PhD in urban surface energy

PhD position (3 year stipend £19k/year fees to be paid from stipend) who will work with others at King´s College London (KCL) on two European Union FP7 funded research projects to evaluate urban surface energy, water and carbon exchanges through in situ observations, remote sensing analyses and modelling. The KCL component of these projects involves the determination of fluxes for London using the techniques outlined below. Results from this science will be used (1) to develop a decision support system for sustainable urban planning, accounting for urban metabolism; and (2) to assess impacts of megacities on local, regional, and global air quality and climate. The research objectives will be to determine the magnitude and spatial variability of the fluxes and their controls in relation to these applications.

A variety of methods will be deployed during the research, including micrometeorological techniques (e.g. eddy covariance, large aperture scintillometry) to determine local scale fluxes, and analysis of ground?based, airborne and satellite hyper?spectral optical and thermal IR data to determine the surface energy balance. Numerical modelling will involve urban land surface schemes and their application in WRF.

The post holder will work with Professors Sue Grimmond (sue.grimmond@ kcl.ac.uk) and Martin Wooster (Martin.Wooster@ kcl.ac.uk) and their existing research teams to deliver cutting?edge research into urban surface energy, water and carbon exchanges.

Urban Meteorology: The EMM Group´s research on urban meteorology has centred around its investigation of energy, water and carbon exchanges using micrometeorological techniques, numerical modelling and remote sensing methods in a variety of urban areas (North America, Africa, Europe).

This research has been led by Professor Sue Grimmond and Prof Martin Wooster, and the current post will work within their existing research teams. Recent publications can be found here:

http://www.kcl. ac.uk/ip/ suegrimmond/ news.htm
http://www.kcl. ac.uk/schools/ sspp/geography/ people/acad/ wooster/pubs. html

Background: Ideally MSc qualified in an area related to aims of this project. This includes (but is not limited to) meteorology, atmospheric science, earth science, physical geography, computer science, physics, applied mathematics, engineering or other physical science discipline.

Ideally: Strong writing and oral communications ability
Ability to programme (ideally Fortran/ IDL/MatLab)
Experience in collecting and analysing micrometeorological data and/or
Knowledge of remote sensing physics and data processing methods (inlcuduing ideally airborne and TIR data)
Application process: Please provide CV, Covering letter, Names of Two referees, copies of academic transcripts. Please email these to Professor Sue Grimmond (sue.grimmond@ kcl.ac.uk)
Application Deadline: December 5, 2008 or until position filled
Start date: Ideally early 2009 (January/February etc)

Other funding opportunities are available within the Department
Including research Council quota and open awards, King´s Annual Award, Graduate School, School awards, Overseas Research Scholarships. If you are interested in these
Urban Climate and Meteorology including for example
1) Numerical modeling of urban surface?atmosphere exchanges
2) Boundary layer processes
3) Urban energy balance fluxes
4) Urban water exchanges and the link to the energy balance
5) Urban CO2 Exchanges
6) Quantifying evaporation pathways in the suburban environment (CASE award)
*Satellite, ground?based or airborne remote sensing *(and links to models)
7) See list at

Application details can be found on

*The deadline for applications *is 31 January.


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