Physical Oceanographer

Purpose:

The post is attached to the BAS component of the Horizon Europe OCEAN:ICE (OCEANCryosphere Exchanges in ANtarctica: Impacts on Climate and the Earth System) and BIOPOLE (Biogeochemical processes and ecosystem function in changing polar systems and their global impacts) projects. Both projects require the analysis and synthesis of new and existing observations of water mass exchange from the poles, notably the Weddell Sea and the Greenland Sea/Fram Strait and the use of novel isotopic tracers to identify the sources of freshwater (sea ice/meteoric etc).

These projects both require the assembly, analysis and synthesis of observational datasets from a variety of platforms and national programmes, notably including mooring data and oxygen isotopes. The postholder will need to demonstrate that they have training/experience in working with observational datasets from various sources and using them to examine regional ocean dynamics. They will work with in situ and satellite observations from a variety of platforms, including moorings, gliders, drifters, ship and seal hydrography and satellite altimetry.

For OCEAN:ICE (years 2-3), the appointee will examine the transport across the northern boundary of the Weddell gyre using existing and new mooring and ship hydrographic datasets, with an emphasis on the presently unexplored South Sandwich Trench bottom water export pathway. The appointee will synthesize these data along with unifying datasets such as satellite altimetry, Argo, seal and ship hydrography to examine variability and trends in bottom water transport and the compensating inflow of lighter waters. They will liaise with other OCEAN:ICE and SO-CHIC collaborators to contextualise their results in relation to regional modelling, new in situ observations and remote bottom water export to the South Atlantic. Alongside Polar Oceans colleagues, they will be largely responsible for Weddell Sea deliverables and milestones for the OCEAN:ICE workpackage five.

For BIOPOLE (year 1), they will collate and quality control new freshwater tracer data (stable oxygen isotopes) collected in BIOPOLE, analyse these data alongside other tracer data collected by project partners (e.g. dissolved barium, neodymium isotopes, rare earth elements) and relevant historical data from both the Arctic and Southern Ocean, and perform calculations that reveal the quantitative input of freshwater to the ocean from different sources. They will then interpret the results in the context of numerical circulation modelling conducted by BIOPOLE partners and use the results to enhance assessments of marine biogeochemical and ecological changes being conducted by BIOPOLE partners. The BIOPOLE emphasis on freshwater tracers and dual pole nature of this work complements the work undertaken for OCEAN:ICE WP5, while also focusing on Greenland/Antarctic freshwater fluxes, and the utility of oxygen isotope tracers in identifying sources. 

Duties:

• Collate, quality control and analyse mooring and other hydrographic data, examining water mass exchange across the northern boundary of the Weddell Gyre. Synthesize these data with numerical models and other unifying datasets to establish variability and trends in bottom water export.
• Deliver associated milestone and deliverable reports to OCEAN:ICE on the above data/analysis.
• Collate, quality control and synthesize data from oxygen, barium, neodymium and RRE isotopes from the Southern Ocean and Arctic and assess contributions from sea ice and meteoric sources, and interpret in the context of numerical models.
• Attend OCEAN:ICE/BIOPOLE project and workpackage meetings and engage with associated partner projects to deliver milestones and deliverables.
• Lead high-quality publications resulting from these projects.