PHD POSITION] DUSTDN DOCTORAL NETWORK DC12 - MODELLING THE EFFECTS OF DUST UPON REGIONAL CLIMATE WITH CONSTRAINED DUST-SOURCE MINERALOGY (R1)

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Context And Mission The Dust-DN doctoral network Atmospheric dust or mineral dust (or simply “dust”) is a major atmospheric aerosol, and it gives us one of the most visible and detectable aspects of transboundary transport of atmospheric constituents, impacting visibility, radiation and climate.
What is less evident are its quantitative impacts on health, transportation and energy production.
Atmospheric dust is not fully understood at the fundamental level (microphysical properties, dust emissions, source regions) and hence atmospheric models fail to fully reproduce its impacts.
Moreover, dust observations using ground-based instrumentation, remote sensing and aircraft are abundant, but not evenly distributed; in particular they are missing near the major dust sources.
Moreover, the techniques are still under development, with each giving a different picture of a phenomenon with multiple facets.
For example, it is now known that super-coarse and giant dust particles have gone undetected for a long time due to limitations in the measurement and modelling tools that have been in use for decades, and this misdetection alters the understanding and the prediction of a number of processes.
Finally, dust affects the environment, society, and several economic sectors, with impacts on the transportation and energy sectors for example, the nature and cost of which is not fully understood and quantified.
Several methodologies exist to study mineral dust, each giving its own differing picture of a complex phenomenon.
numerical modelling, remote sensing, in-situ observations, laboratory research.
We establish the Dust Doctoral Network (Dust-DN), in order to address gaps in the understanding of dust and its impacts by linking the different disciplines and methods.
The aim is to train a team of early career scientists into overcoming compartmentalism in this field of science, and into developing a multi-disciplinary approach to mineral dust.
Dust-DN will set up a network of academic and non-academic partners working on different aspects of dust research, and will coordinate a program of doctoral projects that will enhance knowledge across a broad range of fundamental, but linked, components of the atmospheric dust life cycle and its impacts.
The projects will span across the disciplines of atmospheric sciences (dust processes, modelling, and remote sensing), geology (dust emissions and source regions), as well as the impacts on society and economic sectors.
The knowledge will be shared among participating institutions and the wider public and scientific community.
Common activities will be held, so as to enhance the network among the partner institutions and among the doctoral researchers, delivering an ambitious advanced training program for capacity building.
The selected candidate will join the Atmospheric Composition (AC) group within the Earth Sciences Department of the BSC (BSC-ES).
The AC group is composed of more than 40 scientists and engineers and seeks to understand the sources, sinks, atmospheric lifecycles, and effects of atmospheric pollutants across a broad range of spatiotemporal scales, from local to global and from short- (weather) to long-term (climate) scales.
The group develops atmospheric chemistry and Earth System models, operates air quality forecasting systems, and applies its knowledge in cross-cutting research, addressing issues such as air quality policy, and socio-economic impacts such as health.
The AC group hosts the WMO Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System Regional Center for North Africa, the Middle East and Europe, and an AXA Chair on Sand and Dust Storms.
The group actively participates in the NASA’s EMIT (Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation) instrument mission, hosts an ERC Consolidator Grant (FRAGMENT) on the effects of dust mineralogy upon climate, and is involved in numerous European projects tackling aerosol effects on climate (e.
., FORCeS, FOCI, CERTAINTY).
The doctoral project Doctoral Candidate 12 (DC12) – “Modelling the effects of dust upon regional climate with constrained dust-source mineralogy” Enrolled in the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) PhD programme on “Environmental Engineering”, the doctoral candidate will develop the research at BSC-ES.
Soil dust aerosols are mixtures of different minerals, whose relative abundances, particle size distribution (PSD), shape, surface topography and mixing state influence their effect upon climate.
However, most current models typically assume that dust aerosols have a globally uniform composition, neglecting the known regional variations in the mineralogy of the sources, and those which include composition variations use poorly constrained soils mineralogical atlases.
This project has the objective of improving our knowledge on the effect of dust mineralogical composition in climate, a research field which still holds great uncertainty.
