Missions

University of Lille offers a 34-month fixed-term contract researcher position to work on the recently funded project ACCTS (“Assessing cirrus cloud thinning strategies by learning from aerosol-cirrus interactions in natural and perturbed conditions”). This project, led by the University of Lille in collaboration with Sorbonne University and international partners, addresses the critical challenge of understanding cirrus clouds in climate studies. We are seeking postdoctoral researchers to contribute to our mission of advancing knowledge on how aerosols influence cirrus formation and evolution under both natural and highly polluted conditions, and how these processes can be represented in models to theoretically assess the potential of cirrus cloud thinning as a
climate intervention strategy.

Activities

The selected candidate will contribute to establishing the natural baseline of aerosol-cirrus interactions from satellite observations. The work will focus on building a comprehensive dataset of co-located cirrus and aerosol properties by combining global satellite observations from DARDAR-Nice and EarthCARE with reanalysis
aerosol products. Using Lagrangian transport modelling tools such as FLEXPART and CLaMS-Ice, the candidate will link observed cirrus properties to air parcel history, formation mechanisms, and dominant nucleation pathways. This framework will then serve to quantify the sensitivity of cirrus microphysical properties, such as ice number
concentration and ice water content, to aerosol characteristics under diverse environmental conditions. The radiative impacts associated with these sensitivities will also be assessed, providing the first observationally constrained evaluation of aerosol-cirrus interactions on a global scale.

Skills

• PhD in atmospheric sciences
• Knowledge of cloud physics
• Experience in algorithm development and satellite remote sensing
• Good written and spoken English
• Ability to work independently as well as in a team
• Proficiency in programming languages (e.g. Python, R, Fortran)

Work Context

The successful candidate will join the Clouds and Radiation team at LOA, Université of Lille. They will work in close connection with researchers from Sorbonne University, the University of Vienna, and the Forschungszentrum Jülich. Regular exchanges and research visits across partner institutes will ensure strong integration of the results into modelling frameworks and comparative analyses within the project.

The position is located in a sector under the protection of scientific and technical potential (PPST), and therefore requires, in accordance with the regulations, that your arrival is authorized by the competent authority of the MESR.