Subsurface legacy sources of pollutants and submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) are largely overlooked and understudied pathways of waterborne pollutant spreading from land to sea that can play a major role in driving water quality in the coastal ocean.
The appointee will quantify fresh flow (including SDG) rates and associated nutrient and pollutant transport to the sea. A core focus is to develop high catchment-based water and nutrient/pollutant budgets and models for these using geospatial datasets, and also relating the modelling to the rates of water infiltration and recharge, and nutrient/pollutant inputs over each contributing (sub)catchment.
Using multi-model/method approaches will allow for assumptions to be challenged, modified, and eventually validated, building confidence on estimates for coastal regions, with a primary focus on the Baltic sea coast. An important aim is also to establish relationships with geology, land use and climate change to further enable a framework for scenario projection of future changes in SGD and related nutrient and pollutant loads, in particular from subsurface legacy sources.
The candidate is expected to produce high-quality scientific papers, suitable for publication in high profile journals, present their work at national and international conferences, and contribute to external funding proposals.