PhD position on modelling climate change induced by cropland cultivation
Background:
The Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement (LSCE) is seeking a motivated 3-years PhD student to study the relationships between agricultural production and greenhouse gas emission and sinks during the late 20th Century and for future scenarios. The project will be based on the process-oriented global crop model (ORCHIDEE-crop) that will be improved to include 1) tillage and soil carbon losses through erosion, 2) oil and bioenergy crops, such as rapeseed and sugarcane, and 3) parameterization for N2O emission. Near term projections of cropland areas and greenhouse gas mitigation objectives in cropland cultivation to ≈ 2030 will be assessed in collaboration with the Centre International de Recherche en Environnement et DeÌveloppement (CIRED) starting from Nationally Determined Contributions and food demand scenarios and/or International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). The long-term goal of the project is to estimate consistently changes in radiative forcing and climate contributed by crop cultivation and their uncertainties, in the past and for the near future (≈ 2030) including greenhouse gas emissions and sinks through which cropland cultivation modify the energy balance of the surface. This work will be performed in collaboration with the Laboratoire de MeÌteÌorologie Dynamique (LMD) for the coupling of ORCHIDEE-crop with the LMDZ climate model.
Other information:
Work location: Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement (LSCE) with potential extended visits and stay at Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le DeÌveloppement (CIRED) and/or International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA).
Application Process: We look forward to receiving your application package – including a motivation letter, a statement of research interests, a CV, and the names and contact addresses of 2-3 academic referees – Please send your application to philippe.ciais@lsce.ipsl.fr, nathalie.de-noblet@lsce.ipsl.fr and Laurent.Li@lmd.jussieu.fr
The deadline for applications is 1/09/2016; Start of the PhD expected at autumn 2016.