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POST-DOCTORAL POSITION ON INITIALIZATION AND PREDICTION OF THE LARGE-SCALE OCEAN DYNAMICS AT THE CLIMATE FORECASTING UNIT

Location: IC3 Headquarters in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

General description and work environment:

The Institut Català de Ciències del Clima (IC3) is a climate research institute created in 2008 by the Government of Catalonia and the University of Barcelona, aiming at understanding climate variability and change at both global and regional scales to improve both predictions and projections, the dynamics and theory underlying those changes and the impact on society. Linked to these goals, IC3 works on understanding and simulating how global change modulates variability and change in society ecosystems to provide better climate services.

IC3’s mandate is to become a leading international centre for climate research in Europe, with a regional focus on the Mediterranean area. IC3 aims to perform quality research on basic and applied climate sciences, while informing society and stakeholders on future climate risks.

Working languages are English, Catalan and Spanish.

In tune with IC3's objectives, a growing interest in the implications of climate variability and change from a season to a few decades ahead is occurring. Reliable climate information is critical to ensure that adaptation measures to climate variability and change are efficient. The Climate Forecasting Unit (CFU), led by the ICREA research professor F.J. Doblas-Reyes, undertakes research on the development and assessment of dynamical and statistical methods for the prediction of global and regional climate on time scales ranging from one month to one decade.

More information about the CFU activities is available from the following links: http://ic3.cat/wikicfu/index.php/Main_Page

Main duties:

The successful applicant will work on the generation of ocean initial conditions for seasonal-to-decadal ensemble climate predictions with the dynamical global climate model used by the CFU, EC-Earth, using data from a comprehensive set of high-resolution global reanalysis. The generation of more balanced initial states that reduce or even prevent the initial shock will be an important aspect of the work. The impact of the initial conditions will be assessed with the tools already developed by the CFU members and by implementing new ocean diagnostics to be included in these tools. Process-based analyses of the main sources of predictability related to the ocean component as well as new ways to infer information on model deficiencies across time scales are part of the tasks. The applicant will be involved in collaborative work with other partners within the EC-Earth consortium. Outstanding opportunities exist for establishing links with other international climate research institutions and, if interested, to participate in the tutoring and monitoring of early-career scientists.

Desired skills / Qualifications:

Applicants must have a PhD in physical oceanography, applied mathematics or in a related discipline. Ideal candidates will have several of the following attributes:

- A demonstrated ability to develop experimental set ups that address specific climate modeling problems and in manipulating either ocean or climate model codes.

- Extended knowledge of Fortran and bash, while experience with R, cdo, nco and Python will be highly valued.

- Experience in handling large databases, and a minimum knowledge of NetCDF encoding.

- Proven ability to prepare and submit manuscripts to high-impact, peer-review journals.

- Interest and capacity in participating in the writing in and, when possible, leading the preparation of research and computing proposals.

- Fluency in spoken and written English, while fluency in other European languages will be also valued.

This position implies becoming part of a dynamic, multi-national research group that performs cutting-edge, highly-demanding climate prediction experiments. The candidate should be able to work as an active and collaborative team member to help in the delivery of shared objectives and to efficiently communicate results. Hence, the ability to work as part of a large, strongly-coordinated team and to continuously share both knowledge and tools is an essential aspect required.

Conditions and application procedures:

The position is initially opened for 12 months, with an extension for at least one more year, depending upon performance. The position will start preferably in March 2015 or as soon as possible after that date. The salary will be commensurate with experience.

To apply, please send an email to jobs@ic3.cat with your CV and the following subject “Initialization and prediction of the large-scale ocean dynamics at the CFU”.


POST-DOCTORAL POSITION: SEASONAL TO DECADAL CLIMATE FORECASTS FOR CLIMATE SERVICES.

