The European Union (EU) Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) delivers a core information service to any private or public user on four areas of benefit: Maritime Safety, Coastal and Marine Environment, Marine Resources, and Weather, Seasonal Forecasting and Climate activities. The ocean state is changing continuously and the CMEMS Wind Thematic Assembly Centre (TAC) provides satellite wind or stress observations of the forcing of the ocean. These satellite observations of air-sea interaction play a crucial role in the monitoring of the exchange of momentum, heat and gases, such as water vapor and carbon dioxide, both today and over the past 25 years. Indeed, climate change studies require accurate ocean vector wind and stress inputs to determine subtle dynamical changes in time and to capture climate-scale processes.

The KNMI scatterometer group is a world leader in satellite ocean wind processing and user services and their high-quality wind series and wind processing and monitoring activities are being continually improved through R&D activities that directly benefit users.

As our CMEMS wind scientist you will engage to explore the satellite wind measurements in order to obtain a seamless climate ocean wind and stress data record up to today. The research is part of both the EU Marine core services (CMEMS project) and supported by the EUMETSAT SAF network. Ocean vector winds play an important role in climate system dynamics. They further determine the humidity, momentum and heat exchanges between air and sea, are crucial for the forcing of ocean circulation models, the generation of sea waves and storm surges, and affect most offshore and coastal activities in energy, transport, infrastructure and safety.

Further background information may be acquired through:

• KNMI scatterometer group: www.knmi.nl/scatterometer
• EU CMEMS: http://marine.copernicus.eu/
• EUMETSAT OSI SAF winds: http://projects.knmi.nl/scatterometer/osisaf/

As a PhD you graduated in physics, oceanography, meteorology, mathematics, or equivalent. We value your experience in applied research, statistical and numerical analysis, and programming skills. Interest in oceanography or meteorology is a clear bonus. Experience with microwave satellite data validation and evaluation and peer-reviewed publications in the field of earth observation would be an asset, as well as knowledge of Fortran and scripting computer language(s) (e.g. Bash, Python). You have an analytical and independent mind, but also enjoy working in a team. Good communication skills, both verbally and written, in at least the English language, are required.

• Salary scale: 11
• Monthly salary: Min €3.130 – Max. €4.809 (gross)
• Contract: Temporarily position for the duration of five years
• Min. hours per week: 36
• Max. hours per week: 36

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.

Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management is committed to improving quality of life, access and mobility in a clean, safe and sustainable environment. The Ministry strives to create an efficient network of roads, railways, waterways and airways, effective water management to protect against flooding, and improved air and water quality.

The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) is the independent Dutch authority on weather, climate and seismology and contributes to reducing the impact of related calamities to society. For this purpose, KNMI develops high-quality solutions combined with state-of-the-art observations. Besides creating scientific output, products and services are developed with the aim of informing society in an efficient and transparent way.

Earth Observation

The research will be carried out in the Earth Observation department, in the group working on satellite wind observations. The KNMI satellite wind research group is internationally renowned. We work closely together with EU CMEMS (http://marine.copernicus.eu/), EUMETSAT (www.eumetsat.int), ESA (www.esa.int) and other international organizations. Besides research, we are responsible for the operational and near-real time processing of the ocean wind vector observations of several satellite instruments (www.knmi.nl/scatterometer) and thus maintain a close link between research and applications.