Research Fellow - Faculty of Engineering and Environment

Research Fellow
Faculty of Engineering and Environment

Applications are invited for a four-year postdoctoral research position in ice-sheet and ocean modelling, funded as a part of an EU grant Tipping Points in Antarctic Climate Components, Horizon 2020 Project call H2020-LC-CLA-2018-2019-2020 Grant Agreement number: 820575. 

The project will focus on evaluating the stability regime of the grounding lines of the Antarctic Ice Sheet in its current configuration and how the stability is affected by changes in ice-shelf buttressing. A further focus point of the project is possibility of a tipping point within the southern ocean giving rise to greatly enhanced ocean-induced melt within ice-shelf cavities. 

The project is a part of a large EU funded project (TiPACCs) involving several European research institutes. The overall aim of TiPACCs is to assess the likelihood of large and abrupt near-future changes in the contribution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to global sea level, caused by tipping points in the Antarctic continental shelf seas and the Antarctic Ice Sheet. 

The candidate will use state-of-the art ice-sheet flow and ocean circulation models to study two closely-related tipping points of the Antarctic continental shelf seas and the Antarctic Ice Sheet and the physical processes that link them. The first tipping point involves an irreversible switch from ‘cold’ to ‘warm’ oceanic conditions below the large ice shelves of Antarctica and the second tipping point a switch from stable to unstable grounding-line configurations of the Antarctic Ice Sheet due to loss of ice-shelf buttressing. A particular focus of this study is the impact of ocean-induced melt on ice-shelf buttressing and the associated changes in the stability of grounding lines. 

The successful candidate will be part of the multi-disciplinary research theme ‘Extreme Environments’ and will be based in the Department of Geography & Environmental Sciences at Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK. The candidate will work with Professor G. Hilmar Gudmundsson.  The project is a part of a large EU collaboration project involving several institute and researchers, and the candidate will have the opportunity to work and interact with other research groups in France, Germany and Norway.  

The successful candidate will have a PhD in either physics or mathematics, or in a related discipline such as glaciology, oceanography or geophysics. Experience in numerical modelling of either ice-flow or ocean circulation is desirable. The post will commence 1st June, 2020.

For an informal discussion about the post, please contact Professor G. Hilmar Gudmundsson at Hilmar.Gudmundsson@northumbria.ac.uk 

To apply for this vacancy please click 'Apply Now', and submit a Covering Letter and your CV, including a full list of publications where relevant and any documents specifically requested in the Role Description and Person Specification, such as a sample of written work or journal article.

Northumbria University takes pride in, and values, the quality and diversity of our staff. We welcome applications from all members of the community. The University holds an Athena SWAN Bronze award in recognition of our commitment to improving employment practices for the advancement of gender equality and is a member of the Euraxess network, which delivers information and support to professional researchers. 

Please note this vacancy will close on 03/04/2020