Water vapour continuum absorption at visible and infrared wavelengths and its
relevance to climate change
Three PhD Studentships at Imperial College London, University of Reading and University College London.
Three studentships are available to join an exciting new consortium focusing on the water vapour continuum and its impact on our understanding of the Earth radiation budget. Water vapour is the most important greenhouse gas in the Earth's atmosphere. Its infrared absorption is of particular significance, since it gives rise to a large part of the natural greenhouse effect which makes the Earth habitable. Water vapour strongly affects present day climate, and plays an important role in climate change.
The students will study the "water vapour continuum", a slowly varying, and rather poorly understood component of the absorption spectrum. The existence of the continuum has been known for decades, but an understanding of its cause, and its characteristics, remains a source of controversy. The continuum has a significant impact on infrared fluxes, on atmospheric cooling rates, and so on climate. Current representations are largely semi-empirical and have been tested over only a limited range of wavelengths and atmospheric conditions. Accurate atmospheric and laboratory measurements are needed.
The studentships, all starting in October 2007, are part of a major new NERC/EPSRC consortium called CAVIAR (Continuum Absorption at Visible and Infrared wavelengths and its Atmospheric Relevance), which comprises 8 leading UK groups with established expertise in the theory of water vapour absorption, in the use of state-of-the- art measurement techniques in laboratory and atmosphere, and in climate modelling.
The Imperial College student can expect to be involved in CAVIAR measurement campaigns in the UK with the FAAM aircraft (Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements) , and at a mountain top observatory in Europe, using the Imperial far IR TAFTS instrument (Tropospheric Airborne Fourier Transform Spectrometer) . The student will analyse the emission spectra obtained, collaborating with other UK partners, to quantify the strength of the water vapour continuum, and to further study the role of water vapour in the energy balance of the climate system. Existing state of the art radiative transfer codes will be used to quantify the impact of the water vapour continuum on our understanding of the present day Earth Radiation budget and climate change.
The Reading student will work closely with the National Physical Laboratory in West London, contributing to the calibration of their infrared spectrometer and analysing data acquired on CAVIAR field campaigns. They would then use these measurements to improve our understanding of the Earth's radiation budget, by using sophisticated numerical models.
The UCL student will work on the theoretical modelling of the spectroscopy of the water dimer, which is one likely important contributor to the continuum, and will interact closely with CAVIAR groups at the Universities of Cambridge and Leicester who will be using laboratory Cavity Ring Down Spectroscopy to detect the signature of dimer absorption.
The students will play a full role in the consortium, including attendance at its annual meetings.
APPLICATIONS
These are NERC studentships, and hence provide fees and maintenance for UK students only, or for other EU students who have lived in the UK for the past three years. Students should have at least an upper second class degree in an appropriate physical science.
------------ --------- --------- ---------
Imperial College London
For further details of the Imperial studentship, please contact Professor John
Harries at j.harries@imperial. ac.uk , or Dr Juliet Pickering at j.pickering@ imperial. ac.uk .
Applications, including a detailed CV and the names of two referees, should be
addressed to: Mrs Anne Thomson, SPAT, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College,
Prince Consort Rd, London SW7 2BZ, to arrive by 20 February
------------ --------- --------- ---------
University of Reading
Full details of the Reading PhD programme, and the applications procedure, can be found at www.met.reading. ac.uk and more information on this studentship is at www.met.reading. ac.uk/phd/ topics/descripti ons/kps.pdf
Contact Professor Keith P Shine (k.p.shine@reading. ac.uk) for more information
on this studentship
Applications by the end of February are encouraged; an Open Day will be held on
9 March 2007
------------ --------- --------- ---------
University College London
Further details of the UCL studentship can be obtained from Professor Jonathan
Tennyson (j.tennyson@ucl. ac.uk)
------------ --------- --------- ---------
More information on the CAVIAR consortium can be obtained from Professor Keith
Shine (k.p.shine@reading. ac.uk)
[sursa beasiswa]
If you want to receive academic resources in your e-mail on daily basis, please subscribe to 10resources-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
If you want to publish your announcement, please send it to riliescu2000@yahoo.com.
