Postdoctoral opportunities at the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies

The Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Predictions Studies (COAPS) at the Florida State University (FSU) invites applications for

a) a postdoctoral position in the area of seasonal climate prediction using coupled ocean-atmospheric models. The candidate will be based at FSU, but will work closely with the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and their Coupled Forecast System (CFS). Research foci will be on the evaluation and improvement of the CFS seasonal prediction capabilities. The successful candidate will be part of a strong climate modeling group and will have many opportunities for independent research. Experience with weather or climate models and familiarity with Fortran, UNIX, shell scripting, etc. are essential.

b) a postdoctoral position in the area of ocean model evaluation and validation. The candidate will work closely with the Naval Research Laboratory ( Stennis Space Center , MS ) to validate the performance of the global HYCOM ocean prediction system. The successful candidate will be required to identify processes and observational datasets suitable for validation against global HYCOM. Validation efforts will focus on both model analysis and forecast skill out to 5 days.

Applications will be reviewed until the positions are filled. A Ph. D. in Meteorology, Physical Oceanography, or related field is required. A curriculum vitae, a statement of research interests, and three letters of recommendation should be sent electronically to: mslaton@coaps.fsu.edu

The Florida State University is committed to a policy of non-discrimination for the university community on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, veteran's or marital status, or any other protected group status.

--
Eric Chassignet
Professor and Director
Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS)
Florida State University
200 R.M. Johnson Building
2035 E. Paul Dirac Drive
PO Box 3062840
Tallahassee, FL, 32306-2840

Office : (1) 850-644-4581
Cell   : (1) 850-524-0033 (urgent matters only)
FAX    : (1) 850-644-4841
E-mail : echassignet@coaps.fsu.edu
http://coaps.fsu.edu

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Job opportunity with NCAR's Research Applications Laboratory

Mesoscale meteorological modeler
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
Research Applications Laboratory (RAL)
Boulder, Colorado

This is an ideal opportunity for an enthusiastic and self-
motivated mesoscale meteorological/regional climate modeler
to work in a vibrant research environment. NCAR's RAL is
engaged in an array of national and international projects
involving and mesoscale meteorological modeling and regional
climate modeling.

You must have a Master's or Ph.D. in atmospheric science,
physical science, or engineering science, and at least three
years of relevant professional experience. Demonstrated skill/
proficiency in the following areas is required: running complex
real-time atmospheric model codes on high-performance computers,
including distributed memory and parallel architectures, full
working knowledge of numerical modeling and numerical weather
prediction, full working knowledge of synoptic- and mesoscale
atmospheric processes, analyzing numerical model output and
verification statistics, full working knowledge of Unix and
Linux computing environments. Skill in developing and implement-
ing statistical and/or numerical algorithms and regional climate
modeling is a distinct advantage. You must have excellent comm-
unications skills and a strong interest in developing your
research work as part of RAL activities.

This is a regular full time position. The closing date for this
solicitation is 17 August 2007.

The full position announcement and application information can
be found at:

http://www.fin.ucar.edu/hr/careers/uco.cfm?do=jobDetailExt&job_ID=897

For further information on RAL research activities please visit:

http://www.ral.ucar.edu

--

Daran L. Rife
National Center for Atmospheric Research
Research Applications Laboratory
PO BOX 3000
Boulder, CO  80307-3000 USA





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PhD Case Studentship at Exeter University

How can we judge the relevance of climate science / models for policy
and decision making in society?

Postgraduate Studentship

A PhD Case Studentship at Exeter University, supported by Lloyds of
London and EPSRC

Title: Extracting Decision-Relevant Information from Climate Models for
the Insurance Industry

Complex climate models enable us to make projections of the possible
climatic consequences of anthropogenic greenhouse gas
emissions. Recent years have seen substantial effort to evaluate
uncertainty in these model based projections using large ensembles
of simulations such as those of climatepredictipon.net. How to usefully
interpret these ensembles, and indeed any climate model
simulations, remains a significant scientific question. It is a
critical question since the output of such simulations are being
used to examine the potential impacts at regional and even local
scales, and to guide adaptation decisions by policy makers in
government and industry.

The aim of this studentship is to view climate models from the
framework of nonlinear dynamical systems, and contrast the model
dynamics with the available observations, with the aim of identifying
the spatial and temporal scales at which the models can
“shadow” reality. This provides the prospect of objective
evaluation of the aspects of model simulations, on climate timescales,
which may be considered “realistic” under past conditions.

The research will involve:

    * Working at Lloyds to understand the vulnerabilities of the
insurance and re-insurance sectors to climate change.
    * Study of what constitutes valuable decision-relevant information
and the process by which climate models may provide such
information for the insurance industry.
    * Analysis of existing climate model datasets including those of
climateprediction.net.
    * Development of dynamical systems shadowing techniques, which
have been demonstrated on weather forecasting timescales, for
the study of climate and climate models.
    * Design of experimental methods which would facilitate the
application of such techniques, and thus the evaluation of a given
generation of climate models to simulate observations. [This design may
require novel computing methods such as those utilized by
climateprediction.net.]
    * Demonstration of such methods using a climate model of
intermediate complexity.
    * Providing guidance on the utilization of climate model output in
decision making.

The student will have the opportunity to develop skills in risk
analysis and the workings of the insurance industry, as well as
climate modeling and the statistical issues in its interpretation.

Applicants should have a 1st or 2:1 Honours degree, an MSc or
equivalent experience in a discipline such as statistics, physics,
mathematics or quantitative environmental science. Experience of
computational techniques, modeling, and programming would be an
advantage.

Informal enquiries are welcome and should be addressed to
d.stainforth1@physics.ox.ac.uk

Value of Award: Maintenance grant of £12,600 p.a. plus university fees
at the UK rate for 3 / 3.5 years. The maintenance grant is
only available to persons who have been resident in the UK for the last
three years.

Details are available from:
http://www.sogaer.ex.ac.uk/geography/postgraduate/funding_opportunities.shtml

Applicants should send a copy of their CV, with the names and addresses
of 2 referees, plus a statement outlining their academic
interests and their reasons for wishing to undertake this research
project to: Helen Pisarska (geog-pg-study@exeter.ac.uk).
Selection procedures will begin on 31st August 2007 and will continue
until the position is allocated.