The department of biogeochemical processes in Garmisch-Partenkirchen – lead by Prof. Klaus Butterbach-Bahl - invites applications to the open position of a
postdoctoral researcher / phd student (male/female) in the area of terrestrial ecosystem modelling.
In the framework of national and international projects – funded by the EU, German Ministry of Science and Technology and the German Research Foundation – the focus of the work is on the development of process oriented biogeochemical models for the simulation of ecosystem C- and N-turnover processes and associated matter exchange with the hydrosphere and atmosphere at site to regional scales.. These models are used to assessing effects of global changes (landuse, climate) on biosphere-atmosphere-hydrosphere exchange processes and for the development of adaptation and mitigation strategies with regard to the emission/ deposition of greenhouse gases from/ to terrestrial ecosystems and landscapes.
The working group has recently developed the regional scale ecosystem model LandscapeDNDC which has been successfully coupled to other regional models to simulate regional C & N cycling and its feedbacks due to lateral nutrient transport in the soil. Model development is based on a close cooperation with other working groups at KIT as well as at other national and international universities and research institutions.
Job description:
In the frame of ongoing projects the successful applicant will further develop the simulation of crop-growth and microbe-plant competition for nutrients of LandscapeDNDC. Further tasks are linked to specific project work such as
• Impacts of global climate change on carbon sequestration in (agricultural) soils
• Mitigation options to reduce the losses of reactive nitrogen into the water body and/or atmosphere from agricultural and forest soils
• Assessing the greenhouse gas balance of bioenergy crops, thereby considering direct and indirect emissions of N and C compounds as well as effects of direct and indirect land use changes.
The candidate is expected to participate in international projects and exchanges with Asia, Africa and America.
Qualifications:
The candidate should have – besides an appropriate university degree in the field of ecology / biology / agricultural and environmental sciences / hydrology / geo physics – a very good knowledge of vegetation dynamics / agricultural crop growth and the related C &N cycling of the terrestrial ecosystem.
Candidates with a background in numerical mathematics, physics, computer sciences or geography with a strong interest in numerical simulation, scientific programming, visualization and data mining, parallelization on HPC system (MPI, OpenMP, OpenCL) or coupled modelling are also welcome.
Salary: Based on TV-L, PhD position (50 – 75%), PostDoc (100%)
Institute: KIT Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research - (IMK-IFU), Department of biogeochemical processes, Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Contract duration: PhD 3 years / PostDoc 2 years
Starting date: As soon as possible, the position will remain open until a suitable candidate is found
Contact person: For any questions please contact Dr. Edwin Haas, Phone +49 (0) 8821 / 183 245, E-mail: Edwin.Haas@kit.edu
Application: Applications (only as PDF documents) should be sent to Prof. Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, Phone: +49 (0) 8821 / 183-136, E-Mail: Klaus.Butterbach-Bahl@kit.edu