Evan

Topics Earth Sciences

Automating the detection of glacier area outlines from topographic surface elevation change

Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

Glaciers advance and retreat due to climate forcing, yet quantifying their area over time remains challenging. Time series of surface elevation change enable tracking glacier extents using computer vision and machine learning techniques. A robust framework is needed to evaluate various approaches.

Keywords

Glaciology, glacier outlines, computer vision, machine learning, remote sensing

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Master Thesis

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Published since: 2026-05-20 , Earliest start: 2026-07-01 , Latest end: 2027-07-01

Organization Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

Hosts Farinotti Daniel , Miles Evan , Knuth Friedrich

Topics Earth Sciences

Producing multitemporal glacier extents from multispectral data across Switzerland

Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

Glaciers are losing mass and retreating globally, but tracking their area over time is challenging. Manual and deep learning approaches struggle to identify debris-covered ice, and high-quality outlines are inconsistent in time between regions. Here, we develop a transient data-driven approach.

Keywords

Glaciology, glacier segmentation, remote sensing, machine learning

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Master Thesis

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Published since: 2026-05-20 , Earliest start: 2026-07-01 , Latest end: 2027-07-01

Organization Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

Hosts Wulf Hendrik , Knuth Friedrich , Farinotti Daniel , Miles Evan

Topics Earth Sciences

Can we use ground-based gravity measurements to constrain ice thickness of large, fast flowing and temperate glaciers?

Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

This master thesis investigates whether ground-based gravimetry, combined with GPR observations and inverse modeling, can improve glacier ice-thickness estimates in large, fast-flowing glaciers. Using newly acquired gravity measurements from Aletschgletscher (Swiss Alps), the project will develop and test 3D inversion workflows to reconstruct glacier bedrock topography and assess the potential of gravimetry for future field campaings in remote mountain regions

Keywords

Gravimetry, Inversion, Applied Geophysics, Glaciology

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Master Thesis

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Ice thickness is a key variable for understanding glacier dynamics, future glacier response to climate change, and freshwater availability. Yet, among the world’s ice masses, large and fast-flowing temperate glaciers remain particularly challenging environments for measuring ice thickness. Conventional methods such as ground-penetrating radar (GPR) often fail in deep temperate ice because of strong signal attenuation, while seismic surveys are logistically demanding and require heavy field equipment. Ground-based gravimetry is an interesting alternative because of the lightweight instrumentation and the strong density contrast between ice and bedrock, but the method remains challenging due to multiple sources of uncertainty and the inherent non-uniqueness of gravity inversions. This master thesis will investigate whether lightweight ground-based gravity measurements, combined with GPR observations and inverse modeling, can improve estimates of glacier ice thickness. The project focuses on Aletschgletscher (Swiss Alps), where ground-based gravity measurements were acquired for the first time in May 2026. Because the ice thickness at Aletschgletscher is relatively well constrained from previous geophysical surveys, this glacier provides an ideal test site to evaluate the performance of gravimetry-based ice-thickness inversions. The research work will consist of processing these gravity data and performing 3D inversions using state-of-the-art open-source software to reconstruct glacier bedrock topography and ice thickness. Existing GPR measurements will then be progressively integrated as constraints within the inversion framework to assess how much ground-truth information is required for gravimetry to provide reliable ice-thickness estimates. Although the thesis relies on existing datasets, there is a possibility for additional fieldwork at Aletschgletscher. The ultimate goal of the thesis is to establish a proof of concept for combining ground-based gravimetry, GPR, and inverse modeling for future glacier field campaigns in remote mountain regions where ice thickness remains poorly constrained.

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Published since: 2026-05-14 , Earliest start: 2026-07-01 , Latest end: 2027-04-15

Organization Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

Hosts Ogier Christophe

Topics Earth Sciences

AI-powered Earthquake Data Denoising

Seismology and Geodynamics

Seismologists use earthquake recordings to monitor seismic activity, but these recordings are often mixed with noise from the environment, making it challenging to automatically process earthquake signals. This project focuses on using deep learning techniques to remove noise from earthquake recordings. By building on existing methods and introducing new ideas, the goal is to create a reliable tool that makes earthquake monitoring more accurate and efficient.

Keywords

Earthquake monitoring, Deep Learning, AI, Denoising, Signal Processing, High-Performance-Computing, Seismology

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Master Thesis

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Published since: 2026-04-28 , Earliest start: 2026-05-01

Applications limited to Department of Physics , Department of Mathematics , Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering , Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences , ETH Competence Center - ETH AI Center , Swiss Data Science Center - ETHZ , Department of Computer Science , IDEA League

Organization Seismology and Geodynamics

Hosts Dahmen Nikolaj , Meier Men-Andrin

Topics Information, Computing and Communication Sciences , Earth Sciences

Investigating global ice temperatures

Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

This project aims to investigate a global database of glacier temperatures with the aim of improving our understanding of ice temperature distributions in glaciers and their connection with climate.

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Published since: 2026-04-15

Applications limited to ETH Zurich

Organization Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

Hosts Jacquemart Mylène

Topics Earth Sciences

Analyzing ice avalanche dynamics from long-term monitoring data

Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

The goal of this project is to analyze operational monitoring data (camera and ground based radar data) of avalanching glaciers in order to assess shifts in ice avalanche activity that may be related to climatic changes.

Keywords

glaciers, ice avalanches, hazards, risk, monitoring, early warming, climate change

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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)

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Published since: 2026-04-15

Organization Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

Hosts Jacquemart Mylène

Topics Earth Sciences

High-mountain hazards in the Swiss Alps

Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

This project aims to identify and analyze changes in the Swiss Alps that relate to geologic or glaciologic hazards by comparing large-scale elevation datasets.

Keywords

glaciers, hazards, risk, mass movements, geology, rockfall, rock avalanche, permafrost

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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)

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Published since: 2026-04-15

Organization Glaciology (Prof. Farinotti)

Hosts Jacquemart Mylène

Topics Engineering and Technology , Earth Sciences