Vegetation dynamics scientist (R2)

Context And Mission

This position is hosted by the Climate Variability and Change (CVC) Group within BSC's Earth Science Department. The CVC Group undertakes fundamental research to (1) understand climate variability and change, including for climate extremes, (2) investigate global biogeochemical dynamics, effectiveness and impacts of carbon removal technologies to mitigate climate change, (3) developing new Earth System modeling capabilities, and (4) improving our ability to forecast the climate variations from one month to multiple decades into the future, both at global and regional scales.

The offered position is funded by the European projects LANDMARC and RESCUE. LANDMARC explores the potentials for land-based climate change mitigation, whereas the RESCUE project aims to improve knowledge and understanding in climate and Earth System responses to climate neutrality and net negative emissions. This position will also contribute to the 4C project, which aims to establish near-term prediction systems of climate and atmospheric CO2 growth rate to assist the implementation of the Paris agreement.

The successful applicant will be responsible for a process-based evaluation of the vegetation and carbon fluxes of the EC-Earth3-CC model, comparing historical simulations and near-term predictions performed by the CVC group with state-of-the-art observations. The applicant will also study the contribution of vegetation and land-use change to atmospheric CO2 variability and its predictability. This position will further contribute to the implementation of Land-based mitigation technologies (LMTs) in the EC-Earth3-CC model and will study the future effects of different LMTs on the global carbon cycle and key atmospheric processes. The candidate will contribute to scientific planning and development of the next generation of the EC-Earth ESM, version 4.

Key Duties

• Contribute to the development of Land-based mitigation technologies (LMTs) in the EC-Earth3-CC ESM, focusing on the vegetation/land use aspects
• Perform and analyze the experiments performed with the EC-Earth3-CC model and LMT scenarios developed in the LANDMARC and RESCUE projects, in regard of effects on land-use change, the carbon cycle and atmospheric processes
• Analyze the contributions of vegetation and land-use change to projections and near-time predictions of the global carbon cycle
• Lead the preparation of scientific publications, extend the group’s international network in the candidate’s area of expertise and actively participate in grant preparation activities
• The candidate will work closely with scientists within the Climate Variability and Change Group and other groups of the Earth Sciences Department