M/F PhD in Physical Geography

Job Description

Thesis Subject

Development of an automated monitoring system for understanding accumulation and ablation processes for glacial systems on steep high mountain slopes affected by permafrost (ice aprons, hanging glaciers, couloirs).
Doctoral contract in physical geography applied to the study of accumulation and ablation processes in glacial features found in the context of permafrost-affected rock faces (ice aprons, hanging glaciers, couloirs).
The contract will be implemented within the framework of the GlacioRaide project, developed through the CNRS internal program 80PRIME, coordinated by the MITI (Mission for Transversal and Interdisciplinary Initiatives). The MITI aims to generate new scientific and methodological questions on strategic themes for the CNRS, the implementation of which requires the establishment of novel collaborations between laboratories from at least two CNRS institutes, in this case INEE (EDYTEM) and in2p3 (LAPP).
GlacioRaide aims to improve the measurement and understanding of the mass balance of ice features present on high-mountain permafrost rock faces. These systems remain understudied due to their inaccessibility and instability, despite their importance in terms of landscape evolution, mountaineering practices, and the evolution of mountain hazards.
The PhD student will be supervised by Ludovic Ravanel (CNRS Research Director, geomorphologist, EDYTEM) and Jessica Levêque (CNRS Research Director, physicist, EDYTEM). They will join the Morphodynamics team at EDYTEM.
The candidate recruited for the GlacioRaide project will be responsible for designing, deploying, validating, and operating an automated glaciological monitoring system capable of measuring, at high frequency (hourly), the accumulation and ablation processes on several permafrost-covered glacier faces. Situated at the interface of glaciology, geomatics, field instrumentation, and artificial intelligence applied to image analysis, this work will contribute to the development of an innovative methodology aimed at addressing a major observation gap for steep glaciers in high mountain environments.
The candidate's activities will be organized around four complementary areas.

1. Design and deployment of the experimental glaciological monitoring system (EDYTEM / LAPP)
The PhD student will participate in the design of the observation protocol and the instrumentation of pilot sites in the Mont-Blanc massif (including the Triangle du Tacul, the Brenva ridge, and the Mallory hanging glacier). He/she will contribute to the installation of ablation stakes, the deployment of automated imaging systems (time-lapse cameras), and the integration of complementary environmental sensors (temperature, humidity, radiation, etc.). The candidate will take part in high-mountain field campaigns, the operational monitoring of equipment, and the verification of acquired data.

2. Development of an automated image processing and analysis chain (LAPP)
The PhD student will develop a processing pipeline to automatically extract glaciological measurements from acquired image series. This work will include:
- the creation and annotation of training datasets;
- the development of algorithms for detecting and segmenting markers;
- the implementation of computer vision and deep learning approaches to automatically estimate the emergent height of the markers;
- the development of geometric correction and temporal registration methods to ensure the robustness of the measurements under varying environmental conditions (lighting, snow cover, optical shifts).

3. Glaciological analysis and modeling of accumulation and ablation processes (EDYTEM / LAPP)
Using the time series data produced, the candidate will analyze the mass balance dynamics observed on instrumented glacial features. He/she will correlate observations from the ablation stakes with local meteorological data, digital terrain models, topographic data (photogrammetry or LiDAR), and snow and weather modeling data. The objective will be to improve our understanding of the melting, snow accumulation, and refreezing mechanisms specific to steep glaciers.

4. Development of tools for scientific enhancement and data dissemination (EDYTEM / LAPP)
The candidate will contribute to the structuring and automation of the data pipeline (storage, processing, visualization) and will participate in the development of tools to facilitate the use of results by the scientific community. An openness to open-source solutions and visualization interfaces may be considered. The candidate will disseminate his/her work through scientific publications, presentations at international conferences, interdisciplinary collaborations, and outreach activities for the general public (e.g., lectures and popular science articles).

Your Work Environment

Presentation of the CNRS, the laboratory, partners, interactions, and collaborations. Work environment, objectives, and available resources.
This doctoral research will be integrated into the work of the EDYTEM laboratory on ice aprons, hanging glaciers, and ice couloirs, which falls within a broader dual approach: i) small ice masses on steep rock faces and their response to climate change, and ii) the effects of the climate crisis on mountaineering. These steep glacial features, found on permafrost-affected rock faces, represent a particularly innovative area of research. EDYTEM has contributed to better defining these ice masses and clarifying their evolution in the current context of climate crisis through various methods (ice core drilling, dating, texture analysis, thermometry in borehole, optical and radar remote sensing, LiDAR, etc.). The results indicate a high vulnerability of these small glacial bodies to rising temperatures. More recently, the laboratory participated in the development of a lightweight ice corer, tested on the ice apron of Le Linceul on the Grandes Jorasses, with the aim of exploiting millennia-old ice as a paleoenvironmental archive. LAPP contributes to the GlacioRaide project through its expertise in monitoring in isolated environments (e.g., the CTA project), by studying various data transfer and in-situ image processing solutions. It will also participate in the development of the analysis and visualization pipeline, leveraging the MUST platform and its expertise in DAQ, ML, and open data management (ESCAPE).

Constraints and risks

vThe candidate will have an office at the EDYTEM laboratory (Le Bourget du Lac) but will be required to travel regularly to the LAPP laboratory (Annecy).
The work will involve numerous field trips in high mountains (with supervision by a high-mountain guide when necessary). The candidate must therefore be in excellent physical condition, ideally with significant experience in high-mountain terrain and mountaineering skills – Note: training will be possible.

Compensation and benefits

Compensation

2300 € gross monthly

Annual leave and RTT

44 jours

Remote Working practice and compensation

Pratique et indemnisation du TT

Transport

Prise en charge à 75% du coût et forfait mobilité durable jusqu’à 300€

About the offer

About the CNRS

The CNRS is a major player in fundamental research on a global scale. The CNRS is the only French organization active in all scientific fields. Its unique position as a multi-specialist allows it to bring together different disciplines to address the most important challenges of the contemporary world, in connection with the actors of change.

CNRS

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