The doctoral candidate will work with a model to represent spatially resolved mineralogy of dust sources based on novel EMIT satellite data.
The model results will be evaluated against in-situ, remote and satellite observations.
These new model developments will allow assessing the climate response to dust radiative effects at high resolution, with special emphasis in Northern Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
The doctoral candidate will be based at BSC in Barcelona, Spain and will be supervised by Dr.
María Gonçalves Ageitos (BSC/UPC) and Prof.
Carlos Pérez García-Pando (BSC).
The project will include three planned secondments of 1 month each, consisting of one at the National Observatory of Athens (NOA), with Dr.
Vassilis Amiridis, to explore the links between mineralogy and improved representation of dust transport in a modelling framework, one at Technical University of Darmstadt (TUDa), with Dr.
Konrad Kandler, to bring in additional observational constraints on dust mineralogy, and one at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), with Dr.
Martina Klose, to improve the representation of high resolution emission processes and link them to dust mineralogy.
Key Duties Take responsibility for the scientific project that they are involved in, and the instruments and/or software required.
Collect scientific knowledge through experiments and/or numerical modelling, and data analysis.
Develop tailor-made data processing methods.
Advance the fields of research in atmospheric dust and/or the related measurement and/or modelling techniques.
Participate in the Dust Doctoral Network training and networking activities.
Publish research results in scientific peer reviewed journals, and present at conferences and workshops.
Requirements Education The candidates are required to possess an excellent master’s degree (or equivalent) in a physical or mathematical science subject (or other natural science discipline) and to not have any kind of PhD degree.
Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience A recommendation from the DustDN pre-screening phase is required.
Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience Experience in applying broad scientific knowledge to a range of specific problems or scenarios.
Previous research experience and/or previous interest in the atmospheric sciences, meteorology or closely related discipline will be appreciated.
Experience with written or oral scientific communications.
Publication record.
Competences Motivation for research on atmospheric dust.
Experience or aptitude to develop scientific software (computer-based programming).
Demonstrated ability in being a strong team player.
Strong international mobility for the purpose of research, training, and dissemination is mandatory.
Fluency in written and oral English is compulsory.
Conditions The position will be located at BSC within the Earth Sciences Department We offer a full-time contract (37.
h/week), a good working environment, a highly stimulating environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure, flexible working hours, extensive training plan, restaurant tickets, private health insurance, support to the relocation procedures Duration.
Open-ended contract due to technical and scientific activities linked to the project and budget duration Holidays.
23 paid vacation days plus 24th and 31st of December per our collective agreement Salary.
we offer a competitive salary commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the candidate and according to the cost of living in Barcelona Starting date.
Applications procedure and process ​​​​​​​ The selected candidate will be appointed under a 36-month full-time employment contract.
A competitive financial aid package will be offered to the successful candidate, with a gross annual salary of € (including living and mobility allowances, based on current social security rates).
Additional allowances, up to € per year, may be available depending on family status and other needs, as per MSCA provisions.
Additionally, a meal voucher card worth €675 per year will be provided.
In addition to access to the public health system, there is an option to enroll in private health insurance, with BSC covering 80% of the cost, leaving the candidate responsible for only €8.
per month.
Candidates can also choose to allocate a portion of their gross salary towards products or services such as public transportation, childcare vouchers, and/or including family members in BSC’s private medical insurance, resulting in tax and economic savings.
As per current Spanish law, upon completion of the contract, the candidate will receive compensation of € for each of the three years worked.
Deadline The vacancy will remain open until a suitable candidate has been hired.
Applications will be regularly reviewed and potential candidates will be contacted.
OTM-R principles for selection processes BSC-CNS is committed to the principles of the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers of the European Commission and the Open, Transparent and Merit-based Recruitment principles (OTM-R).
This is applied for any potential candidate in all our processes, for example by creating gender-balanced recruitment panels and recognizing career breaks etc.
BSC-CNS is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion.
We are pleased to consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or any other basis protected by applicable state or local law.
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