http://www.rmets.org/index.php The Royal Meteorological Society webmaster en http://www.rmets.org/news/detail.php?ID=1143 Research Assistant Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic & Planetary Physics, Oxford Grade 7: £29,099 - £35,788 p.a.  We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher in the Predictability of Weather and Climate group within the sub-Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics (AOPP). This post is available from 1 April 2012 for up to 42 months. This position is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) research grant awarded to Professor Tim Palmer and Dr Laure Zanna, to study the predictability of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system taking into account both initial condition and model uncertainty. Applicants should have a doctorate in climate physics or a related field and ideally a strong numerical modelling background. Please direct informal enquiries to Professor Tim Palmer (tim.palmer@physics.ox.ac.uk) or Dr Laure Zanna (zanna@atm.ox.ac.uk). Only applications received before midday on Wednesday 29 February 2012 can be considered. Applications for this vacancy are to be made online at www.recruit.ox.ac.uk Vacancy ID 101890 where a jobspec can also be found. You will be required to upload a covering letter, brief statement of research interests, CV and details of two referees as part of your online application. Please arrange for your referees to send references in by the closing date.   Research Assistant (3 posts) Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, Oxford Grade 7: £29,099 - £35,788 p.a.  We are looking for up to three postdoctoral researchers in the Predictability of Weather and Climate group within the sub-Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics (AOPP). These posts are available from 1 April 2012, for up to four years. These positions are funded by the European Research Council (ERC) through an Advanced Investigator award to Professor Tim Palmer, to advance the science leading to the development of a prototype probabilistic Earth System Model. The work will build on developments initiated at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Applicants should have a doctorate in climate physics or nonlinear dynamics, or a related field, and ideally a strong numerical modelling background. Please direct informal enquiries to Professor Tim Palmer (tim.palmer@physics.ox.ac.uk). Applications for this vacancy are to be made online at www.recruit.ox.ac.uk Vacancy ID 101879 where a job-spec can also be found. Only applications received before midday on Wednesday 29 February 2012 can be considered. You will be required to upload a covering letter, brief statement of research interests, CV and details of two referees as part of your online application. Please ensure that references are sent in by the closing date. http://www.rmets.org/news/detail.php?ID=1142 Do you have skills and expertise in impact analysis, or, are you a researcher looking for support embedding impact analysis in research? Grant Funding Call now available: JISC is funding an opportunity for researcher groups to develop their capability to analyse and articulate the impact and benefits of their work, by working in partnership with FE and HE staff who have expertise in impact analysis. The objective is to stimulate the cross-pollination of existing expertise and technology to enhance capacity in the impact analysis of research across the sector. Funding of up to £30,000 per project is available to support three-way collaborative partnerships comprising: Research groups seeking to develop their capabilities in analysing and articulating the impact and benefits of their research; Business and Community Engagement (BCE) practitioners with expertise in identifying external impact and benefits, and designing institutional services for this purpose;  Leading research information management expertise and resources for impact evidence.   The full text of the call is available here. The deadline for proposals is 1 March 2012. Funded projects will run from May to October 2012. An online matching site has been launched by the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement to support the formation of these partnerships.  Interested researchers, impact analysts and research information management experts can sign here: http://nccpe1.ning.com and find out more. http://www.rmets.org/news/detail.php?ID=1140 Deadline for submitting applications: 4pm on Thursday 29th March 2012 The STFC Futures Programme is making available up to £1M per annum to create new multidisciplinary research communities by supporting interactions between STFC-funded researchers and appropriate science, technology and industry groups in the areas of Energy, Healthcare and the Environment. The overall aims of the Global Challenge Networks scheme are to: ·    improve communication between researchers ·    share knowledge and expertise ·    transfer experimental techniques, models and scientific insights ·    create new multidisciplinary project teams to address the challenges in Energy, Healthcare and the Environment Scope of the call This pilot scheme is being managed through the Futures Programme. The particular focus of the call has been determined by the Futures Theme Leaders following community