[Grad-postdoc-assn] Fwd: [info-HyMeX] PhD position in remote-sensing data assimilation at CNRM-GAME

Mon Feb 9 12:51:32 MST 2015

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Olivier Caumont <olivier.caumont at meteo.fr>
Date: Fri, Feb 6, 2015 at 7:55 AM
Subject: [info-HyMeX] PhD position in remote-sensing data assimilation at
CNRM-GAME
To: info-hymex at meteo.fr

Dear colleagues,

We are seeking applications for a 3-year PhD position to work on the
assimilation of airborne cloud radar data in the framework of the HyMeX
programme (see announcement below). Please feel free to forward this
announcement to potential candidates.

Best regards,
Olivier Caumont

------------------------------

PhD title: Assimilation of airborne cloud radar data during the HyMeX
special observing period

PhD supervisors: Dr. Olivier Caumont, Dr. Véronique Ducrocq, Dr. Benoît Vié

*Place:* CNRM-GAME (Météo-France & CNRS), 42 avenue G. Coriolis 31057
Toulouse Cedex 1, France

Deadline for application: 31 March 2015

PhD goals, proposed methodology:
The HyMeX programme (HYdrological cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment,
http://www.hymex.org/) is an international experimental programme that aims
at improving our understanding of the water cycle in the Mediterranean
area. Its first special observing period (SOP) took place from 5 September
to 5 November 2012. The main goal of this SOP was to document the heavy
precipitation events and flash floods that regularly affect the
north-western Mediterranean coastal areas. In the two-month campaign,
around twenty rainfall events were documented in France, Italy, and Spain.
Exceptional instrumental means (research aircrafts, drifting balloons,
lidars, radars, additional radiosoundings, etc.) were deployed during the
SOP and allowed to harvest a unique observational dataset. Among these
instrumental platforms, the Falcon 20 of the Safire unit (
http://www.safire.fr/) made numerous flights in storm systems so as to
document their thermodynamic, microphysical, and dynamical properties. In
particular, the cloud radar Rasta (http://rali.projet.latmos.ipsl.fr/) was
aboard this aircraft. This radar measures vertical profiles of reflectivity
and Doppler velocity above and below the aircraft. This unique instrument
thus allows to document the microphysical properties and the speed of wind
and hydrometeors in clouds, quasi-continuously in time and at a vertical
resolution of 60 m.
For this field campaign, Arome-WMed, a special version of the numerical
weather prediction (NWP) Arome system, was developed. This version, which
covers the whole north-western Mediterranean basin, ran in real time during
the SOP in order to, notably, schedule the airborne operations, especially
in storm systems. Arome-WMed delivers forecasts at a horizontal resolution
of 2.5 km. Deep convection is resolved explicitly and microphysical
processes are governed by a one-moment bulk microphysical scheme. By the
start of the PhD, an additional two-moment microphysical scheme will become
available. The three-dimensional variational (3DVar) data assimilation
system of Arome-WMed ingests observations from a wide variety of
instruments (radiosonde, ground automatic weather station, radar,
satellite, GPS, etc.) every three hours.
The objective of the proposed PhD thesis is *i)* to compare the data
observed by Rasta with the convective-scale Arome-WMed NWP system to
evaluate the respective degrees of realism of its two microphysical schemes,*
ii)* assimilate Rasta data, and* iii)* assess the potential of such data to
improve the forecasting of heavy precipitation events. The PhD work will
start with comparisons between Rasta data and Arome-WMed. This will allow
to assess to which extent Arome-WMed is able to reproduce observed
microphysical features and the benefits brought about by a two-moment
microphysical scheme over a one-moment microphysical scheme in this
respect. This will be accompanied with a reflection on which observation
type to assimilate. A choice will have to be made between, e.g., raw data
such as reflectivity and retrieved data such as ice contents. Comparisons
between different radar observational types, their equivalents as simulated
by the model, and independent observations will allow to address this
question. Then, the assimilation system will be adapted to handle the cloud
radar observations. As the Arome assimilation system is already able to
assimilate similar data (wind vertical profiles, radial Doppler velocity,
radar reflectivity), the changes will mainly consider geometrical aspects.
Assimilation experiments will be carried out for one flight to begin with.
The respective roles of the reflectivity-related observations and the
Doppler velocity-related observations will be investigated. These
experiments will be compared with a reference experiment analogous to that
which ran in real time during the campaign. This comparison will be
facilitated by the wealth of observations harvested during the field
campaign. The assimilation experiments will then be run for other
worthwhile intensive observing periods of the campaign.

Required knowledge and experience:
Candidates (citizens from the European Union or Switzerland, under age 27)
should hold or will obtain in 2015 a master's degree in Atmospheric,
Environmental Sciences or equivalent. The applicant should be familiar with
programming languages (Fortran, Unix,…), background in numerical modelling
(especially microphysics) is welcome.
French or English spoken, English well-written.

For full consideration, the applicant should send a detailed CV by March, 31
st to:
olivier.caumont at meteo.fr, veronique.ducrocq at meteo.fr, and
benoit.vie at meteo.fr.
If selected, the candidate will have to submit an application through the
armaments (DGA) portal in May.

-- 
Olivier Caumont
CNRM-GAME UMR3589 (Météo-France, CNRS)

CNRM/GMME/MICADO
Météo-France
42 av G. Coriolis
31057 TOULOUSE Cedex 01 (FRANCE)

Tel: +33 5 61 07 96 46 | Fax: +33 5 61 07 96 26 | Email:
olivier.caumont at meteo.fr

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diffusion d'informations sur les activites de recherche sur le cycle de
l'eau en
Mediterranee (i.e. programme HyMeX, http://www.hymex.org/)  et des
questions collaterales (annonces de colloques et workshops, offres
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-- 
Richard Rotunno
NCAR Senior Scientist
303 497 8904
303 497 8171 (FAX)
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Ce message vous est envoye par la liste info-hymex at meteo.fr. C'est une liste de
diffusion d'informations sur les activites de recherche sur le cycle de l'eau en
Mediterranee (i.e. programme HyMeX, http://www.hymex.org/)  et des
questions collaterales (annonces de colloques et workshops, offres d'emplois,
etc).  /  This message is sent through the mailing  list  info-hymex at meteo.fr. 
This list is dedicated to information circulation about  researches on the the
hydrological cycle in Mediterranean (e.g. HyMeX program,
http://www.hymex.org/) and related questions (workshop and conference
announcements, post-doctoral offers, etc)

Si vous souhaitez vous desabonner de cette liste, il vous faut envoyer un
message a l'adresse sympa at meteo.fr, avec la commmande "unsubscribe info-hymex"
dans le sujet. / If you want  to cancel your subscription, please send an email
to sympa at meteo.fr with "unsubscribe info-hymex"  as subject.

Si vous souhaitez vous abonner à cette liste, il vous faut envoyer un
message a l'adresse sympa at meteo.fr, avec la commmande "subscribe info-hymex"
dans le sujet/ if you want to subscribe to the list, please send an email to
sympa at meteo.fr with "subscribe info-hymex"  as subject.

Si vous souhaitez diffuser un message d'information sur la liste, priere
d'envoyer celui-ci aux moderateur et administrateur de la liste :
hymex at cnrm.meteo.fr / If you want to distribute
a message trough the list, please  send the message to the moderator and
administrator: hymex at cnrm.meteo.fr