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Postdoctoral position – Modelling grounding lines and stress transmission
Laboratoire de Glaciologie, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)


The Laboratoire de Glaciologie of the Universté Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) is currently seeking to fill a 3-years postdoctoral research position in ice sheet modelling. The work is a part of the EU FP7 program Ice2sea, of which ULB leads the work package “Key glacial processes”.

Ice2sea is a consortium of European institutes and international partners with the aim to improve understanding concerning the future glacial contribution to sea-level rise. This includes improving understanding of the processes that control, past, current and future sea-level rise, and generation of improved estimates of the contribution of glacial components to sea-level rise over the next 200 years. The programme will include targeted studies of key processes in mountain glacier systems and ice caps (e.g. Svalbard), and in ice sheets in both polar regions (Greenland and Antarctica) to improve understanding of how these systems will respond to future climate change. It will include fieldwork and remote sensing studies, and develop a suite of new, cross-validated glacier and ice-sheet models. Ice2sea will deliver these results in forms accessible to scientists, policy-makers and the general public, which will include clear presentations of the sources of uncertainty. Our aim is both, to provide improved projections of the glacial contribution to sea-level rise, and to leave a legacy of improved tools and techniques that will form the basis of ongoing refinements in sea-level projection.

The specific aim of the 3-year postdoctoral research position is to improve ice flow models in order to represent accurately the motion of the grounding line and quantify the effect of stress transmission on the flow of outlet glaciers. The successful candidate will contribute to the development of higher-order models which solve various approximations of the Stokes system,
implement grounding line migration algorithms, and participate in a new intercomparison exercise with the aim of evaluating the efficiency of time dependent higher-order models. A hierarchy of modelling techniques will be established that describes what level of complexity is needed for particular grounding zones/outlet glaciers, and the mesh resolution required resolving key processes. This work will be done in close collaboration with other partners of the ice2sea project, especially LGGE (Grenoble) and BAS (UK).

Applicants should email a cover letter and Curriculum Vitae at the address below. Review of the applications will begin 18 May and will continue until the position is filled.

The desired qualifications are a PhD in glaciology, geophysics, or an equivalent geoscience, with good programming skills in a C and Matlab environment. The position is for a period of 3 years and will start as soon as possible (preferably July).

For more information, please contact:

Prof. Frank PATTYN
Laboratoire de Glaciologie
Université Libre de Bruxelles
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