consultation and/or advice from the Futures Advisory Panel. Further information can be found at http://www.stfc.ac.uk/Business+and+Innovation/38335.aspx http://www.rmets.org/news/detail.php?ID=1141 Media Fellowships - Be behind the headlines! Scientists, social scientists, engineers and clinicians can experience life in the heart of the newsroom by applying for a 2012 Media Fellowship. Spend 3-8 weeks this summer working with hosts including the BBC, Guardian and Nature to produce accurate, well-informed news about developments in science, and work alongside the UK’s top science editors in the British Science Festival Press Centre. Return to work with media confidence, contacts, and first-class communication skills. “My greater understanding of how the press works means I will now be able to pitch my research in a more accessible way to journalists so we both get the story we want.” Media Fellow   Apply online from 16 January – 11 March 2012 For eligibility criteria, experiences from past Media Fellows, and the application form go to www.britishscienceassociation.org/mediafellows http://www.rmets.org/news/detail.php?ID=1138     Date of issue: 23 January 2012 FUNCTION: Consultant (Scientist) to work on coupled data assimilation system (two positions) REFERENCE NO: AP12-03 LOCATION: ECMWF Headquarters at Shinfield Park, near Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom. ENVIRONMENT: The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is an international organisation supported by 34 States*. ECMWF’s principal objectives are the development of numerical methods for medium‑range, monthly and seasonal weather forecasting; the preparation, on a regular basis, of these weather forecasts for distribution to the meteorological services of the Member States; scientific and technical research directed to the improvement of these forecasts; and the collection and storage of appropriate meteorological data. Satellite and in situ observations provide the information for up-to-date global analyses and reanalyses of the atmosphere, ocean and surface. For details see: www.ecmwf.int/research ECMWF’s main computing facility includes supercomputers, archiving and data handling systems. ECMWF is connected to the meteorological telecommunication system and to its Member States via efficient networks linking 44 countries. A detailed description is available at: www.ecmwf.int/services/computing/overview MAIN DUTIES: Under the auspices of the European Space Agency (ESA), ECMWF is developing a prototype data assimilation system for a coupled atmosphere/ocean/sea-ice model that can be used for climate reanalysis. ECMWF is recruiting two consultants to work on this project. One of the positions is in the Marine Aspects Section and the other is in the Reanalysis Section, both within the Research Department. The Marine Aspects Section is responsible for the development and maintenance of the ocean wave and ocean circulation models run at the Centre. The Reanalysis Section works in close collaboration with other sections of the Research and Operations Departments to produce and disseminate state-of-the-art atmospheric reanalysis datasets. The work will consist of building the technical framework for the coupled data assimilation system using existing software components (IFS, NEMO/NEMOVAR), and investigating the performance of the system by means of data assimilation experiments. In particular, the following tasks are envisaged: Develop methodology to constrain the sea-surface temperature (SST) in long coupled model integrations Conduct and evaluate long coupled model integrations with SST constraints Include the NEMO ocean/sea-ice forward models as components in the atmospheric reanalysis system, based on the IFS and using existing coupling infrastructure Implement the NEMO/IFS coupled model as first guess in the existing NEMOVAR ocean-only data assimilation software Combine the above elements to build a prototype weakly-coupled data assimilation system, using the coupled model with separate analyses in the atmosphere and ocean components Increase the flexibility of the NEMOVAR ocean analysis cycle Develop targeted diagnostics of processes related to air–sea interaction Conduct experiments to evaluate the impact of coupling QUALIFICATIONS: An advanced university degree (PhD level or equivalent) and relevant experience with data assimilation and/or coupled ocean/atmosphere/sea-ice modelling. Proficiency with UNIX scripting and FORTRAN 90programming on parallel computer architectures is essential. The working languages of ECMWF are English, French and German. Candidates must be able to work effectively in English and a good knowledge of one of the other working languages would also be desirable. Interviews will be conducted in English. REMUNERATION: Typically within the range of £4,202.00 to £5,820.00 per month net of tax, depending upon qualifications, experience, personal situation and eligibility for expatriation allowance. A deduction of either £28.75 per beneficiary or 3.72% of the monthly remuneration will be made for the supplementary health insurance scheme. STARTING DATE: April 2012 or as soon as possible thereafter, subject to final contract agreements with the University of Reading. LENGTH OF CONTRACT: One year initially, with the possibility of extension of