PhD Studentship - Southern Ocean - NIWA

Our team is looking for a highly motivated PhD candidate for a three-year PhD studentship within New Zealand's Antarctic Science platform (https://www.antarcticscienceplatform.org.nz/ ). The candidate will develop a high-resolution ocean model using NEMO (https://www.nemo-ocean.eu/ ) and conduct a series of simulations to quantify changes in the Southern Ocean circulation and identify their driving mechanisms. This will be done in conjunction with analyses of atmospheric model simulations, atmospheric observations of CO2 and 14CO2 between Aotearoa New Zealand and Antarctica, BGC-Argo profiles, and satellite observations. In this project you will gain in-depth modelling experience, a rich technical understanding around Southern Ocean observations, and new insights how climate change is impacting the Southern Ocean to provide you with an excellent foundation for your career. This work will be undertaken in collaboration with other international research organizations and programs.

The Antarctic Science platform is multi-institutional research program across New Zealand's Antarctic research institutes to work jointly on pressing Antarctic and Southern Ocean research priorities. The candidate will research among other PhD students, Postdocs in a vibrant, multi-disciplinary research team, supervised by Erik Behrens (NIWA), Sara Mikaloff Fletcher (NIWA), Liz Keller (Victoria University of Wellington/GNS Science), and Jocelyn Turnbull (GNS Science).

The student will be expected to enroll at Victoria University of Wellington but will be physically based at the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in Wellington New Zealand.

Candidates must have a Masters or equivalent degree in Climate dynamics (e.g., oceanography, atmosphere science, climate science) or related fields to be eligible for Victoria University of Wellington's PhD program and to be successful in this project. A Victoria University of Wellington scholarship will be provided. Furthermore, a background in program languages such as Python within an UNIX environment would be advantageous to work on New Zealand's eScience Infrastructure (https://www.nesi.org.nz/ ).

We expect the successful candidate to start in mid 2023. Closing date for applications is 30th November of 2022. Applications should include a cover letter, recent CV and evidence of eligibility for the Victoria University of Wellington PhD program.

Please direct questions to Dr. Erik Behrens - [email protected].