PhD Position in the Field of Climate Tipping

Join us at the Copernicus Institute for a PhD position exploring the critical interactions between two climate tipping elements: the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and the Amazon rainforest. As part of the EMBRACER programme, you’ll use advanced models and data analysis to uncover how these systems influence each other and the global climate. Be part of cutting-edge research addressing vital climate challenges.

Your job

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and the Amazon rainforest play important roles in the Earth’s climate system. Both of these subsystems have been marked as tipping elements and global climate change seems to push both to their tipping point. While both subsystems have been studied in isolation, it is yet largely unknown how they may interact and affect each other’s tipping behaviour. For example, an AMOC collapse could redistribute rainfall across the Amazon and thereby affect its internal forest-rainfall feedback. Conversely, changes in forest cover distributions would affect the energy and water balances in the Amazon, which might affect the AMOC. With this PhD position at the Copernicus Institute, and another PhD project at the Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht (IMAU), we aim to improve our understanding of the coupling between these important climate subsystems, using models of different complexity and a combination of mathematical, numerical and data analysis methods. You can find the other vacancy atPhD position on Climate Dynamics. The Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest rainforest. It contributes to massive amounts of CO2 storage and rainfall production for South America. Amazon dieback could be dramatic for the continent, but might also have global effects. For instance, it could lead to additional atmospheric CO2, changes in moisture transport into and/or out of the region, and alterations to large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns. At the Copernicus Institute, the Amazon rainforest and its spatially cascading transitions have been studied for years using custom made data analysis and modelling methods.

The AMOC plays an important role in the global climate system, influencing temperature and rainfall patterns globally. A collapse of the AMOC would dramatically change Earth’s climate, leading for example in cooling of Europe, changes in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and precipitation changes in the Amazon rainforest. At IMAU, the potential of tipping of the AMOC has been studied for many years using, amongst others, models of different complexity, ranging from conceptual box models to state-of-the-art Global Climate Models (GCMs).

Within the NWO-Summit project EMBRACER, two PhD candidates will build synergies between the approaches taken at IMAU and the Copernicus Institute and address AMOC-Amazon interactions in detail, in particular the role of atmospheric teleconnections and of changing spatial heterogeneities in both the AMOC and the Amazon. In the specific sub-project at the Copernicus Institute, GCM output will be used for performing atmospheric moisture tracking in order to study spatially heterogeneous interactions between the Amazon and the AMOC. It will be determined how changing spatial heterogeneities in the moisture recycling patterns following AMOC collapse affect cascading tipping points in the Amazon rainforest, and vice versa. For example, a spatially heterogeneous reaction-diffusion model for the Amazon rainforest will be developed. Specifically, the role of spatial heterogeneities in the interactions between AMOC and the Amazon rainforest will be analyzed.

Your qualities

We are looking for inspiring and self-driven candidates who have:

• a MSc in physics, applied mathematics, ecology, environmental sciences or a related field;
• excellent skills in scientific programming and numerical / statistical analysis of simulated and observed data;
• basic knowledge of environmental processes;
• excellent writing and communication skills;
• experience with ecological modelling (considered an advantage).

Selection will be made solely based on qualifications without regard to gender, religion or national origin. Disabled applicants with comparable qualifications will be given preference. Candidates should be able to demonstrate self-motivation, a strong eagerness to learn, and the ability to work both independently and as part of a team.

Our offer

We offer:

• the opportunity to work in and with a team of leading experts;
• a full-time position for 4 years;
• a working week of 36 hours and a gross monthly salary between €2.901 and €3.707 in the case of full-time employment (salary scale P under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU));
• 8% holiday pay and 8.3% year-end bonus;
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave and flexible terms of employment based on the CAO NU.