a further year. APPLICATIONS: Application forms can be downloaded from ECMWF’s website: www.ecmwf.int/newsevents/employment/en/ CLOSING DATE: Completed applications for this post must reach the Personnel Section of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts not later than 5 March 2012. http://www.rmets.org/news/detail.php?ID=1139     Date of issue: 23 January 2012 FUNCTION: Consultant (Scientist) to work on MyOcean2 project REFERENCE NO: AP12-02 LOCATION: ECMWF Headquarters at Shinfield Park, near Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom. ENVIRONMENT: The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is an international organisation supported by 34 States*. ECMWF’s principal objectives are the development of numerical methods for medium‑range, monthly and seasonal weather forecasting; the preparation, on a regular basis, of these weather forecasts for distribution to the meteorological services of the Member States; scientific and technical research directed to the improvement of these forecasts; and the collection and storage of appropriate meteorological data. Satellite and in situ observations provide the information for up-to-date global analyses and reanalyses of the atmosphere, ocean and surface. For details see: www.ecmwf.int/research ECMWF’s main computing facility includes supercomputers, archiving and data handling systems. ECMWF is connected to the meteorological telecommunication system and to its Member States via efficient networks linking 44 countries. A detailed description is available at: www.ecmwf.int/services/computing/overview MAIN DUTIES: The vacancy is in the Marine Aspects Section of the Research Department. This Section is responsible for the development and maintenance of the ocean wave and ocean circulation models run at the Centre. ECMWF contributes to the EU FP7 project MyOcean2 by producing a high-resolution (¼ degree) ocean reanalysis suitable for initialising high-resolution coupled models and climate applications. The ocean reanalysis will be used to initialise monthly and seasonal forecasts, and as a dataset for climate diagnostics studies. The consultant will be expected to: design and implement an efficient analysis cycle for the NEMOVAR data assimilation method in the ¼ degree NEMO ocean model; update the observational and forcing datasets to use the most recent versions; explore upgrades in the multivariate formulation of NEMOVAR; evaluate the final product using objective metrics. http://www.rmets.org/news/detail.php?ID=1137 The first RMetS SE Centre photographic competition drew a wide range of entries, covering a diverse range of subjects and locations. The panel of three judges reviewed all the entries, and images were scored according to the following criteria (in no particular order):• Technical competence (exposure, focus etc)• Composition• Impact• Meteorological content• Contextual information (caption) Audience participation was invited, and audience scores were used to decide the winning entries, which are included on the pages following. We thank all participants for entering, and for those who didn’t win this year – there’s always next year, so please keep your camera handy! Stephen Burt Chairman RMetS SE Centre The Second Prize photograph is shown above and is entitled "Standing Wave" by Neil Lofthouse. A pdf with a complete list of winners and runners up and their photographs can be downloaded below. http://www.rmets.org/news/detail.php?ID=1136 The Royal Society’s medals, awards and prize lectureships provide an opportunity to celebrate and recognise outstanding scientific achievement. They invite you to submit nominations for the 2012 medals, awards and prize lectureships. The Royal Society draws your attention in particular to the Kavli medal and lecture for excellence in all fields of science and engineering relevant to the environment or energy. The recipient will give a lecture at the Royal Society in 2013. For further details on this award and to download the nomination form please see the website. The Committee will award the lectureship to an early career stage scientist, meaning candidates should have undertaken no more than 15 years of research work since gaining their PhD. To find out details on all medals, awards and prize lectureships available in 2012 and to download the nomination forms please visit the website. To nominate a candidate you are asked to fill in the appropriate nomination form available from the website. Anyone is able to nominate a candidate for a Royal Society medal, award or prize lectureship. Please note that the eligibility criteria for nominees are stated on the website for each award. Many are open to early to mid career stage scientists. The closing date for returning completed nomination forms is Monday 6 February 2012. Should you require any further assistance or information please do not hesitate to contact Emily Roberts by e-mail at awards@royalsociety.org.  http://www.rmets.org/news/detail.php?ID=1135 The 9th International Symposium on Tropospheric Profiling (ISTP) will be held in L'Aquila, Italy from September 3th-7th, 2012. It is hosted by the Center of Excellence for the Forecast of Severe Events (CETEMPS) of University of L'Aquila. The symposium is part of a series that started in Boulder, Colorado, in 1988, and it is typically held every 3 years. ISTP attracts an international group of scientists, engineers, and program managers with broad experience in atmospheric measurement and modeling. Profiling of atmospheric state parameters and constituents, the understanding of tropospheric processes, and the use of experimental data in atmospheric models are the major topics of the conference. http://www.rmets.org/news/detail.php?ID=1134 Applications are invited for a new 18 months, part time (25-30%), policy placement secondment opportunity to work with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) on its Atmosphere and Local Environment Programme (ALE) in London.   