Alma Mater Studiorum - The University Of Bologna

Research group in Physics of the Atmosphere, coordinator Prof. Silvana Di Sabatino

Homepage: https://physics-astronomy.unibo.it/en/research/research-areas/atmospheric-physics

A PhD position is available in the Atmospheric Physics group at the University of Bologna. The fellowship is part of the FutureData4EU project, funded by the European Marie Curie (MSCA) COFUND project.

Short description:
The candidate will be included in the atmospheric physics team and will work in the area of numerical microclimate simulation in urban environments, combining Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques with mesoscale meteorological simulation techniques. A solid background in either CFD (use of OpenFOAM) or meteorological simulations (use of WRF model) is strongly recommended.
All details and information here: https://site.unibo.it/futuredata4eu

Long Description:
The research project focuses on the development of downscaling procedures from synoptic to micro-meteorological scales. The state-of-the-art research in the field of developing measures for mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change has seen extensive use of numerical simulation technology, both in terms of forecasting derived environmental and socio-economic risks, and in assessing the effectiveness of possible countermeasures to be taken to deal with these risks. The decade-long development of numerical modelling techniques has fostered the availability of increasingly reliable tools for climate predictions and projections at global or synoptic scales; however, the question of how to
project this information through downscaling procedures to smaller scales and in particular regional scales (~10 km) and local microscales (~1 km) still remains open. In particular, the downscaling of synoptic scales to local microscales is of the greatest importance from the perspective of environmental risk assessment and the effectiveness of mitigation and adaptation measures, especially in urban settings, and for which there is a knowledge gap in the current literature.

This is crucial to deliver authoritative and usable environmental and climate information that is relevant at the local scale where actions are planned and implemented. This project aims to address this issue by developing a general methodology, modelling and numerical tools to downscale climate outputs on the local microscale in order to assess the risks associated with climate change. The winning candidate will use state-of-the-art models for meteorological forecasting (e.g. WRF software) and computational fluid dynamics (e.g. OpenFOAM
software).

The project itself has a multidisciplinary component and involves expertise in climatology, meteorology and the physics of small-scale atmospheric processes. It is planned to involve the Atmospheric Physics group in which these competencies are represented. The scientific skills required are mainly meteorological, with a solid knowledge base in the discipline and excellent skills in the use of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model as well as computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

Ref. to position “Numerical downscaling at the local microscale for the evaluation of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures”, pag. 132 of the “Call for Applications” (https://site.unibo.it/futuredata4eu/en/phd-program/call-for-application_futuredata4eu_eng.pdf/@@download/file/Call%20For%20Application_FutureData4Eu_eng.pdf)

- Deadline: June 28th, 2024, at 2:00 pm CEST
- Annual salary: €27,238.83 (gross salary excluding employer’s contributions to tax and social security).
- Application form: https://site.unibo.it/futuredata4eu/en/phd-program

Application form and information: https://site.unibo.it/futuredata4eu/en/phd-program

Ref. to position “Numerical downscaling at the local microscale for the evaluation of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures”, pag. 132 of the “Call for Applications”