The boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere is the region where changes in greenhouse gases, such as water vapor and ozone, have the highest climate impact. At the Institute of Energy and Climate – Stratosphere (IEK-7) – we study this region by means of aircraft campaigns and atmospheric modeling. In particular, stratospheric air is uplifted in the tropics and descends at high latitudes. In addition, there is quasi-horizontal transport flushing the otherwise clean and dry lower troposphere. This large-scale transport breaks down small scales by generation of extended filaments which can have thousands of kilometers lengths but are only a few hundred kilometers wide. Our aim is to observe and understand how such filaments form and decay, with the ultimate goal to enhance the process understanding for improved climate prediction. In the future, these processes shall be directly observable by satellite remote sensing.

We are offering a

PhD Position – From Filamentation to Mixing: How Air Mixes from the Troposphere and the Stratosphere

As a part of the instrument team, you will carry out such novel measurements with the GLORIA instrument. GLORIA is a unique infrared limb imager (https://gloria.helmholtz.de/Retrieval_dynamics.php).

During the upcoming campaign, GLORIA will be deployed on the German HALO research airplane based in Anchorage, Alaska in September 2023. By consecutive flights during different days, highly polluted air masses will be measured in 3-D subsequently and at different stages of the mixing process. You will carry out atmospheric model simulations to investigate the origin of pollution (expected to stem from the Asian summer monsoon) and involved chemistry and mixing with the Lagrangian model CLaMS (Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere). This model explicitly describes the mixing process (in contrast to standard climate models where mixing is mostly a result of numerical diffusion). In the future, we hope to perform such multiple observations of filaments from a novel satellite, which we proposed for Earth Explorer 11 to ESA (http://www.cairt.eu). Your tasks in detail will be:

• Participation in the PHILEAS campaign in Alaska
• Support of the flight planning and in-flight operations
• Tomographic retrieval of 3D distributions of ozone, HNO3, water vapor, and pollutants
• Modeling of the flight scenarios with the Lagrangian model CLaMS
• Inference of mixing scales and mixing strengths
• Generation of synthetic satellite observations and demonstration of mixing observations
• Presentation of the results at international conferences and ESA meetings
• Publication in the peer-reviewed literature

• A master’s degree in physics, mathematics, meteorology, or earth sciences
• Experience in programming, preferentially Python
• Software development via continuous integration (GIT)

We work on the very latest issues that impact our society and are offering you the chance to actively help in shaping the change! We offer ideal conditions for you to complete your doctoral degree:

• A highly motivated working group as well as an international and interdisciplinary working environment at one of Europe’s largest research establishments
• Outstanding scientific and technical infrastructure
• Opportunity to participate in (international) conferences and project meetings
• Continuous scientific mentoring by your scientific advisor
• Flexible work (location) arrangements, e.g. remote work
• A large research campus with green spaces, offering the best possible means for networking with colleagues and pursuing sports alongside work
• Further development of your personal strengths, e.g. through an extensive range of training courses; a structured program of continuing education and networking opportunities specifically for doctoral researchers via JuDocS, the Jülich Center for Doctoral Researchers and Supervisors: https://www.fz-juelich.de/en/judocs
• Targeted services for international employees, e.g. through our International Advisory Services

The position is initially for a fixed term of three years. Pay will be in line with 85% of pay group 13 of the Collective Agreement for the Public Service (TVöD-Bund) and additionally 60% of a monthly salary as special payment (“Christmas bonus”). Further information on doctoral degrees at Forschungszentrum Jülich including our other locations is available at https://www.fz-juelich.de/gp/Careers_Docs.

We welcome applications from people with diverse backgrounds, e.g. in terms of age, gender, disability, sexual orientation / identity, and social, ethnic and religious origin. A diverse and inclusive working environment with equal opportunities in which everyone can realize their potential is important to us.

We look forward to receiving your application. The job will be advertised until the position has been successfully filled. You should therefore submit your application as soon as possible via our Online Recruitment System!

Questions about the vacancy?

Please feel free to contact us via our contact form. Please note that for technical reasons we cannot accept applications via email.

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