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FP7 ITARS ITN: Early Stage Researcher (ESR6): Cloud-radiation parameterisations based on 3D radiative transfer and sensor synergy

Applications are invited for a PhD position to work in the ITARS project, a Marie Curie Initial Training Network (ITN) within the FP7 programme. ITARS (Initial Training for Atmospheric Remote Sensing) focuses on the synergistic application of high-end ground-based remote-sensing instrumentation that has the potential to substantially contribute to an improved understanding of aerosols, clouds, and aerosol-cloud interaction processes and their role for both climate and weather. ITARS science objectives are

• to bring together experts from the aerosol and cloud community to efficiently tackle the problems of aerosol-cloud interaction as well as their relevance for climate and weather,
• to build close ties between industry and research to optimize instrumentation for future networks, and
• to assess the potential of advanced remote-sensing instrumentation and capabilities as an ingredient in a future observation system based on both ground-based networks and space-borne observations.

“Clouds and climate: a problem that refuses to die”, written by Prof. Randall in Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. Indeed, clouds, a primary determinant of the Earth’s energy budget, have been one of the primary uncertainty source in climate change predictions; the response of our climate system to doubling CO2 could change dramatically depending on the representations of clouds in climate models. However, even though clouds are 3D objects, cloud-radiation interactions have been modelled in a 1D manner due to computational considerations and more importantly, a lack of 3D cloud observations. While the climate community moves fast toward high-resolution modelling, we can no longer ignore the need for improving our understanding of 3D aspects of both radiation and cloud structures.

This project aims to improve cloud-radiation parameterisations in climate models. The selected candidate will put the structures of natural clouds into a detailed 3D radiative transfer model, using scanning cloud radar measurements at the Jülich Observatory for Cloud Evolution (JOYCE) via collaboration with the University of Cologne. Once the 3D cloud effects are understood, the candidate will work on improving radiation calculations in current climate models, building on recent work at Reading to devise a new scheme for incorporating 3D effects into the 1D radiation scheme. Finally, the global effect of 3D radiative transport and its implication on climate change prediction will be investigated.

The post is available for 3 years at the University of Reading, United Kingdom, and the salary will be commensurate with a Marie-Curie Early-Stage Researcher (ESR) position.

Nr. Job Positions: 1

Research Fields

Physics – Applied Physics

Career Stage

Early stage researcher or 0-4 yrs (Post graduate)

Research Profile

First Stage Researcher (R1)

Comment/web site for additional job details

For more information on ITARS and on the applications process see www.itars.net ; see http://www.geomet.uni-koeln.de/en/general/research/joyce/ for the instrumentation.

Requirements

Additional Requirements

Good computer programming skills (Fortran, IDL, Matlab, C/C++)

Applicants must be researchers who have not yet been awarded the doctorate degree and are in the first 4 years (full-time equivalent) of their research careers. This includes the period of research training, starting at the date of obtaining the degree that would formally entitle them to embark on a doctorate either in the country in which the degree was obtained, irrespective whether or not a doctorate is envisaged.

Applicants may not have resided or carried out their main activity in the United Kingdom for more than 12 months in the last 3 years. Short stays such as holidays are not taken into account.