Marine Environmental Modeller - Cambridge, United Kingdom - British Antarctic Survey

British Antarctic Survey

Verified Company

Cambridge, United Kingdom

2 weeks ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

beBee Recruiter

Description

Purpose:

We are seeking a marine ecological modeller to join the '

CUPIDO:

Calculating the strength of the plastic pump in counteracting the deep export of oceanic carbon' research programme, which has been funded through a UK Research Innovation Future Leader Fellowship to Dr Clara Manno.

CUPIDO aims to identify the biological mechanisms that facilitate the export of plastic from the surface to the deeper layers of the ocean and to quantify the impact of this export on the ability of the ocean to uptake carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The post-holder will develop a depth-resolved model to investigate how biological-microplastic interactions affect the vertical flux of carbon through the year and hence the ability of the biological carbon pump to sequester carbon in the ocean depths.

The model analyses will focus on the Southern Ocean.

The model will simulate the potential accumulation of microplastic in specific water layers and identify changes in residence time of carbon through the water column as a function of the ratio of particulate plastics to particulate carbon.

A specific focus will be to describe the change in the composition of zooplankton faecal pellets with depth through the water column due to the incorporation of microplastic into the pellets.

In situ data collected by the CUPIDO team, together with additional existing datasets, will be available to parameterise the model.

The postholder will work within the British Antarctic Survey Ecosystems team, which includes scientists involved in studies of zooplankton dynamics and their role in biogeochemical processes, and the impact of environmental stressors on the operation of the ecosystem.

Duties:

Contribute to the preparation and planning of CUPIDO research activities, including supporting fieldwork planning in terms of data collection
Synthesise key datasets for model parameterisation
Develop and implement a depth resolved carbon export model that includes the effect of microplastic ingestion by zooplankton
Prepare parameterisation datasets and model output for curation in appropriate data centres (e.g. Polar Data Centre, British Oceanographic Data Centre)
Lead and publish high quality, timely and relevant peerreviewed research related to the CUPIDO objectives
Form and maintain national and international relationships and collaborations for scientific research with the Antarctic research communities
Travel to national and international meetings to present research findings
Proactively pursue and contribute to future research grant opportunities
Engage with stakeholders and the general public to communicate the objectives of the CUPIDO project

The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role. UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.

Job Type:
Fixed term contract

Contract length: 11 months

Salary:
£31,931.00-£39,915.00 per year

Benefits: