Prof Karen Heywood
No more applications being accepted
Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
About the Project
What scientific question will you investigate?
The South Asian summer monsoon provides 80% of the annual rainfall for over one billion people: in order to understand and predict the monsoon, we have to know how the surrounding ocean and the atmosphere affect each other. An important part of this picture is the effect of plant-life in the ocean. This is because the absorption of sunlight by plants doesn’t just change the ocean’s colour, but also changes how much sunlight is absorbed at the top of the ocean, which can significantly affect the temperature of the sea surface, evaporation of moisture into the air, and ultimately monsoonal rainfall. This project will investigate the importance of this process in the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.
What will you be doing for your PhD research?
You will join the Bay of Bengal Boundary Layer Experiment (BoBBLE) project using a new technology, ocean gliders, to make multidisciplinary observations in summer 2016. You will use your analysis of the upper ocean observations to run experiments with a climate model to test the effect of the ocean chlorophyll field.
What training will you receive?
You will join the vibrant and active UEA Seaglider Group, part of the Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (COAS). You will participate in a research cruise, pilot gliders, and attend international conferences, workshops and summer schools. You will be trained in oceanography, meteorology, marine science, and using ocean gliders. You will develop transferable skills in computer programming, numerical modelling, data analysis and visualization, and scientific communication.
Is this project right for you?
We seek someone with a good (BSc/MSci 2(1) or above, or MSc) numerate physical science degree (e.g. physics, maths, natural sciences, engineering, environmental sciences, geophysics, oceanography, meteorology). You should be interested in learning about how the climate system works, but you don’t need to have studied this before. Experience of a programming language such as Matlab or Python would be useful. A start date of 1st July 2016 would be ideal (but not necessary) so that you can be involved in glider piloting during the field campaign.
Funding Notes
This project has been shortlisted for funding by the EnvEast NERC Doctoral Training Partnership, comprising the Universities of East Anglia, Essex and Kent, with twenty other research partners.
Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed on 17/18 February 2016.
Successful candidates who meet RCUK’s eligibility criteria will be awarded a NERC studentship. In most cases, UK and EU nationals who have been resident in the UK for 3 years are eligible for a full award. In 2015/16, the stipend was £14,057.
For further information, please visit www.enveast.ac.uk/apply.
References
i) Hirons, L.C., Klingaman N.P., Woolnough, S.J. (2015) MetUM-GOML: A near-globally coupled atmosphere-ocean-mixed-layer model. Geoscientific Model Development, 8, 363-379.
ii) Matthews, A.J., D.B. Baranowski, K.J. Heywood, P.J. Flatau, S. Schmidtko (2014) The surface diurnal warm layer in the Indian Ocean during CINDY/DYNAMO, Journal of Climate, 27, 9101–9122.
iii) Turner, A. G., et al. (2012) The effect of Arabian Sea optical properties on SST biases and the South Asian summer monsoon in a coupled GCM. Climate dynamics 39.3-4: 811-826.
iv) Webber, B.G.M., A.J. Matthews, K.J. Heywood, J. Kaiser, S. Schmidtko (2014) Seaglider observations of equatorial Indian Ocean Rossby waves associated with the Madden-Julian Oscillation, Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans 119, doi:10.1002/2013JC009657.