The candidate will use the atmospheric Weather Research Forecasting model (WRF) coupled with Chemical transport (WRF-Chem) in order to simulate GHG missions at urban scale at the 500 meter resolution. The community Noah land Surface model (LSM) has been used in weather prediction models and land data assimilations, and can be parameterized in WRF-Chem to compute surface fluxes and temperature for vegetated areas. The Noah LSM includes parameterization for irrigation, which will let us explore the cooling effect of the urban biosphere in addition to impact on the carbon footprint. Furthermore, an appropriate urban canopy model (UCM) will be included in the WRF-Chem in order to calculate the fluxes of the anthropogenic surfaces (see Work Package 2 for more details click here). This PhD thesis aims to improve our scientific understanding of the impact of the urban biosphere on the net flux of CO2 from cities into the atmosphere. Using the case study city of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona or Oslo, the student will attempt to answer the question: What combinations of green infrastructures result in best performance in terms of air quality, temperature, and the carbon footprint of the city? The overall objective is to analyze the direct effects of vegetation and urban agriculture on the urban and regional atmosphere. The student will work in a multidisciplinary and transversal way with the rest of the team, so that an integrated analysis will be generated to support policy in terms of sustainable urban planning and management to promote a more resource-efficient city.
The researcher will be required to do at least one external training activity during the project, in topics such as urban canopy parameterization for modeling or metadata management. There will be two training sessions during the second year for the entire team: the first will be on how to make observations and analyze gas samples in urban areas, and the second one will be on advances in urban metabolism. Additionally, the Post-Graduate program at the UAB offers training opportunities for both postdocs and PhD students, such as courses in scientific writing, GIS tools, and statistical methods.
Requirements:
Bachelors in science, masters or experience in atmospheric modeling, experience with GIS tools such as ArcGIS or QGIS, WRF and WRF-Chem (or other chemical transport models), Python, Fortran, graphic tools such as GraDs, NCL, R, or other open source tools; English (can communicate, read, and write); a proficient level of Spanish, Catalan or Norwegian is especially helpful but not obligatory.
You can also apply for this position through Euraxess: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/418028
