The Climate Impacts of Atmospheric Internal Gravity Waves

Advisor: Petr Sacha (DAP CUNI)

Funding: Fully funded

Website: https://kfa.mff.cuni.cz/?page_id=2134

Contact: petr.sacha@matfyz.cuni.cz

The Department of Atmospheric Physics at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, has an exciting opportunity for a fully-funded PhD position within the Gravity Wave and Middle Atmospheric working groups. The project, "Unravelling climate impacts of atmospheric internal gravity waves (GWs)," aims to improve our understanding of the effects of GWs on the climate and their impact on atmospheric phenomena.

GWs are present on various scales, but a significant portion of the GW spectrum remains unresolved in global weather prediction or climate models, and therefore their effects need to be parameterized. The project focuses on analyzing the resolved GW effects to improve our understanding of the forcing of selected atmospheric phenomena and modify GW parameterization schemes to improve future climate predictions. For more details on the project, see the project webpage.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to choose from several research directions, such as developing and applying methods for GW analysis, exploring theoretical aspects of GW instabilities and dissipation, investigating the interaction of GWs with Rossby waves and their role in the dynamics of the polar vortex and middle atmosphere, and devising novel GW parameterization schemes. Individual sub-topics may be prioritized based on the preference of the candidate and coordination of tasks within the research group.

The ideal candidate will hold a Master-of-Science-equivalent degree in meteorology, mathematics, and/or theoretical physics and have a strong background in these areas. Previous experience with global climate/mesoscale/LES models and handling and analyzing large datasets is a significant advantage.

The positions will be available from 1. 10. 2023, and the funding is for four years. The successful candidate will receive a net monthly income up to 1800 EUR, including the regular PhD scholarship. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to use project budget for conferences travels too and may also apply for own project in the Charles University internal student grant competition, which includes an additional 3000EUR/year to the scholarship and a small budget for traveling and other costs.

Information on deadlines, how to apply and what is required can be found at Application.

Further information about our department can be found here.