Postdoc Researcher

Join us and become the new member of the VLIZ research department and a member of the InMOS project. THE PROJECT Climate change is one of the biggest challenges today, with the ocean at the heart of it. The ocean acts as the ultimate climate regulator by absorbing 90% of the excess heat from greenhouse gas warming and annually about 25% of all man-made CO2 emissions. The “Past, Present and Future Climate” research group (Toon websitehttps://www.vliz.be/en/past-present-and-future-marine-climate-change) led by Dr Peter Landschützer combines in-situ observations with novel machine learning tools to better understand the ocean in a changing climate from the recent past towards better understanding our possible future. The ocean is warming up, acidifying and losing oxygen, however, the interconnections between these environmental stressors are to date not well understood. Within the Integration of models and observations across scales (InMOS) project (Toon websitehttps://www.schmidtsciences.org/the-ocean-biogeochemistry-virtual-institute-obvi/), you will develop new constraints of ocean carbon, heat and oxygen, by upscaling in-situ measurements using existing methods and applying new machine learning tools in collaboration with the InMOS partners from 11 institutions in the US, UK, Belgium, and South Africa. These estimates will be used to study the continuity between the air-sea CO2 and O2 exchange and the accumulation and transport of carbon, the loss of oxygen in the ocean interior, as well as connection to heat fluxes to support model development. Are you up for this challenge? YOUR TASKS

• Join our team efforts to combine in-situ data of ocean physics and chemistry with machine learning tools to create new constraints on ocean carbon, oxygen and heat;
• Be a team player and closely interact with complementary projects the group is involved in (e.g. AI4PEX);
• Add to the closure of the marine carbon budget and support future model development in support of climate assessment studies and carbon mitigation efforts;
• Collaborate and interact with researchers in Europe, South Africa and the US;
• Publish your results in peer-reviewed academic journals.

For each function, VLIZ considers enthusiastic involvement, excellent professionalism and integrity as important characteristics.

YOUR PROFILE

• You have a PhD degree in Natural Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Environmental Sciences, etc), Mathematics or Informatics (required).
• You are experienced in big data analyses and machine learning or other relevant statistical techniques (required).
• You have a proven track record of publishing international peer-reviewed journal publications (required).
• You are proficient in at least 1 higher programming language (required).
• You are willing to travel abroad within Europe and the US (required).
• You have previously studied marine biogeochemical cycles (optional).
• You are interested in obtaining 3rd party funding beyond InMOS as part of your personal professional career development (optional).