Location

IC3 Headquarters in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

General description and work environment

The Institut Català de Ciències del Clima (IC3) is a climate institution created by the Government of Catalunya and the University of Barcelona, aiming at understanding climate change and variability, the dynamics and theory underlying those changes and the impact on society. IC3 focus on the Mediterranean regions, tropical Africa, South America and Southeast Asia.

The Climate Forecasting Unit (CFU) undertakes research to forecast global climate variations from one month to several years into the future (also known as seasonal-to-decadal prediction). The unit members also investigate the impact of climate variability in socio-economic sectors, and the management of such risk via the development of climate services for renewable energy, insurance, etc.

For details, see www.ic3.cat and http://ic3cfu.wikispot.org

The Climate Forecasting Unit (CFU) at IC3 seeks a climate scientist with experience in climate forecasting, to formulate global and local seasonal to decadal climate forecasts applicable to the renewable energy sector.

Main duties

The successful applicant will lead the tasks of the development of climate information from the most complete set of climate (sub-seasonal to seasonal) forecasts. This will be done in the context of the development of global climate services to optimize renewable power supply and energy demand. He/she will formulate calibrated climate forecasts for their application in a quasi-operational service for a range of identified end users.

The applicant should have in-depth experience in dealing with, formulating and verifying multi-model climate forecasts from the output of state-of-the-art dynamical and empirical climate forecast systems. Expertise in bias correction, model combination and calibration to provide additional forecast skill and value is essential with, ideally, knowledge of empirical downscaling techniques. Experience in the development or provision of forecasts for an operational service or decision support tool for end users will be valued. Applicants should show an interest in advancing the understanding, relevance and evaluation of climate predictions to the end users. He/she will prepare manuscripts to be submitted for peer-reviewed publication in high-impact journals and present results at European and international conferences.

Reporting to the Head of the CFU, Prof. Francisco Doblas-Reyes, the candidate will be expected to advance and manage his/her own work-plan in close collaboration with the climate services manager, whose role is to bridge the gap between the producing centers and the actual users of the climate information. Tutoring and monitoring of early-career scientists working towards the same research objectives will also be part of the role.

The person appointed will be involved in the EU and national-funded New European Wind Atlas project (NEWA), and will collaborate with partners in other European projects such as SPECS, EUPORIAS and EUCLEIA. His/her activity will be positioned within the context of WMO’s Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS). The aim of such projects and the GFCS is to advance climate predictions to provide actionable seasonal to decadal climate information to key sectors of society. This position therefore presents the opportunity to work alongside a wide range of leading, international climate scientists delivering cutting-edge climate science and climate services across Europe. The incumbent will enjoy joining one of the leading and most dynamic European groups in the field of climate prediction for climate services.

Desired skills & qualifications

Applicants must have a Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences, applied statistics, or a related field. Ideal candidates will have several or all of the following attributes:

• Experience in working with and analysing global climate model predictions;

• Knowledge of weather types and tropical/extratropical teleconnections;

• Knowledge of multivariate statistical climate data analysis;

• Experience in the development or provision of forecasts for an operational service or decision support tools for end users;

• Experience with statistical downscaling techniques for climate data;

• Advanced programming skills in R, as well as knowledge of cdo, nco, fortran and/or python;

• Knowledge of bash;

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English;

• A willingness and temperament to facilitate the communication between climate scientists/modellers, climate impact researchers, and users of downscaled climate products from local, national and international agencies, industry, and non-profit organizations.

Conditions and application procedure

The initial contract will be for 18 months, with a possibility for extension depending on performance of at least one more year. Additional extensions will be possible subject to the availability of funds.

The position will start as soon as possible. The salary will be commensurate with experience.

To apply, please send your CV accompanied with a brief statement (max. 1 page) of interest and experience with the following subject “Application for Atmospheric Science - Post-doctoral Position” by e-mail to jobs@ic3.cat

jobs/20151001-previous_job_positions_ic3.txt · Last modified: 2017/02/22 08:29 by kserrade