MSCA-IF: Joint application at the University of Granada. Department of Atmospheric Lab

Professor Lucas Alados-Arboledas, from the Department of Atmospheric Lab at the University of Granada, welcomes postdoctoral candidates interested in applying for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (MSCA-IF) in 2019 at this University. Please note that applicants must comply with the Mobility Rule (more information: http://sl.ugr.es/09Qg).

Brief description of the institution:

The University of Granada (UGR), founded in 1531, is one of the largest and most important universities in Spain. It serves more than 60000 students per year, including many foreign students, as UGR is the leader host institution in the Erasmus program. UGR, featuring 3650 professors and more than 2000 auxiliary personnel, offers a total of 75 degrees through its 112 departments and 28 centers.

UGR is also a leading institution in research, located in the top 5/10 of Spanish universities by a variety of ranking criteria, such as national R&D projects, fellowships awarded, publications, or international funding. UGR is one of the few Spanish Universities listed in the Shanghai Top 500 ranking (http://www.arwu.org/), and it is also well recognized for its web presence (http://www.4icu.org/top200/).

Internationally, we bet decidedly by our participation in the calls of H2020, both at partner and coordination. For the duration of the Seventh Framework Programme, the UGR has obtained a total of 66 projects, with total funding of 17.97 million euros, and for H2020, until 2015, more than 25 projects with total funding of more than 6 million euros. Our more than 3,000 researchers are grouped into 365 research groups covering all scientific fields and disciplines.

Brief description of the Centre/Research Group

The Atmospheric Physics Group (GFAT) of the Andalusian Institute for Earth System Research (IISTA-CEAMA) develops its research activity on the different components of the Earth energy balance. Along the last two decades the group gained a good experience in the study of aerosol, clouds and their interaction with the atmospheric radiation field, using in-situ and remote sensing, passive and active, tools combined with the use of retrieval algorithms of microphysical properties for non-spherical aerosols, based on T-matrix kernels. The group has also a good skill on the use of eddy covariance techniques applied to the study of turbulent exchanges between surface and atmosphere, with special focus on green house gases. GFAT is part of EARLINET and AERONET networks. In the frame of the H2020 projet ACTRIS2, GFAT leads the Spanish Join Research Unit that includes five relevant Spanish research institutions: University of Granada (UGR), Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), Barcelona supercomputing Center (BSC), Research Center on Energy, Environment and Technology (CIEMAT) and National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA).

GFAT operates a station located at Granada. The station, which belongs to the Andalusian Institute for Earth System Research, IISTA_CEAMA of the University of Granada, combines long-term monitoring of vertical distribution of atmospheric aerosol, based on active and passive remote sensing, with in-situ measurements for the characterization of aerosol particles, as well as the monitoring of atmospheric and solar radiation at several spectral ranges. UGR includes additional facilities in Sierra Nevada Mountains. The high mountain station allows for the characterization of regional and long-range transport episodes and for the validation of inversion algorithms used to retrieve aerosol microphysical properties with LIDAR techniques.

Project description

The candidate will be involved in the CLARIN project, funded by the Spanish MEIC. The GENERAL OBJETIVE of this project is contributing to increasing the knowledge of the role of the atmospheric aerosol in the Earth’s climate, thus reducing the uncertainties associated to Cloud, Aerosol, Radiation Interaction. This objective requires consolidating and optimizing the capabilities of remote sensing atmospheric profiling that will contribute to improvements in the investigation of aerosols, clouds, and their interactions, with high vertical and temporal resolution throughout the troposphere. Furthermore it is crucial to use in-situ approaches that are really appropriate in high mountain sites where it is possible to develop measurements in-cloud at a reliable cost.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

1. Exploring different alternatives for the study of aerosol cloud interaction, ACI, using ground based remote sensing. This will include the characterization of the atmospheric aerosol and the clouds using a combination of active and passive remote sensing instruments.
2. Study ACI by in-situ aerosol and cloud measurements at a high mountain observatory. The singularity of the high mountain observatory in Sierra Nevada will be exploited in order to perform in-cloud studies of ACI.
3. Use the combination of different remote sensing techniques for the study of the changes in the aerosol optical properties in the so-called twilight zone, including the characterization of the columnar volume size distribution on the atmospheric aerosols in the vicinity of clouds.

Research Area

Environmental Sciences and Chemistry (ENV-CHE)

Physics and Mathematics (PHY-MAT)

For a correct evaluation of your candidature, please send the documents below to Professor Lucas Alados-Arboledas (alados@ugr.es):

• CV
• Letter of recommendation (optional)