This secondment is offered as part of NERC's policy placement fellowship scheme (http://www.nerc.ac.uk/using/publicsector/placements.asp)  which allows researchers and other staff involved in environmental science research to work closely with policy-makers within government and other public and third sector organisations in the UK. The purpose of this policy placement is to provide a technical lead for air quality modelling.  The Atmosphere and Local Environment (ALE) Programme in Defra has recently undertaken a review of it atmospheric modelling portfolio lead by an independent steering group. Building on the recommendations from the review, Defra is now developing a strategy for atmospheric modelling. The strategy will ensure future evidence needs for policy development are met through activities which will need implementing and managing in the short, medium and long term. Further details are available at  http://www.nerc.ac.uk/using/publicsector/fellowship.asp Please see "fellowship placement current opportunities" PDF http://www.nerc.ac.uk/using/publicsector/documents/defra-policy-placement-ale.pdf The closing date for applications is  Wednesday 08 February 2012. http://www.rmets.org/news/detail.php?ID=1133   Date of Issue: 11 January 2012 FUNCTION: Analyst to work in User Support GRADE: A2, according to the scales of the Co-ordinated Organisations. REFERENCE NO: AP12-01 LOCATION: ECMWF Headquarters at Shinfield Park, near Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom ENVIRONMENT: The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is an international organisation supported by 34 States*. ECMWF’s principal objectives are the development of numerical methods for medium-range, monthly and seasonal weather forecasting; the preparation, on a regular basis, of these weather forecasts for distribution to the meteorological services of the Member States; scientific and technical research directed to the improvement of these forecasts; and the collection and storage of appropriate meteorological data. Satellite and in situ observations provide the information for up-to-date global analyses and reanalyses of the atmosphere, ocean and surface. For details see: www.ecmwf.int/research ECMWF’s main computing facility includes supercomputers, archiving and data handling systems. ECMWF is connected to the meteorological telecommunication system and to its Member States via efficient networks linking 44 countries. A detailed description is available at: www.ecmwf.int/services/computing/overview MAIN DUTIES: The User Support Section is part of the Computer Division in the Operations Department. It plays a vital role in helping a growing user community meet tight deadlines through the provision of advice on the use of the computing services and the swift diagnosis and resolution of technical and procedural problems. User Support provides second-line support and is the main interface between the user community and other ECMWF staff, which requires a good understanding of both the users’ needs and the computer services offered by ECMWF. The successful candidate will work in a team of five staff. User Support staff: provide technical advice, support, and training on the use of ECMWF computing services develop and maintain web-based documentation install and maintain program libraries and other software packages develop scripts/tools to facilitate the usage of ECMWF computing services liaise with users (approximately 200 local users and 2,500 remote users) and the other sections within ECMWF organise and support training courses and other meetings   QUALIFICATIONS: A university degree, or equivalent, in a discipline related to IT, science or mathematics is required, together with at least two years’ experience in a scientifically-oriented computer centre, preferably providing IT support to users. The position requires: experience in supporting users in the use of IT systems and/or application packages a strong background in Unix and/or Linux knowledge of a high-level programming language, such as Fortran or C/C++ knowledge of scripting languages, such as Perl or Python The successful candidate is expected to have: the ability to communicate with and understand the complex requirements of scientists, engineers and professional staff in the deployment of computing solutions excellent interpersonal and communication skills good analytical and problem-solving skills an interest in identifying, investigating and resolving technical problems the ability to work under pressure and to interact with demanding users of the IT services the flexibility to adapt to changing organisational priorities and user needs dedication and