Emprego

Faculty of Geosciences,
Utrecht University The Netherlands

The Faculty of Geosciences offers education and research concerning the geosphere, biosphere, atmosphere and anthroposphere. With a population of 2200 students (BSc and MSc) and 575 staff, the faculty is a strong and challenging organisation.

Currently, we are looking to fill the following position in a joint project between the Departments of Physical Geography and Earth Sciences:

PhD researcher Climate modeling on orbital timescales

Project description
Many climate records reflect the principal orbital cycles, which are associated with variations in the eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit, the angle between the orbital plane and the equator (obliquity) and the date of perihelion (precession). These cycles are
routinely applied to construct so-called astronomical timescales for the late Neogene (i.e. the last 14 million years). In this project we will perform climate model experiments in order to test different hypotheses on the causal links between astronomical forcing and climate signals in sedimentary records. Hypothesized links are tropical monsoons, mid-latitude storm tracks and the large-scale ocean circulation. We will use state-of-the-art climate models, including a representation of the terrestrial biosphere and coupled off-line to a hydrological model of river discharge. Model results will be compared to data in collaboration with a PhD student working in a matching project (within the EU 7th framework ITN-GTSnext program). There will be a close collaboration with the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) for the modelling work. Funding of this project is provided by the Focus and Mass program of the Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University.

Qualifications
You should have a MSc or equivalent degree in Climate or Atmospheric Sciences, Physical Oceanography, Physical Geography, Physics, Mathematics or related field. Experience in climate modeling and programming on UNIX-based computer systems is desirable, as well as an interest in interdisciplinary research.

Want to know more?
For more details, see the website of Utrecht University http://www.uu.nl under vacancies, or contact Prof Dr Nanne Weber at Este endereço de e-mail está protegido contra spam bots, pelo que o JavaScript terá de estar activado para que possa visualizar o endereço de e-mail

Applications are accepted until the position is filled, but we prefer to receive your application before August 23, 2009. We seek to appoint before November 1, 2009.