The department of Estuarine and Delta Systems (EDS, principal investigator dr. Aimée Slangen) is looking for a highly-motivated PhD candidate to support analysis of satellite data in our research of regional sea-level change.

The Research

Global mean sea level has been rising at a rate of 3.4±0.4 mm/yr between 1993 and 2014, but regional variations can be large, with rates of up to 10 mm/yr in the same period. Regional differences are caused by a number of processes acting on different temporal and spatial scales, such as ocean dynamics, land ice mass and landwater storage changes and associated gravitational effects, and vertical land movement.

Although the main processes have been identified, we are still not in the position to fully explain observed regional sea-level variations in the past century, partly due to large uncertainties in reconstructions of past sea-level change.

The project

In this research project, we will first focus on closing the regional sea-level budget in the satellite altimetry era (since 1993) on a regional scale and consistently for the entire ocean. The satellite altimetry period provides the best observations and is therefore the ideal starting point for developing methods and refining understanding of past sea-level change, which will feed into efforts to understand the whole 20th century observational sea-level record.

The second objective of this project is to use the budget contributions as a tool to answer research questions that will increase our understanding of the processes contributing to sea-level change. In particular, we propose to look into i) the impact of internal climate variability on landwater storage and the associated changes in regional sea level, and ii) the hot spots of the different contributions to regional sea-level change. 

The ideal candidate has a university degree (MSc) in oceanography, marine sciences, meteorology, physical geography, earth sciences and/or a related area. A strong background in numerical modelling, remote sensing and knowledge about climate change (processes) would be advantageous. Since you will be working in an international research environment you must be proficient in spoken and written English. 

The successful PhD Student will focus on analysing satellite data of all contributions to sea-level change and is therefore expected to work with and analyse large quantities of data.

The candidate will be hosted by the department of Estuarine and Delta Systems (EDS) at the Royal NIOZ in Yerseke. The candidate is expected to travel to TU Delft regularly to meet with co-advisor Dr. Riccardo Riva and promotor Prof. Dr. Bert Vermeersen. The PhD candidate will be enrolled in the TU Delft Graduate School.

Employment of this position at Royal NIOZ is by NWO (The Netherlands Organization of Scientific Research). We offer a position for 4 years (fulltime) with an excellent salary, a pension scheme, a holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary, a year-end bonus and flexible work arrangements. You may expect very attractive secondary employment conditions. We offer generous relocation expenses for employees coming from abroad and support with finding accommodation.

Estuarine and Delta Systems

The department of Estuarine and Delta Systems (EDS, Royal NIOZ-Yerseke) aims to understand how the interplay between benthic organisms, water flow, and sedimentation shapes the physical environment as well as the habitats that can support diverse natural communities. Central to our department is a multidisciplinary approach that combines state-of-art biophysical measurements, remote sensing, and manipulative experiments with mathematical and numerical modelling to create in-depth understanding of the processes that form estuarine, delta and coastal systems. The sea-level group, in which the candidate will work, focuses on the link between the large-scale sea-level change in the open ocean and how this translates to the coastal, delta and estuarine environment.