University Assistant (post doc) at the Department of Meteorology and Geophysics

The University of Vienna (20 faculties and centres, 178 fields of study, approx. 9.800 members of staff, about 90.000 students) seeks to fill the position from 01.02.2020 of a


Reference number: 10230

We offer a university assistant/post-doc research position on “Sampling errors and localization in convective-scale data assimilation”. The position will be embedded in the new research group of Prof. Martin Weissmann on convective-scale NWP with particular focus on data assimilation and ensemble methods. The starting date can be as early as 1 February 2020 and the duration is for 6 years.

The Department of Meteorology and Geophysics has recently filled two professorship positions (Andreas Stohl and Martin Weissmann, both starting in the beginning of 2020) and is currently in the process of filling a third professorship. This will create an exciting international working environment for many new scientists, large potential for collaboration, and the opportunity for strong personal development.

Data assimilation aims at making an optimal estimate of the atmospheric state for the initialization of numerical weather prediction (NWP) models through combining the latest available forecast with observations. For this purpose, accurate estimates of forecast errors and their spatial covariances are of utmost importance. The introduction of ensemble approaches for estimating forecast errors and their covariances led to significant advances of NWP in recent years, but the number of ensemble members is usually much smaller than the degrees of freedom of the model leading to spurious correlations and the need for spatial localization of covariances. The post-doc shall develop novel approaches for the correction of sampling errors and covariance localization based on the first convection-permitting 1000-member ensemble simulation that was recently conducted on the K-computer in cooperation with the research group of Dr. Takemasa Miyoshi at RIKEN in Kobe.

Besides research, you are expected to participate in teaching and the supervision of students. Financial support is available for attending international meetings and visiting international research partners in e.g. the U.S., Germany, Australia or Japan.



Duration of employment: 6 year/s

Extent of Employment: 40.0 hours/week
Job grading in accordance with collective bargaining agreement: §48 VwGr. B1 lit. b (postdoc) with relevant work experience determining the assignment to a particular salary grade.

Job Description:
Participation in research, teaching and administration:
• Research on novel approaches for the correction of sampling errors and covariance localization for convective-scale data assimilation;
• Development of further research projects;
• Contributions to project applications and the acquisition of third-party funding;
• Scientific publications and presentations;
• Independent teaching of courses as defined by the collective agreement;
• Scientific and technical support of group members;
• Supervision of students;
• Involvement in the department administration as well as in teaching and research administration.

Profile:
• Doctoral / PhD degree in meteorology, physics or related subject;
• Good communication skills and ability to work in a team;
• Programming experience;
• Numerical modelling experience;
• Data assimilation experience;
• Excellent command of written and spoken English.

Your application should be a single PDF file that includes:

• A letter of motivation

• An academic curriculum vitae

• A description of research interests

• A list of publications and presentations

• A list of courses given

• Contact information of two references

• Degree certificates.


Research fields:

Main research field	Special research fields	Importance
Meteorology, Climatology	Meteorology	SHOULD

Applications including a letter of motivation (German or English) should be submitted via the Job Center to the University of Vienna ( http://jobcenter.univie.ac.at) no later than 06.01.2020, mentioning reference number 10230.

For further information please contact jobcenter@univie.ac.at.

The University pursues a non-discriminatory employment policy and values equal opportunities, as well as diversity ( http://diversity.univie.ac.at/). The University lays special emphasis on increasing the number of women in senior and in academic positions. Given equal qualifications, preference will be given to female applicants.

Human Resources and Gender Equality of the University of Vienna
Reference number: 10230
E-Mail: jobcenter@univie.ac.at
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