EC-Earth Scientific support staff in De Bilt

Beschrijving

Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute

EC-Earth is a newly developed global Earth system model, an initiative in which the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) has taken the lead. KNMI is now looking for candidates to form a scientific support staff for the program.

The EC-Earth program is a collaboration of a consortium of meteorological institutes, universities and other public parties, on the development of an Earth system model based on the models (i.e. software) of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). It builds upon a successful collaboration that started in 2006 and has since resulted in the release and use of three versions of the EC-Earth modelling system. The newest release, EC-Earth V3, is based on the ECMWF Seasonal Forecasting System 4.

The general objective of the EC-Earth  program is to develop and maintain a global Earth system model (ESM) consisting of a state-of-the-art atmospheric general circulation model, a state-of-the-art ocean general circulation model, a sea-ice model, a land model, and an atmospheric chemistry model.

The international consortium consists of 8 member states and about 25 partner organisations, and is currently led by SMHI in Sweden. A Memorandum of Understanding describes the collaboration structure and financial arrangements. Core members in this consortium form a steering group (SG) that overlooks strategic directions and collects financial resources to recruit scientific support staff for the consortium. A working group (WG) structure ensures an efficient collaboration arrangement and distribution and coordination of tasks.

The tasks of the support staff are:

• To provide user support for basic EC-Earth configurations; i.e. to follow and serve support questions on the development portal, to be the first address for user support questions including support for setting up a run, find initial data, to support and optimize installation of the ESM on new computers, to organise user support in conjunction with the technical WG and the SG, and to create documents on how to use the model.
• To support specific developments with the implementation and documentation of numerical algorithms as prioritised by the SG.
• To provide atmospheric and other initial conditions for model simulations with the help of PrepIFS (ECMWF software) or related scripts.
• To manage EC-Earth community computing allocations.

Tasks are subject to more detailed definition by the SG in accordance with the SG's judgment of necessary priorities.

• You are very familiar with computer code of large atmospheric and/or oceanographic numerical modelling systems.
• You have a broad understanding of the structure and rationale of computer code.
• You have extensive experience with standard version management systems, Linux scripts and Fortran/C++ code.
• You have a supportive attitude and are willing to cooperate in a team.

In addition to the salary and holiday pay, you can expect to receive an end-of-year payment, the so-called ‘13th month’. The national government strongly adheres to personal growth and career development and offers several opportunities to facilitate this. The terms of employment include, amongst other things, a maximum of 55% paid parental leave (conditions apply), facilities to study, an additional leave plan for older employees and reimbursement of commuting costs. Moreover, the national government also offers a range of options to shape your total employment package based on individual choice.

• Given the composition of the research team at KNMI, female candidates and candidates with a non-Western European cultural background are explicitly invited to apply.
• The scientific support staff will be recruited by KNMI for at least one calendar year. Subject to the decision of the EC-Earth SG this contract will be extended up to a maximum of three years. The permanent office location will be the KNMI premises in De Bilt, but extended work visits to other EC-Earth member institutes or the ECMWF can be part of the assignment.

The Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment focuses on quality of life and accessibility, with a good flow in a clean and safe environment. The ministry is working on powerful connections by road, rail, water and air, protects against flooding and promotes the quality of air and water. Efficient, safe and livable: that's infrastructure and environment.

The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) is the national institute for weather, climate research and seismology. It disseminates weather information to the public at large, the government, aviation and the shipping industry in the interest of safety, the economy and a sustainable environment. To gain insight into long-term developments, KNMI conducts research on climate change. 

The department of Research and Development Weather and Climate Models is a recently formed research unit consisting of experts on weather, climate and atmospheric composition modelling. It supports the operational weather forecasting and alert function of KNMI, and contributes to the international network of scientific research in these areas. Expertise areas concentrate on modelling (extreme) meteorological events, physical, chemical and dynamical processes in the atmosphere, sea level rise, as well as global and regional climate changes. The research unit consists of approximately 50 staff members and is involved in many national and international research projects.

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Extra informatie

Status

Inactief

Plaats

De Bilt

Dienstverbanden

Fulltime (startersfunctie)