Assignment, division & context
Within BIRA-IASB, the Tropospheric Modelling Team is studying on the emissions of pollutants in the atmosphere, the chemistry and role of chemical compounds involved in the budget of oxidants, and the derivation of emissions of trace gases from satellite data by inverse modelling. More details about the team's activities at http://tropo.aeronomie.be.
Job description
The aim of this position is to perform and analyze high-resolution atmospheric simulations to address research questions in the field of air quality, and to develop tools for the estimation of emissions using satellite observations of air pollutants. The team is looking for a scientist holding a recent Doctoral degree in Sciences, for a duration of one year (with extension for an additional 1-2 years depending on successful performance and sufficient funding), starting from September 1 st, 2022.
The proposed work contributes to the scientific effort to improve the knowledge of the atmospheric system relying on models, satellite observations, and inversion tools. The target compounds are key compounds for both air quality and climate: nitrogen oxides, formaldehyde (as proxy for volatile organic compounds), and ammonia. Those species are measured by current satellite instruments (TROPOMI, IASI, CrIS) at high spatial resolution. You will use the WRF-Chem (Weather Research Forecast with Chemistry) highresolution atmospheric model to simulate air composition from coarse to fine spatial scales. WRF-Chem is an open-source model, widely used to investigate air quality problems and as an inter-comparison platform between groundbased, airborne and satellite data.