Imperial College London -Space and Atmospheric Group, Department of Physics
Salary range: £32,100 - £40,720 per annum (maximum salary on appointment will be £33,820 per annum)
South Kensington Campus
Fixed term appointment until 31 December 2015
Applications are invited for a Research Associate position within the Space and Atmospheric Physics Group, to start as soon as possible. The successful applicant will work with Dr Helen Brindley and will contribute to a growing team using a variety of satellite observations and modelling tools to investigate the impact of mineral dust aerosol on climate. The post holder will also be expected to support the Department’s teaching activities.
In this project we are collaborating with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) as part of a wider effort to develop the first coupled aerosol-atmosphere-ocean model of the Middle East North African (MENA) region. Your role will be to develop retrieval algorithms for the Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager instrument in geostationary orbit in order to obtain the first observationally constrained estimate of aerosol loading over the MENA region through the full diurnal cycle. You will use an emerging network of ground and ship-based measurements to evaluate and refine your retrieval technique. Using co-located observations from the Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget instrument flying on the same satellite, you will also assess the direct radiative effect of the aerosol, thus permitting a direct evaluation of the climate modelling tools developed by other members of the project team. The application of these tools to the MENA region is particularly timely as recent work has suggested a strong positive trend in aerosol loading over the Arabian Peninsula which, if true, has important implications for the climate response of the region.
The successful candidate will have (or submitted) a PhD in the field of atmospheric science, or be able to demonstrate an equivalent level of professional qualifications and experience. It is also essential that you have excellent computing, data visualisation and statistical analysis skills; with proven experience of using Matlab and/or IDL highly beneficial. Experience in developing or applying retrieval algorithms to Earth observation datasets is also essential. While this does not necessarily have to be confined to techniques applied to passive infrared or visible sounders, proven expertise in this area, including knowledge of the relevant radiative transfer, would be a distinct advantage. Experience processing very large datasets in a variety of formats (e.g., GRIB, netCDF3/4 and HDF4/5) would also be beneficial.
You must have an enthusiastic approach to research with strong written communication skills and the ability to write scientifically, clearly and succinctly for publication. The successful candidate will also have strong verbal communication skills to deal with a wide range of people and to interact successfully with others to learn and teach new skills.
Our preferred method of application is online via our website below (Please select “Job Search”, then enter the job title or vacancy reference number NS2012254SC into “Keywords”). Please complete and upload an application form as directed, also providing a CV and a list of publications, and the names of at least two referees.
Closing Date: 21 January 2013
Committed to equality and valuing diversity. The Department of Physics is an Athena Silver SWAN Award winner and an Institute of Physics Juno Champion
