UK: Fully Funded Environmental Sciences PhD Studentship at University of East Anglia

Overview

Funding is available for EU students. Funding awarded for this project will cover tuition fees and stipend for EU students. Strict eligibility requirements apply to these positions, and relate to experience and mobility. Normally these requirements mean that the researcher must move country to take up the position, "Early-stage researchers" must be in the first four years of their research careers (http://www.greencycles.org/vacancies/).

The aim of this PhD project

The aim of this PhD project is to assess the processes influencing the uptake of atmospheric CO2, and storage of inorganic carbon, by the Atlantic Ocean. The global oceans are absorbing one third of the human fossil fuel emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), thus strongly reducing the increase of atmospheric CO2.

The formation of deep water is important for the removal of CO2 from fossil fuel emissions (so-called 'anthropogenic' carbon) from contact with the atmosphere, with both the North Atlantic and Southern Oceans playing key roles.

Understanding the processes controlling this oceanic CO2 uptake and storage, and how these may change in the future, is therefore essential. Since 2002, an automated instrument from the University of East Anglia, onboard commercial vessels trading between the UK and the Caribbean, has been taking surface measurements of CO2 (under the CarboOcean project, http://www.carboocean.org/).


Additionally, from 2004 to early 2010, we have been carrying out high precision measurements of inorganic carbon parameters and transient tracers along deep sections in the Atlantic Ocean (recently under the Oceans2025, http://www.oceans2025.org/).

The PhD student will use historical and new data, applying numerical methods such as neural networks and modelling, to assess the underlying causes for the varying uptake and storage of atmospheric CO2, from a seasonal to inter-decadal time-scale. Research will be carried out with collaborators within the Greencycles II network (http://www.greencycles.org/), and specifically within UEA and the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETHZ), Switzerland.

We seek an enthusiastic team player with strong scientific interests and self-motivation. Numerical ability is essential with experience in chemical analysis an advantage. The candidate will acquire highly useful, transferable skills, while participating in a project of global significance, both through research and Personal and Professional Development (http://www.uea.ac.uk/sci/pgr/ppd).

The PhD student will participate in summer schools and other activities organized by the network.

Contact Detail

For informal enquiries about this position please contact Dr Ute Schuster or the Faculty of Science Admissions Office at sci.pgr.admiss@uea.ac.uk or +44 (0) 1603 593002.

How to apply

An application can be downloaded from our website at http://www.uea.ac.uk/mac/admissions/courses/PG. Completed application forms should be submitted to the Admissions Office, Faculty of Science, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ.

The deadline for receipt of completed applications is 28th May 2010.


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