Post-doctoral researcher – UCL, Belgium, Southern Ocean

The partners of the PARAMOUR project invite applications for the following position:

Post-doctoral researcher
Starting date between May 1 and September 1, 2018
Full time position for 24 months – can be extended up to 48 months
Net monthly salary: 2300-2500 € (depending on experience – this includes social insurances)
Location: Earth and Life Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium

The climate of the Polar Regions has dramatically changed over the last decades. This may have resulted from external forcing (e.g., from greenhouse gas emissions), but also from natural interaction between the components of the climate system (notably, the atmosphere, the marine and continental cryosphere, and the ocean). Quantifying the specific contribution of each is critical to understand decadal variability. Based on the complementary scientific expertise of the project partners, PARAMOUR aims at revealing fundamental drivers of climate variability and assessing the predictability in high-latitudes by using coupled regional climate models in both hemispheres.

The successful candidate will contribute to the development of a coupled atmosphere-ocean-sea ice-ice sheet model configuration covering Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, in collaboration with the other scientists working on the project. The technical aspects associated to model development will be supervised by a computer scientist specifically dedicated to this configuration. The post-doctoral scientist will analyse the processes ruling the climate variability over the past 30 years in the Southern Ocean and estimate the regional climate predictability and its origins. A particular attention will be paid to the impact of initial conditions in the Southern Ocean on other components of the system at decadal timescales.

Required qualifications:
– To have a PhD in climatology, Earth science or related field (physics, informatics) with previous experience in Earth science;
– To have published in peer-reviewed international journals;
– To have strong experience in computational programming and in managing large data sets;
– To have demonstrated verbal and written communication skills in English;
– To have interest in working in a multidisciplinary team environment.

Applicants should send (i) a statement of research experience, qualification and interest, (ii) a complete CV including a list of publications, and (iii) two letters of recommendation via e-mail to Hugues Goosse (hugues.goosse@uclouvain.be).

Review of the applications will start March 21 and the call is open until the position is filled.