Temporary position for physical ocean. at Puertos del Estado

[garcialeon]

Dear all,

(Apologies for cross-posting.)

Temporary position for physical oceanographer at Puertos del Estado

Puertos del Estado offers a 2-years full-time position at Madrid for an expert in physical oceanography, associated to the MyCoast Project (EU Inter-Reg -Atlantic Area-).

Puertos del Estado (PdE) is a Spanish Government Agency responsible of coordinating the State-owned Spanish Port system. Among other activities, PdE has a long tradition in Operational Oceanography, being a reference centre at Spanish and European level. Through the Area de Medio Físico, PdE provides a widespread range of operational oceanographic services, based both on observations from met-ocean monitoring networks and model-based forecasting systems. PdE has an active participation in several R&D Projects from different programmes (i.e.: EU H2020, Inter-Reg -both in its Atlantic and Mediterranean Regions-, as well as in National Programmes). The position offered is linked to one of these projects: The EU Inter-Reg -Atlantic- Project: MyCoast, where PdE has an important role (Work Package leader and involved in activities related to most of the Project work-packages).

Area of research & work description:

The successful candidate will conduct part of the required R&D tasks required to build an operational tool to intercompare different existing operational regional ocean forecast products in the European Atlantic shelves. He/she will contribute to the analysis of different model solutions available in the IBI (Iberian, Biscay, Ireland) Area, going from the Copernicus Marine IBI regional forecast to the local high-resolution coastal model solutions available in the MyCoast Project. The selected candidate will contribute to quantify the added value of different dynamical downscaling approaches, being his/her work mainly related to intercompare physical ocean model solutions, using as reference different observational datasets. In that sense, the use of Earth Observations and in-situ observational data sources for model validation purposes arises as a key task in the working plan. Part of this validation activity will be developed based on, and in the framework of, the present IBI validation NARVAL web tool, so the candidate will collaborate closely with the Product Quality experts from PdE and the CMEMS IBI-MFC Product Quality Team.

Expected outcomes from the activity to be developed are:

- An operational tool to intercompare in near-real-time ocean forecast products (including variables such as temperature, salinity, currents and sea-level) from different European coastal observatories in the IBI area.
- A detailed scientific analysis of the different ocean model performances, (results to be available in technical reports).
- Based on the model intercomparison exercise, a scientific peer-review paper to be drafted (in collaboration with some MyCoast partners).

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work in a highly multidisciplinary international environment, establishing close collaborations with scientific and technical staff, not only from the R&D groups involved in the MyCoast ocean modelling activities, but also from operational services (such as the Copernicus Marine CMEMS IBI-MFC or the PdE ones).

Qualifications/skills:

- The ideal candidate should have a relevant degree (PhD positively valued) in physics/meteorology/oceanography or other closely-related discipline (i.e. coastal or maritime engineering) with some experience in the analysis/validation/intercomparison of ocean model solutions.
- Good programming skills (including languages such as Fortran, python, and unix shell scripting) and experience in the implementation of operational procedures are essential. Since part of the developments will be done using community tools and ad-hoc software, some knowledge on the use of databases and web-based technologies (i.e. html5 and JavaScript) is desirable.
- Strong interest in the application area (operational ocean forecasting, with emphasis on the model validation processes) is required. Relate to this, some experience on observational ocean datasets (both from remoted and in-situ data sources) and knowledge on the use of standards in operational oceanographic products (i.e. CMEMS ones) and ocean data formats (i.e. NetCDF) is also needed.
- Good interpersonal and team working skills are also required, along with strengths in scientific analysis, synthesis and presentation. Candidates must be able to work effectively in English, both verbally and written.
- Interest and ability to interact with different R&D and Operational Oceanography Teams are mandatory. In the framework of the MyCoast Project, the candidate will work with different international ocean coastal laboratories, collaborating in R&D tasks, exchanging data, expertise and sharing tools. Thus, good coordination skills and a team-working attitude are quite relevant for the position. Likewise, capacity and experience to organize workshops and work meetings will be also required.

Grade & Remuneration: The successful candidate will be recruited by Puertos del Estado, following its recruitment principles. Remuneration commensurate with qualifications and experience.

Interested candidates are invited to contact and send C.V. by mail to (please, indicate in subject: “MyCoast Position”):

Enrique Álvarez Fanjul - Head of Área de Medio Físico- (enrique@puertos.es).
Marcos García Sotillo – Ports & Coastal Dynamics Division - (marcos@puertos.es)