You will develop the description of aerosols and aerosol-cloud interactions in EC-Earth4. Specifically, you will work on improving the aerosol activation in the model. This task entails introducing a revised activation scheme, testing of new parameterizations of the updraft velocity probability distribution, and a detailed evaluation of the results. In addition to the model development, you will assist in setting up and analyzing simulations with EC-Earth.

You will join the enthusiastic team working on EC-Earth, which is part of the global climate cluster of KNMI’s Research and Development of Weather and Climate models (RDWK) department. The team consists of global climate researchers and scientific programmers, who can provide support on technical issues. Within the international EC-Earth consortium, the team chairs the Atmospheric Composition Working Group and the Technical Working Group. Within this job, you will be able to work closely together within the EC-Earth consortium as well as with partner institutes from the FOCI project.

• A PhD degree in atmospheric science (or similar);
• Experience in climate and/or aerosol modelling;
• Demonstrated experience with Fortran, Python and Linux;

You are fluent in English (oral and written). Knowledge of the Dutch language would be an advantage but is not essential.

In addition to the requirements, you recognize yourself in the following characteristics: you take into account a broad range of relevant scientific and social developments in the design of your work. You involve stakeholders in the formulation of your research questions and seek the right balance between societal needs and scientific quality standards.

You are steadfast and adhere to scientific integrity. You are able to think out of the box to generate new solutions. You regularly exchange knowledge, information and ideas with others and actively seek feedback on your own ideas. Furthermore, you also have a results-oriented attitude and the skills to manage your work in a timely manner and make progress in the project.

Fixed-term contract: 3 years.

• Salarisniveau: schaal 11
• Maandsalaris: Min €3.503 – Max. €5.343 (bruto)
• Dienstverband: Arbeidsovereenkomst voor bepaalde tijd
• Contractduur: 3 years
• Maximaal aantal uren per week: 36

In addition to your salary, you will receive an Individual Budget (IKB). The IKB consists of funds (16.37% of your gross annual salary) and time. With the IKB, you make choices that are right for you, and you can decide on some of your employment conditions yourself. For example, you could opt to receive part of your monthly salary at a date of your choosing. You could also use the budget to purchase additional leave, or vice versa, or spend it on tax-efficient purchases. The Government of the Netherlands strongly values personal growth and career development and offers a wide range of options to achieve that. The fringe benefits include various study facilities, company fitness, a full compensation of your public transport expenses for your commute and partially paid parental leave.

Rijksoverheid (KNMI)

KNMI takes part in the Horizon Europe project FOCI: Non-CO2 Forcers and their Climate, Weather, Air Quality and Health Impacts. In this project KNMI collaborates with a number of European research institutes, WMO and WHO. While the climate forcing associated with well-mixed greenhouse gases, especially CO2, is well understood with a high level of confidence, there are major knowledge gaps concerning the forcing contribution of short-lived components. This is particularly the case for aerosols and their interactions with clouds. A main goal of the project is to improve the representation of short-lived climate forcers in global Earth system and regional climate models, and use the developed tools to assess the impacts of short-lived climate forcers on climate, air quality, and health on global and regional scales.

KNMI develops and applies the global climate model EC-Earth in a consortium consisting of national weather services and research institutes in Europe. EC-Earth is applied for global climate assessments (IPCC, CMIP) and provides input for the Netherlands climate scenarios. The new generation of the model, EC-Earth4, is currently in development and will be used in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 7 (CMIP7). The atmospheric general circulation model of EC-Earth4 is based on the OpenIFS model from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The OpenIFS aerosol scheme developed for EC-Earth4 is a modal aerosol scheme and can be coupled with simplified or more elaborate atmospheric chemistry mechanisms developed for the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS).