Phd position in Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences. Specialty: Ocean, Atmosphere,...

The Institute of Environmental Geosciences (IGE) is a public research laboratory under the supervision of CNRS, IRD, Grenoble Alpes University (UGA) and Grenoble-INP. It works on climate change and the anthropization of our planet in the polar, mountain and intertropical regions, which are particularly sensitive and have major societal stakes.
It brings together about 260 people, including more than 160 permanent members (researchers, teacher-researchers, engineers and technicians) and about 100 staff on fixed-term contracts (PhD students, researchers and IT). The laboratory also welcomes each year several tens of trainees and scientific visitors. The laboratory is located on two sites on the Grenoble university campus (Glaciology building and OSUG-B - Maison Climat Planète).
The IGE is one of the main laboratories of the Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble (OSUG), a federative structure of the INSU.
The person recruited will carry out his/her mission within the CHIANTI team of the IGE and will be placed under the responsibility of Gaëlle UZU and Jean-Luc JAFFREZO.

Methodological developments of techniques for attributing the contributions of emission sources to the chemical composition of atmospheric components: applications to atmospheric particles, ice cores, and Oxidative Potential measured in real time.

Background :
Atmospheric particulate matter (PM) has very significant impacts on climate and human health. Improved methods for quantifying the sources of PM are fundamental to various aspects of atmospheric science, but also to the development of effective air quality regulations.
One of the current methods to determine these source contributions for a given receptor site is an advanced statistical method (PMF: "Positive Matrix Factorization"). The general framework of this thesis is the continuation in the "Air Quality" group of the IGE of the methodological and applicative improvements of this technique, field in which we work now since 7 to 8 years, with a good international recognition (more than 50 articles with this method over the period).

Objectives of the thesis and specific activities :
In this general context, the specific objectives of the thesis will be
1. To develop methodologies that reduce the subjectivity of the user in the conduct of a MFP study, by proposing more standardized procedures and appropriate tools for evaluating the results,
2. To introduce new chemical tracers of PM sources into these PMF studies and test their efficiency in quantifying the contributions of these "new" sources to aerosol mass and OP,
3. To attempt to apply for the first time an advanced PMF technique specifically dedicated to large data sets (rolling window PMF) to two specific applications:
a. A dataset concerning an ice core obtained at the Col du Dôme (French Alps) allowing to trace the sources of PM over several decades,
b. Data sets of automatic measurements of the chemical constituents and the OP of PM in the atmosphere, a prefiguration of the measurement stations of the future in the field of the air quality.

Working conditions and means made available for the thesis :
This thesis is placed at the heart of the scientific issues of the "Air Quality" group, and will benefit from a rich and motivating environment, with many national and international collaborations. The means implemented to carry out this PhD will be based on the air quality data produced within the framework of many programs of the group.

Skills :
- Good knowledge of the Python language
- Ability to process data
- Knowledge of atmospheric geochemistry
- Writing and presentation skills
- Ability to work in a group
- English (oral/written), minimum level B1 (European framework of reference for languages).