Post-doctoral Research Fellowship: MSCA-IF 2017 at the Department of Applied Physics

Professor Alberto Cazorla, from the Department of Applied Physics at the University of Granada, welcomes postdoctoral candidates interested in applying for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (MSCA-IF) in this university. Applicants must comply with the Mobility Rule (more information in the participant guide: http://sl.ugr.es/097k).

The main research focus of the Atmospheric Physics Group (GFAT) is the investigation of atmospheric aerosol’s life cycle, and its impact on air pollution, climate and cloud formation and precipitation. Our activities are performed on the framework of national and international projects, including ACTRIS Infrastructure with active participation on several work packages, and several COST actions.

Since 2005, we are continuously characterizing the atmospheric aerosol properties at the station located on the Andalusian Institute for Earth System Research in Granada (680 m asl). At this station there are two laboratories (in-situ and remote sensing labs) aiming to determine optical, microphysical and chemical properties of atmospheric aerosol at ground level (in-situ) and in the vertical atmospheric column (remote sensing).

In addition, a high mountain station located in Sierra Nevada National Park (2500m asl, 30km in horizontal distance from Granada) managed by the group replicates most of the in-situ instrumentation at Granada with the possibility of sampling total aerosol and non-activated aerosol (instertitial). The combination of these two in-situ stations and the remote sensing instrumentation at Granada allows for studies related with the impact of aerosol on climate and cloud formation.

The study of precipitation on mountainous environments is of vital importance since they are very sensitive to climatic variations. Snow represents a crucial role on water reservoirs, taking special relevance on semiarid regions like the south of Spain. Sierra Nevada is one of the mountain ranges of higher altitude in Europe and represents a real-life laboratory for studies related to climate change and its impact on precipitation and water reservoirs.

On the process of formation and evolution of clouds, the atmospheric aerosol takes an important role, acting as cloud condensation or ice nuclei making possible the formation of cloud droplets and ice crystals respectively. Furthermore, these particles modify the microphysical properties of clouds that may cause the suppression of precipitation.

In this project we will study the situations that cause the formation of clouds and precipitation in Sierra Nevada, along with the air mass trajectories in order to determine under what circumstances the aerosol particles, local or transported are incorporated and take part in the cloud mass. At the same time we will study with remote sensing instrumentation the vertical structure of the atmosphere over the city of Granada (optical properties of the aerosol, thermodynamic and wind profiles) in order to study the incorporation of pollutants from the city to the air mass that form the cloud. Lastly, precipitation samples from the slopes of Sierra Nevada will be analyzed chemically in order to look for trace compounds that evidence the origin of particles that seeded the clouds. All this information will serve to evaluate the scenarios that cause precipitation in form of snow or rain, and situation that may cause precipitation suppression.

Research Area:

• Chemistry (CHE)
• Environmental Sciences and Geology (ENV)
• Physics (PHY)

For a correct evaluation of your candidature, please send the documents below to Professor (cazorla@ugr.es):

• CV
• Letter of recommendation (optional)