The Spectroscopy, Quantum Chemistry and Atmospheric Remote Sensing laboratory (SQUARES) at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) is looking for a motivated candidate holding a Master degree in an exact science (e.g. Chemistry, Physics, Environmental science, Bioengineering, Informatics, Geography, Mathematics, Geology,...) to perform research in the field of atmospheric remote sensing.
Context
Satellite remote sensing of our atmosphere covers many different research branches including atmospheric composition and chemistry, the study of the global environment and climate, natural (fires, volcanoes, dust storms) and anthropogenic (agriculture, industry, transport) emissions , air quality and pollution, radiative transfer and molecular spectroscopy, inverse models, numerical analysis and algorithm design. In each of this sub-domains exciting research is being performed. The ULB-SQUARES group has built up a strong expertise in many of these domains, in particular concerning atmospheric sounding in the thermal infrared, with the IASI satellite instrument. Its measurements have allowed us to obtain major progress in understanding both short and long-lived atmospheric gases and processes that drive their distributions.
An important research line in the group concerns mapping the distributions of atmospheric ammonia (NH3) and evaluating its impacts on the Earth environment. This is achieved with current satellite instruments, but extremely challenging given their large footprint on ground. In this perspective, we are leading a proposal for a new satellite, called Nitrosat which aims at revolutionizing the global mapping of ammonia and nitrogen dioxide, by providing global measurements at sub-km scale (more information).
Description of the research profile
At the ULB, you will contribute to developing and improving satellite products from IASI and to their exploitation. Using the IASI record, you will be in charge of improving the techniques to detect and quantify the emission of pollutants from local sources. You will also be involved centrally in the preparatory science activities for Nitrosat.