Physical Oceanographer Position – LOPS

Laboratoire d’Océanographie Physique et Spatiale

We seek a Physical Oceanographer to join the Ocean and Climate team at LOPS (Brest, France) on the European AtlantOS project. The goal is to investigate, using in situ data, the impact of the interannual to decadal variability of the subpolar gyre of the North-Atlantic Ocean on the formation and export of the water masses of the lower limb of the MOC.

Location : Ocean in the climate system team, Laboratoire d’Océanographie Physique et Spatiale (LOPS,UMR6523 CNRS/IFREMER/IRD/UBO), Brest, France

Starting date and duration : 1st of November 2016, 18 months

Scientific advisors:

Virginie Thierry, vthierry@ifremer.fr

Herlé Mercier, Herle.Mercier@ifremer.fr

How to apply : Application (a cover letter precising the skills of the candidate with regard to this post-doc position ; a CV including a summary of the past activity, the date of the PhD defense, a list of publications and communications ; 2 recommendation letters) and/or informal enquiries should be directed to V. Thierry (vthierry@ifremer.fr)

Closing date: 9th of September 2016

Abstract: The ocean contibutes at moderating the climate change by absorbing a significant portion of the carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere by human activity and the excess of heat due to the enhanced greenhouse effect. Observations show a warming of the surface and deep layers of the ocean, and climate projections suggest that these trends will strengthen in the future. These changes in oceanic stratification modify the processes involved in the water masses ventilation that allow the penetration of climate signals in the ocean interior. The subpolar gyre of the North Atlantic is a privileged region for water mass transformation and greatly contributes to the formation of dense water and ventilation of the ocean interior. However, it is characterized by a quasi-decadal variability of both the circulation and water mass properties. To better analyze multidecadal trends, it is necessary to better quantify variability at higher frequencies and to better understand their origin. In this context, the overall objective of this post-doctoral work is to diagnose and understand the variability of the deep waters in the subpolar gyre over the period 1990-2016. The first objective is to document and understand the difference between the cold period observed in the early 1990s and the warm period observed in the 2000s, and the transition to a new cold period observed since the early 2010s. The second objective is to document the pathways of the anomalies formed locally and their impact on large-scale anomalies in the North Atlantic. This work will be based on the analysis of in situ data available in the North Atlantic, and particularly of Argo data, including oxygen data acquired by some floats as well as deep data (>2000m) acquired by Deep-Argo floats.This work will contribute at determining a deployment strategy for deep-Argo floats and Argo floats with oxygen sensor for the establishment of the deep-Argo and Argo-O2 arrays. It is a contribution the the AtlantOS (H2020) and NAOS (Equipex) projects.

Keywords : Atlantic Ocean, subpolar gyre, intermediate and deep water masses, oceanic ventilation, oxygen, Argo, Argo-O2, Deep-Argo

Required knowledge and skills :

A Ph.D. in physical oceanography or in geophysical fluid dynamics and skills in data analysis (Argo, hydrography, oxygen) are required. English fluent, knowledge in french

Programming experience in Matlab (preferred) or equivalent

Good writing skills

Knowledge in biogeochemistry is preferred

The candidate has to be less than 35 years old on December 31st, 2015