2 year Postdoctoral Research Assistant (PDRA) Position

The Position: As stated in the 6th assessment report of the IPCC, ESMs are only beginning to represent the lateral transfer of carbon and nutrients from land to ocean through the global inland water network. As a result, the quantitative contribution of inland waters (streams, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs) to global and regional anthropogenic GHG budgets remains highly uncertain. Furthermore, virtually nothing is known regarding future trends in land-to-ocean C and N transfers, their environmental controls and their feedbacks on the climate system. Closing this knowledge gap is critical, as it will improve our ability to translate the physical science into policy relevant information. To this end, we are looking for a PDRA to work on the global-scale modelling of the C and N cycles at the continent-ocean interface. The task will require the development of a river biogeochemistry model, and its coupling with the land surface-scheme of the IPSL Earth System Model (ORCHIDEE). This new branch of the IPSL-ESM will then be used to fully couple the global continental and oceanic C and N cycles in an ESM framework. In addition, model results will guide the construction of simple land-toocean C-N transfer functions to be embedded in the other ESMs involved in the project (CNRM-ESM, MPI-ESM, UK-ESM & NorESM). This research will be conducted in synergy with colleagues from the Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace (IPSL) near Paris, France

Your Profile: The candidate will have a PhD in geosciences, climate science, environmental sciences, geography, limnology, hydrology, physics (or related fields). He/she will have with a proven, solid background in numerical modelling, scientific programming and data analysis. We are looking for candidates who can demonstrate excellent communication skills and proven ability to work independently with the ability to take the initiative. Knowledge in terrestrial and aquatic biogeochemistry and/or hydrology would be an asset.