PhD on Precursors and dynamics of atmospheric blocking leading to European temperature extremes

The Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (LMD, Paris, France) is seeking a student with a master level or equivalent to conduct his PhD thesis (3-year long) within the European project EDIPI (European weather Extremes: DrIvers, Predictability and Impacts). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 956396. The doctoral project aims to investigate the dynamics and medium-range predictability (up to ~15 days) of atmospheric blocking and explain the existence of preferred paths toward blocking, which often leads to European winter cold spells and summer heat waves. The early-stage researcher will use the IPSL model DYNAMICO-LMDZ, which includes a new dynamical core that enables high spatial resolutions to be reached and will analyze various kinds of simulations performed with this model.

Institution/ context: The LMD is an internationally well-recognized research laboratory working on atmospheric dynamics, atmospheric physics, air pollution and climate variability and dynamics. It depends on the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS), Paris Sciences Lettres (PSL) university, Ecole Polytechnique, and Sorbonne Universités. Different complementary approaches are followed: numerical modelling, instrumental development for observations and theoretical approaches. The recruited early-stage researcher will work within the team “Dynamics and Physics of the Atmosphere and Ocean” (DPAO). His/her office will be in the LMD site located at Ecole Normale Supérieure (24 rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris). His/her work will be supervised by Gwendal Rivière from LMD and Sébastien Fromang from LSCE. Finally, the recruited early-stage researcher will participate in different meetings and will have regular interactions with other participants of the European project EDIPI. In particular, two short-term stays (2 times 2 months) are planned abroad to visit two partners of the project in UK (Imperial College) and Sweden (Uppsala University).

Duties:

- Analysis of long-term runs (~100 years) of the dry version of the model with different spatial resolutions. Decomposition of the North Atlantic atmospheric circulation into weather regimes. Preferred transitions toward and from the blocking regime will be analyzed and compared to the observational datasets (reanalyses).

- Identification of synoptic and large-scale precursors of blockings and detection of their analogues in one of the long-term simulation.

- To better understand why some large-scale analogues do not lead to blocking, many short-term sensitivity experiments will be performed by initializing the model with various combinations of the large-scale and synoptic analogues of the blocking onsets.

- Application of the same initial value approach to precursors of blocking decay.

- Analysis of the short-term simulations outputs; statistical analysis and dynamical interpretation.

- Implementation of the same procedure for the version of the model with full physics.

- Synthesis of the results : writing of peer-reviewed publications and presentation of the results in conferences.

Requirements: A Master’s or corresponding degree in Climate Science, Earth Sciences, Physics, Mathematics, Meteorology, or related disciplines preferably obtained no later than one month before starting date. The applicant must be proficient in spoken and written English. In accordance with MSCA rules, applicants must not have resided and not have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in France for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the recruitment date – unless as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention. The applicant at the time of recruitment must be in their first 4 years (full-time equivalent) of research career and must not have been awarded a doctoral degree. The research career is counted from the date when the researcher obtained the degree entitling him or her to embark on a doctorate.

Additional qualification: 

- The candidate should be familiar with the main physical and dynamical processes involved in atmospheric circulation.

- The candidate should have experience in analyzing large meteorological datasets like climate models output or reanalyses products and an experience in running a numerical model would be ideal.

- We also expect the candidate to have good programming skills in some languages like Fortran, R, Python, Matlab or Ferret.

- The candidate should be able to work inside a team and to communicate with colleagues and students.

Salary: The salary will follow the European MSCA ITN rules

Starting date: 01-09-2021 or as otherwise agreed.

Scope of employment: 100 %

For further information about the position please contact: Gwendal Rivière, e-mail: griviere@lmd.ens.fr

Closing date: 31st May 2021.