Postdoc position in earth system modelling (0.8 - 1.0 FTE)

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are warming the climate. The response of the earth system is strongly dependent on the amount of future emissions. With earth system models, we can make projections, providing clues about the change that we can expect in the polar regions, and the induced impact on the rest of the world. One example of a changing polar process with potentially severe impacts is the saturation of firn on the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. On Antarctica, it could lead to ice-shelf disintegration and an acceleration of sea-level rise. For Greenland, an important meltwater refreezing buffer could be lost when the firn saturates. Using earth system models, we would like to find out the impact of global warming on these processes.

You are expected to work with the fully coupled global climate model CESM2, with a focus on the Arctic and the Antarctic regions, for various emission scenarios as well as for various responses of the ocean. These projections focus on atmospheric processes, and run until 2100, or, in some cases, even until 2300. Within the project, these simulations are subsequently analysed and published in order to improve our understanding of the (very) long-term changes of the climate of the polar regions. This position includes intensive (inter)national collaboration, in terms of joint experiment design, joint experiment analysis and, potentially, joint publishing.

The starting date is as soon as possible.