|
A 2-year post-doc position in climate modelling is available at Uni Climate. Situated at the University of Bergen, Uni Climate is a department of Uni Research AS and partner of the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research (BCCR), a collaboration between Uni Research AS, the University of Bergen, the Institute of Marine Research and the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center. The position is within the EU FP7 project “PREFACE”.
Background
The Tropical Atlantic (TA) is a critical area of both historical and future climate change. Environmental palaeo-records indicate large decadal-to-millennial fluctuations with large impacts on the surrounding continental areas. Understanding the origin, the mechanism, and the predictability of such changes, and the correct interpretation of palaeo-records, all rely largely on the ability of numerical models to simulate the climate of the TA and its coupled variability. Similarly, seasonal-to-decadal (s2d) forecasting is seen as an increasingly important area of climate research, with potential to substantially mitigate the socio-economic impacts of future climate variations.
With this in mind, Uni Research AS will participate in the EU FP7 project "PREFACE" to support a process-based evaluation and development of the NorESM model, in synergy with other modelling centres, towards a consistent performance on time-scales from seasons to millennia, while interacting with the European climate-modelling community towards improving our understanding of the climate of the TA and its variability.
Work description
We are seeking a candidate to conduct research aimed at investigating mechanisms responsible for the development of systematic biases in coupled General Circulation Models (GCMs). A focus will be placed on the area of the TA and especially its oceanic upwelling regions.
Initially, an analysis will be conducted of the systematic drift in existing s2d hindcasts integrations that are initialised from observations (Toniazzo and Woolnough, 2013), using high-frequency diagnostic output in both oceanic and atmospheric components.
Sensitivity experiments will then be conducted with the Norwegian Earth-system model (NorESM) and the UK Met Office Hadley-Centre global environmental model (HadGEM) in s2d hindcast mode to isolate relevant mechanisms and the influence of specific processes and model parametrisations on bias development.
Convective heating over either nearby continental land-masses or over the Indo-Pacific sector; atmospheric radiative tendencies and cloud feedbacks; oceanic advection and wave dynamics; PBL-mixed-layer interactions; these are all aspects of the model simulations which may be subject to analysis and experimentation, with the final aim of identifying modelling areas where improvements can lead to significantly better model simulations. Some of the experiments will be also conducted in "climate" mode to investigate impacts on the simulated inter-annual variability.
Close collaboration with UiB and the University of Reading is planned, and a two-way interaction with NorESM model development is envisaged. The applicant will benefit from the European and African collaborative framework of the EU FP7 “PREFACE” project.
Minimum qualifications
• a doctoral degree in physics, fluid dynamics, or the geophysical sciences
• experience with the use and analysis of coupled GCM simulations
• solid background in the theory of atmospheric and oceanic circulation
• familiarity with FORTRAN and both ability and interest in working with large, complex program code
• good working knowledge of the Unix/Linux environment and of software tools for the analysis of GCM output
• good analytical skills
Desired qualifications
• command of the English language
• working experience with particular GCM parametrisation schemes
• creativity and curiosity-driven self-motivation
• interest in collaborative work in an international setting
Please contact Dr Thomas Toniazzo (e-mail thomas.toniazzo@uni.no, tel 55 58 43 22) for informal queries about this position.
For more information about Uni Research and BCCR, please refer to http://uni.no and http://www.bjerknes.uib.no.
The successful applicant must comply with the guidelines that apply to the position at any time.
Please send electronic application, CV, certificates and diplomas/transcripts, and a list of scientific publications by clicking on the button marked “APPLY FOR THIS JOB” on this page: http://www.jobbnorge.no/job.aspx?jobid=97927.
The application should also contain a statement of research interests, a brief motivation for this position, and the names and contact details of two reference persons.
Closing date for applications is 30 November 2013.
Sist oppdatert: 04.11.2013 |
