Research Assistant or Research Associate in Land Surface Modeling and Soil Moisture Scaling

at University of Bristol, UK

Summary:  A postdoctoral position is available to evaluate the performance of the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) in reproducing soil moisture dynamics and key land-atmosphere interactions in the UK at hyper-spatial resolution in combination with novel cosmic-ray soil moisture technology and remote sensing products. A PhD in meteorology/hydrology or related disciplines (e.g. environmental science) with an interest in land-atmosphere interactions, numerical modeling, remote sensing, and data assimilation is essential.

This 30-month appointment (with potential extension to 36 months) is part of the NERC-funded project AMUSED (A MUlti-scale Soil moisture-Evapotranspiration Dynamics study) whose ultimate goal is to identify the spatiotemporal scale-dependency of key dominant processes that control changes in soil moisture and land-atmosphere interactions. AMUSED will employ new innovative technology for soil moisture monitoring using cosmic-rays sensors in combination with land surface modeling, satellite remote sensing, and data assimilation methods. Some fieldwork will take place, especially at the initial stages of the project to deploy and install/calibrate cosmic-ray soil moisture sensors. For more information about AMUSED, please visit http://www.bris.ac.uk/cabot/news/2014/502.html.

Required skills include experience using land surface models (e.g., JULES, CLM, Noah, VIC) to predict soil-vegetation-atmosphere interactions, some programming knowledge (e.g., Fortran or C) and experience with Linux operating system, demonstrated ability to publish peer-reviewed papers, effective written and oral communication skills, willingness to work in a team, in an academic research environment, and development collaborative links.

Desired skills include knowledge of hydrometeorology, land-atmosphere interactions, data assimilation and/or remote sensing, and some previous experience with fieldwork activities.

For informal inquiries, please contact Dr Rafael Rosolem (rafael.rosolem@bristol.ac.uk)

To apply, please visit http://bit.ly/1sLm96i or http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AJP006/research-assistant-or-research-associate-in-land-surface-modelling-and-soil-moisture-scaling/