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<b><span class="fontstyle0">Proposed PhD project title: </span></b><span
class="fontstyle1">Atmospheric turbulence and its role in extreme
fire <br>
behavior<br>
</span><span class="fontstyle0"><b>Starting date:</b> </span><span
class="fontstyle1">As soon as possible in 2017<br>
</span><span class="fontstyle0"><b>Program:</b> </span><span
class="fontstyle1">Environmental Science<br>
</span><b><span class="fontstyle0">Department: </span></b><span
class="fontstyle1">Geography, Centre for Atmospheric Research at
the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. <br>
<br>
This PhD project falls within a larger research program in
collaboration with the New Zealand Forest Research Institute Ltd
Trading known as Scion. The University of Canterbury Centre for
Atmospheric Research hosted at the Department of Geography would
like to invite potential candidates for a funded 3-year PhD
project. The PhD scholarship will cover tuition fees and provide a
reasonable stipend.<br>
<br>
Previous laboratory research has highlighted the importance of
fire induced turbulence in maintaining and intensifying
wildfire-spread rates through heat convection at the fire front
area. Atmospheric background turbulence could play a major role in
extreme fire behavior and act to modulate fire-induced turbulence.
It is hypothesized that the atmospheric contribution to extreme
fire-spread behavior will vary for different weather events, fuel
properties, fire size and shape. As a result, the PhD student will
participate in collecting and analyzing fire-atmospheric data from
several planned experimental fire burns across New Zealand, and
develop a comprehensive set of knowledge that could yield to a
better understanding of fire-atmospheric interactions for extreme
fire behavior. The experimental campaign will be coordinated
between the University of Canterbury, Scion, Missoula Fire
Sciences Laboratory, and San Jose State University. The PhD
student is expected to work with researchers across the science
and engineering disciplines. <br>
<br>
We are looking for a PhD candidate with very good theoretical
understanding of surface-atmospheric interactions with emphasis on
turbulent energy exchange processes. The PhD candidate should have
the flexibility and basic experience in working with microclimate
field measurement equipment and is willing to spend some time
aiding in the development and data collection from field
experiments. Good analytical skills are required for this project
with good experience in data processing software (e.g. Matlab, R,
and/or Python). <br>
<br>
Skills in spatiotemporal image analysis is also preferable as we
aim to collect time sequential thermography data with infrared
cameras for understanding the atmospheric turbulence structure at
the surface behind and in front of the fire line. The PhD
candidate is also anticipated to work closely with numerical
weather modelers within our team to help in the results
interpretation and overall research direction of the wider group.
<br>
<br>
Please email your cover letter and CV to:<br>
</span><span class="fontstyle0">Dr. Marwan Katurji<br>
</span><span class="fontstyle1">Department of Geography, Centre for
Atmospheric Research, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New
Zealand<br>
Tel: +64 3 3694287, email: </span><span class="fontstyle3"><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:marwan.katurji@canterbury.ac.nz">marwan.katurji@canterbury.ac.nz</a></span>
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