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Research Fellow in the Dynamics of Cumulus Clouds

Employer
UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS
Location
Leeds, United Kingdom
Salary
£33,797 to £40,322 p.a.
Closing date
5 Oct 2019

Do you have a background in meteorology, applied mathematics, physics or a related field? Would you like to be part of a large international project that aims to understand the behaviour of low clouds and their role in climate? Do you want to further your career in one of the UK’s leading universities?

We seek an ambitious scientist with interests in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics to contribute to a programme of original research into the dynamics of cumulus clouds, integrating into the UK-wide project on Representation of Convection in models (ParaCon) and the international project on Elucidating the role of clouds-circulation coupling in climate (EUREC4A). ParaCon aims to provide new physical insight on convection to improve the representation of convection in models across scales and EUREC4A focusses specifically on tradewind cumulus clouds as these are a key uncertainty in current model predictions of climate sensitivity. 

EUREC4A involves a field campaign in early 2020 that will measure clouds and their environment in the winter trades of the North Atlantic, windward of Barbados. EUREC4A-UK will contribute to EUREC4A by: leading research into the role of aerosols, cloud microphysics and boundary-layer processes in the life cycle of shallow trade cumulus clouds; placing the analysis in the context of the EUREC4A problems by modelling the two-way interactions between the cloud processes and the large-scale dynamics; and applying the results by testing and improving the new convection scheme being developed in ParaCon in the Unified Model (UM) and using the improved model to determine the dominant processes controlling the cloud fields. 

You will be jointly funded through EUREC4A-UK and ParaCon. You will be part of a large collaborative research team at Leeds with scientists in the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) and the Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science (ICAS) at the School of Earth and Environment. You will also collaborate closely with our partners involved in ParaCon and EUREC4A, including scientists at several universities in the UK, the British Antarctic Survey, the Met Office, CNRS (Paris) and the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (Hamburg). There is a possibility that you will be participating in the EUREC4A field campaign in Barbados in January and February 2020.

You will be expected to contribute to the ongoing research in Atmospheric Science and Fluid Dynamics in NCAS and the School. Your work will lead to significant publications in atmospheric and climate science and you will also present your research at national and international meetings.

You will have a PhD (or be close to submitting) in a quantitative physical science, such as Physics, Applied Mathematics or Meteorology. You will also have a strong interest in and some experience in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics in addition to having experience of numerical modelling. You will have an excellent track record of publication in high-quality journals. Experience with programming on a linux or unix operating system is desirable.

To explore the post further or for any queries you may have, please contact:

Professor Alan Blyth, Professor of Atmospheric Science 

Email: alan.blyth@ncas.ac.uk, tel: +44 (0)113 343 1632

or Dr Andrew Ross, Associate Professor

Email: a.n.ross@leeds.ac.uk, tel: +44 (0)113 343 7590

Location:  Leeds - Main Campus
Faculty/Service:  Faculty of Environment
School/Institute:  School of Earth and Environment
Category:  Research
Grade:  Grade 7
Salary:  £33,797 to £40,322 p.a.
Working Time:  100% - We will consider job share / flexible working arrangements
Post Type:  Full Time
Contract Type:  Fixed Term (for 30 months due to external funding)    
Closing Date:  Saturday 05 October 2019
Interview Date:  Thursday 17 October 2019    
Downloads:  Candidate Brief  

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