enthusiasm to work within a small team a commitment to helping researchers in their work In addition it is considered beneficial to have: experience in compiling and running codes on high-performance computing facilities some experience of developing or maintaining/supporting scientific codes some basic knowledge of meteorology The working languages of ECMWF are English, French and German. Candidates must be able to work effectively in English and a good knowledge of one of the other working languages would be also desirable. Interviews will be conducted in English. Staff are normally recruited from among the nationals of the following Member States and Co‑operating States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and United Kingdom. REMUNERATION: Typically within the range of £4,202.75 to £5,614.15 basic salary per month net of tax. Ordinarily, a staff member will be engaged at the lowest step of the grade of the post for which he or she is selected. A deduction is made from the basic salary for the Pension Scheme and for Partial Invalidity (10.8% for the Pension Scheme and 0.2% for Partial Invalidity). A further 1.24% of basic salary and related allowances is currently deducted for the ECMWF Supplementary Health Insurance Scheme. Where applicable the following allowances will be paid in addition to the basic salary: household allowance of 6% of basic salary; children’s allowance of £237.44 per child per month; expatriation allowance of 14% or 18% of basic salary for expatriates; education allowance for children of expatriates. STARTING DATE: As soon as possible. LENGTH OF CONTRACT: Maximum of four years for initial contract, with the possibility of renewal. APPLICATIONS: Application forms can be downloaded from ECMWF’s website: (www.ecmwf.int/newsevents/employment/en/) CLOSING DATE: Completed applications for this post must reach the Personnel Section of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts not later than 22 February 2012. http://www.rmets.org/news/detail.php?ID=1131 Use the link below to access Weather Front online http://www.rmets.org/news/detail.php?ID=1132 Alex BrearleyMy visit to Dr. Robert Pickart at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution took place between 29th September and 29th October 2010. Significant progress was made in investigating both the magnitude and structure of the boundary current to the south of Denmark Strait, with the main research outcomes being as follows:The Spill Jet component of the boundary current, first identified by Pickart et al. (2005) in the 2001 section, is present in all four summer hydrographic surveys, and has a mean transport of 4.7 Sv. This is the same order of magnitude in transport as both the East Greenland Irminger Current and the Denmark Strait Overflow Water, implying that it is an important contributor to the boundary current system in this region.Temperature/salinity diagrams suggest that the Spill Jet has properties intermediate between that of the surface East Greenland Irminger Current and the Denmark Strait Overflow, with large interannual variability.The extremely strong horizontal shear associated with the Spill Jet system means that this is one of the few ocean regions where the potential vorticity budget is controlled principally by the relative vorticity term. In both 2004 and 2007, ζ (the relative term) exceeds 2f. Moreover, the sign of the total PV gradient in all four sections changes, thus meeting the Charney-Stern requirement for baroclinic instability. Our collaborators at Johns Hopkins University have stated that these observations also satisfy the conditions for symmetric instability. It thus appears that, through a combination of barotropic, baroclinic and symmetric instabilities, cold and fresh shelf water is mixed across the hydrographic front into the interior of the Irminger Basin, thus modifying the final properties of the upper part of the deep overflows.Double diffusive mixing was also identified as a likely mechanism for cross-frontal exchange at this location, as revealed by individual plots of density ratio and Turner angle. Investigation is continuing with our research partners at JHU to identify the relative importance of salt fingering compared with the instabilities outlined above when mixing heat and freshwater between the shelf and the Irminger Basin. A research paper is currently in preparation outlining these findings in more detail. http://www.rmets.org/news/detail.php?ID=1129 The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is seeking to appoint a new Chair of its Science and Innovation Strategy Board (SISB), to commence from April 2012, and is inviting applications from interested parties. Further information and an application pack are available at http://www.nerc.ac.uk/about/work/boards/science/. The closing date for applications is Monday 13th February 2012 and interviews will be held in London on 7th and 9th March 2012. http://www.rmets.org/news/detail.php?ID=1127 OPAL are running an experiment to find out what winter feels like and are continuing the  OPAL thermal comfort survey through the winter. Anyone can take part and OPAL are encouraging as many people as possible to get involved so that they have some comprehensive results to carry out research.Use the link below for more information and to take part