Physical Oceanographer – National Oceanography Centre, Liverpool

The National Oceanography Centre is looking to recruit a multi-skilled and adaptable Physical Oceanographer to join the Marine Physics and Ocean Climate research group in Liverpool. The successful candidate will initially support two projects (CAMPUS and PEANUTS) that are aiming to advance understanding of how physical processes control seasonal and episodic phytoplankton growth and longer term trends on both temperate and Arctic shelves.

PEANUTS (Primary production driven by escalating Arctic nutrient fluxes?) is funded by NERC's Changing Arctic Ocean Programme and is deploying instrumentation on moorings around the Arctic for 1 year to study the impact that changing nutrient fluxes and variable light regimes have on phytoplankton growth. CAMPUS (Combining Autonomous observations and Models for Predicting and Understanding Shelf seas), funded by NERC's Marine Integrated Autonomous Observing Systems Programme aims to improve our ability to monitor and predict shelf- and seasonal scale phytoplankton dynamics and finer scale episodic phytoplankton responses to physical forcing across the NW European Shelf using a combination of autonomous observing and modelling.

The position will involve processing, analysing and interpreting a range of multi-parameter observational data sets collected from a variety of platforms (including moorings, gliders and remote sensing) on both NW European and Arctic shelves. Specifically, the successful candidate will process and deliver glider data collected during the most recent MASSMO (Marine Autonomous Systems in Support of Marine Observations) deployments and look to integrate these new data into the CAMPUS project. They will also process and analyse measurements from CTDs, optical nitrate and chlorophyll-a fluorescence sensors deployed for 1 year in the Barents Sea as part of the PEANUTS project.

They will compare output from the latest 1D and 3D coupled hydrodynamic-ecosystem models to the observations to assess their ability to predict the timing and magnitude of both the spring and autumn blooms and whether they are able to simulate finer-scale, patchy phytoplankton events that are triggered by smaller temporal and spatial scale physical processes. Timely publications in high impact scientific journals is a key outcome of these projects. The post will evolve into considering how the continental slope and deep boundary current system dynamics impact the exchange of water between the deep ocean and shallow shelves, and the consequences this has for seasonal to inter-annual variability in phytoplankton growth and biogeochemical cycles. This work will be done as part of a multidisciplinary team at the NOC alongside UK and international partners.

The successful candidate will have a strong background in oceanography (PhD or equivalent experience), ideally within a shelf sea environment and will have demonstrated experience in observational physical oceanography. They will have a proven track record of publishing work in peer reviewed international journals. Experience of working within multi-disciplinary projects is desirable. They will have extensive experience of processing and interpreting observational ocean data and have suitable coding skills to process complex, large and multi-variable datasets from a range of platforms. Preferably, they will have had experience in working with ocean glider and mooring data sets. Experience in working with model output would also be an advantage. The successful applicant will be able to multi-task and deliver high quality output and analysis to a number of projects. Applicants with a background in biophysical interactions are strongly encouraged to apply.

This position will involve national and international travel to attend project meetings and conferences. The starting salary for this position will be between £28,200 and £32,430 per annum (Band 6). Depending upon skills and experience, additional allowances may be available for exceptional candidates. This is a Fixed Term Appointment, initially available for two years.