Do you want to contribute to a unique project investigating high-altitude snow and rainfall in Asia’s mountain ranges? Then this opportunity might be for you!

Your job
Mountains are the water towers of the world. They receive a disproportionately large amount of precipitation due to orographic lifting. The most important water towers are Asia’s mountain ranges, particularly the Himalaya, the Karakoram and the Pamir. These mountains contain the largest ice reserves beyond the polar regions and are therefore often collectively referred to as the Third Pole.

Here, mountain precipitation feeds glaciers and snowpacks, generating river flow that supplies major reservoirs and sustains millions of people downstream. At the same time, extreme mountain precipitation triggers floods, landslides, debris flows, and avalanches. Without understanding the drivers and magnitude of mountain precipitation, quantifying the mountain water cycle is virtually impossible. You will work as a team member in the ERC Advanced project DROP, which focuses on understanding how mountains, land-surface feedback, and large-scale atmospheric circulation control the distribution of mountain precipitation in time and space on the Third Pole.

In this four-year postdoc project, you will focus on understanding land surface feedbacks on (extreme) mountain precipitation on the Third Pole. You will set up a unique nested high-resolution atmospheric model for a historical 30-year period and evaluate the model using various observed datasets. With the model, you will use moisture tracking to assess the source regions of mountain precipitation, conduct experiments to evaluate land-surface feedbacks on mountain rain and snowfall, and analyze changes in extreme precipitation. You will work closely with two PhD candidates in the same project.

This project may be the right fit for you if you have:

• a PhD in meteorology, hydrology, atmospheric sciences, earth sciences, or a related field;
• experience with atmospheric modelling, preferably with the WRF model;
• experience with programming languages (Python/R), ideally using spatial datasets;
• experience with high-performance computing;
• prior knowledge in handling large-scale (atmospheric) datasets, and enthusiasm for working with large datasets and models;
• a sound theoretical understanding of mountain meteorology;
• an interest in interdisciplinary collaborations and motivation to work in a close team;
• excellent English oral and scientific writing skills, and a willingness to learn Dutch.

We offer:

• a position for one year, with an extension to four years upon a successful assessment in the first year.
• a working week of 38 hours and a gross monthly salary between €3,226 and €5,090 in the case of full-time employment (salary scale 10 under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU));
• 8% holiday pay and 8.3% year-end bonus;
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave and flexible terms of employment based on the CAO NU.

In addition to the terms of employment laid down in the CAO NU, Utrecht University has a number of schemes and facilities of its own for employees. This includes schemes facilitating professional development, leave schemes and schemes for sports and cultural activities, as well as discounts on software and other IT products. We also offer access to additional employee benefits through our Terms of Employment Options Model. In this way, we encourage our employees to continue to invest in their growth. For more information, please visit Working at Utrecht University.

Universiteit Utrecht

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Utrecht University’s Faculty of Geosciences studies the Earth: from the Earth’s core to its surface, including man’s spatial and material utilisation of the Earth – always with a focus on sustainability and innovation. With 3,400 students (BSc and MSc) and 720 staff, the faculty is a strong and challenging organisation. The Faculty of Geosciences is organised in four Departments: Earth Sciences, Human Geography & Spatial Planning, Physical Geography, and Sustainable Development.

The team at the department of Physical Geography excels in research and education at the BSc, MSc, and PhD levels. We study the processes, patterns, and dynamics of Earth's systems, from the mountains to the sea, and the interactions in between. This knowledge is essential for the sustainable management of our planet and to ensure the availability of resources for future generations. We are a lively department with an active early career community of PhD candidates, researchers, and lecturers. We ensure a warm welcome for every new member.