Band: D, S2
Contract Type: Fixed Term – 30 months
Background/Overview:
The Ice Core Gas Laboratory at the British Antarctic Survey is recruiting a PDRA to augment our team’s expertise in greenhouse gas analysis to include an Earth System modelling component. Using their numerical modelling skills, the ideal candidate will further develop an earth system model of intermediate complexity to study the greenhouse gas feedbacks over glacial-interglacial timescales. In anticipation of new data emerging from various “Old Ice” drilling efforts, a time period of particular interest will be the mid-Pleistocene transition when the earth transitioned from 40k to 100k cycles.
Rewind the clock to 1,500,000 years ago and then fast forward back to today. How has the earth’s climate changed? The first thing you would notice is that the earth oscillates between warm climates, like today, and cold climates, when the earth was much cooler (~7 degrees C) and massive ice sheets reached as far south as present-day New York City and North Norfolk. These swings between cold and warm climates occur with a distinct rhythm, like a heartbeat for the earth. The second thing you might notice is that this heartbeat slowed as you move closer to today. Sometime around 900,000 years ago the pattern moved from a warm period occurring every 40,000 years to every 100,000 years. This transition is known as the mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT) and remains one of the long-standing enigmas in paleoclimate.
Purpose:
This postdoctoral researcher role is part of a Royal Society funded project “Developing an earth system toolkit for interpreting the oldest ice core records” (PI: Dr, Thomas Bauska). The PDRA will be the lead researcher at BAS on an earth system model of intermediate complexity with a special focus on carbon-climate feedbacks. The PDRA will work closely with Dr. Bauska to further develop an earth system model to include palaeo-constrained CO2 and CH4 feedbacks.
Duties:
- Install and test an earth system model of intermediate complexity on the BAS HPC.
- Perform ensemble experiments of orbital-scale variability using a simple, efficient earth system model (i.e. with an energy balance atmospheric) and focus on the last glacial cycle. Within this large ensemble perform a smaller subset of “snapshot” experiments using a dynamic atmosphere.
- Analyse the ensemble by comparing to ice core data of atmospheric CO2, 13C-CO2, mean ocean temperature and other key carbon cycle data constraints from marine and terrestrial records. Perform feedback analysis on the data-constrained model results.
- Perform an idealized ensemble of a 40k world glacial-interglacial cycle. Compare the model prediction to existing data from blue ice core and any new data from deep drilling efforts.
The successful candidate with have a PhD in Earth Sciences or other related Natural Sciences field and experience with numerical modelling. Experience with earth system modelling is preferred although candidates with strong numerical backgrounds in earth science will also be considered. The exact model to be used depends somewhat on the candidates’ prior experience but a model similar to cGENIE with the ability to couple to a dynamical atmosphere (PLASIM-GENIE) is preferred.
Working within the Ice Core Gas Lab at BAS and interacting with the wider ice core science research community across Cambridge. The successful candidate will also be integrated into the Beyond EPICA community including the Gas Consortium and Climate and Carbon Cycle Consortium.
The Ice Core Gas Laboratory enables research at the British Antarctic Survey and the University of Cambridge. We specialise in measuring the concentration and isotopic composition of greenhouse gases in ice cores.
Informal enquiries about the role are very welcome and should be directed to Dr. Thomas Bauska (thausk@bas.ac.uk). The ideal start date for the position is in the late Summer/early Autumn of 2024.