PhD or postdoctoral position in coupled physical-biogeochemical modeling
A full time PhD or mobility postdoctoral position is available under a joint supervision arrangement at the Liège University (ULiège), Belgium, and the Helmholtz Zentrum Hereon (department Hydrodynamics and Data Assimilation). The PhD position is in collaboration with the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) in the Netherlands. The focus is on developing and implementing a modeling module that describes the suspended particulate matter (SPM) dynamics connecting the pelagic and benthic system in an existing three-dimensional coupled physical-biogeochemical model. The physical model is the Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean (NEMO), the biogeochemical model is the BiogeochemicAl Model for Hypoxic and Benthic Influenced areas (BAMHBI), and the wave model (WAM). All these three models are run in forecasting and reanalysis mode for the Black Sea in the frame of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service program (CMEMS).
The position is offered in the frame of the recently funded 4-year Horizon-Europe project NECCTON ( New Copernicus capability for trophic ocean networks).
Research activities:
The candidate will have to develop and implement a module describing the mineral and organic SPM and in particular to:
- parametrize the effect of waves in the erosion-resuspension process of SPM
- modulate these parameterizations considering the variability of the characteristics of benthic communities (e.g. biodeposition)
- parametrize the aggregation and settling process in the water column
- assess the impact of environmental changes on SPM dynamics and water clarity
In addition to the scientific project described here above, the successful candidate will have to:
- travel to project and international scientific meetings
- for the PhD candidate, to follow the Doctoral Formation mandatory for obtaining a PhD
Requirements for application:
- For PhD candidate: Applicants must have completed a master’s degree (with minimum cum laude) in a field closely related to physics, engineering or equivalent.
- For post-doc candidate: a PhD in ocean (or eventually weather) numerical modeling obtained no longer than 5 years ago. Candidates must be non-Belgian citizens and should not have lived and/or worked in Belgium for more than 24 months during the past 3 years.
- A capacity and interest to work in different fields of marine science including physics, biogeochemistry, ecological processes, data assimilation techniques.
- Talent for computational scientific work is necessary. The coupled model system will be implemented on HPC tier-1.
- Very good written and verbal English communication skills are required.
- Good communication skills for communicating results to different audience including general public in relation to dissemination activities.