Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Homepage: https://www.imk-tro.kit.edu/

We are inviting applications for a 3-year doctoral researcher position at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research Troposphere Research (IMKTRO). The position is in the context of the European Doctoral Network on atmospheric dust, Dust-DN:

Doctoral Candidate 14 (DC14) in Dust-DN – “Size-dependent turbulent dust transport in idealised and realistic high-resolution simulations”

This project aims to estimate the impact of turbulence on vertical dust transport, considering both irregular and coherent turbulent structures. Toward this aim, the doctoral candidate will conduct idealised large-eddy simulations (LES) with the ICON-ART model to statistically quantify vertical motions under different atmospheric stability conditions and in selected scenarios of organised turbulence, e.g. vortex roles; investigate size-dependent dust transport using a Eulerian model representation, with particle sizes ranging from fine to giant; explore coupling with a Lagrangian particle model. Finally, she or he will use data from the J-WADI comprehensive field campaign and from existing storm-resolving global model simulations to investigate micro- and meso-scale turbulent structures and link them with the statistical investigation using LES. The doctoral candidate will be based at KIT in Karlsruhe, Germany, and will be supervised by Dr. Martina Klose (KIT) and Dr. Carlos Pérez García-Pando (Barcelona Supercomputing Center). The project will include two planned secondments: the first one of 1-2 months at the National Observatory of Athens (Greece) at the beginning of the second year of the project and the second one of 2-3 months at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spain, at the end of the second project year.

More detail on the position can be found here: https://dust-dn.cyi.ac.cy/dc14/

Dust-DN offers 17 doctoral research positions at renowned research institutions in Europe, including the position offered at KIT in Germany (https://dust-dn.cyi.ac.cy/research-positions/). The selection of candidates follows a two-stage process with an initial common pre-screening and a subsequent formal recruitment process at each institution. Applicants are encouraged to select up to three doctoral positions of their interest during the pre-screening. Please consider the eligibility criteria, especially regarding mobility requirements, before submitting your application.

The Dust-DN doctoral network

Atmospheric dust or mineral dust (or simply “dust”) is a major atmospheric aerosol, and it gives us one of the most visible and detectable aspects of transboundary transport of atmospheric constituents, impacting visibility, radiation and climate. What is less evident are its quantitative impacts on health, transportation and energy production. Atmospheric dust is not fully understood at the fundamental level (microphysical properties, dust emissions, source regions) and hence atmospheric models fail to fully reproduce its impacts. Moreover, dust observations using ground-based instrumentation, remote sensing and aircraft are abundant, but not evenly distributed; in particular they are missing near the major dust sources. Moreover, the techniques are still under development, with each giving a different picture of a phenomenon with multiple facets. For example, it is now known that super-coarse and giant dust particles have gone undetected for a long time due to limitations in the measurement and modelling tools that have been in use for decades, and this misdetection alters the understanding and the prediction of a number of processes. Finally, dust affects the environment, society, and several economic sectors, with impacts on the transportation and energy sectors for example, the nature and cost of which is not fully understood and quantified. Several methodologies exist to study mineral dust, each giving its own differing picture of a complex phenomenon: numerical modelling, remote sensing, in-situ observations, laboratory research.

We establish the Dust Doctoral Network (Dust-DN), in order to address gaps in the understanding of dust and its impacts by linking the different disciplines and methods. The aim is to train a team of early career scientists into overcoming compartmentalism in this field of science, and into developing a multi-disciplinary approach to mineral dust. Dust-DN will set up a network of academic and non-academic partners working on different aspects of dust research, and will coordinate a program of doctoral projects that will enhance knowledge across a broad range of fundamental, but linked, components of the atmospheric dust life cycle and its impacts. The projects will span across the disciplines of atmospheric sciences (dust processes, modelling, and remote sensing), geology (dust emissions and source regions), as well as the impacts on society and economic sectors. The knowledge will be shared among participating institutions and the wider public and scientific community. Common activities will be held, so as to enhance the network among the partner institutions and among the doctoral researchers, delivering an ambitious advanced training program for capacity building.

Note that there will be an informational webinar on Dust-DN on 18th September: https://dust.aemet.es/news-events/events/europe-webinar-for-the-dust-doctoral-network

The selection of candidates follows a two-stage process with an initial common pre-screening and a subsequent formal recruitment process at each institution. Applicants are encouraged to select up to three doctoral positions of their interest during the pre-screening. Please consider the eligibility criteria, especially regarding mobility requirements, before submitting your application.

Application details: https://dust-dn.cyi.ac.cy/application-details/

Deadline for the submission of applications to the first stage (pre-screening) is 30th September 2024.