Location: Near Nice (South of France) (Laboratoire d'Océanographie de
Villefranche & ACRI-ST)

Starting date: ASAP

Description: University of Plymouth (UoP) in partnership with Laboratoire
d’Océanographie de Villefranche (LOV) & ACRI-ST are part of an international
consortium developing an operational service for the delivery of ocean
colour level 3 products under ESA funding (GlobColour project). These
products will include chlorophyll concentration and normalized radiance in
open ocean waters, and chlorophyll concentration in coastal waters when
valid. Data from 4 sensors (SeaWIFS, MODIS, MERIS and POLDER) will be
merged to produce a 10-year time series. This development will serve as a
benchmark for future services operated in the frame of operational
oceanography.

The role of the post-doctoral fellow will be to reinforce the collaboration
between ACRI-ST, LOV and UoP both on technical and scientific aspects of the
project. Although the post-doctoral fellow will be employed by the
University of Plymouth, the permanent residence of the candidate will be
shared between ACRI-ST and LOV (both are in the same geographical area near
Nice, in the South of France Mediterranean coast).

During the first year, the post-doctoral fellow will be part of the
scientific team and shall provide support to ACRI-ST for the processor
development and to LOV for preliminary assessment from a first
characteristic data set. During the second year, he/she will provide support
to ACRI-ST for the production of the full data set (global, over the full
time period) and to LOV for validation activities, in close collaboration
with UoP team.

Besides the important computational aspects, scientific issues regarding the
coherency of the data to be merged are to be studied. They include the
radiometric inter-calibration of the various sensors despite their
differences in channel spectral positions, calibration procedures,
atmospheric correction schemes, bio-optical marine algorithms. Ensuring the
continuity, from coastal zone to open ocean, of the chlorophyll fields is
still among the scientific questions to be solved, as well as that of
bidirectionnally corrected water-leaving radiances. The validation program
is also an adequate opportunity for scientific studies (timing of blooms,
temporal evolution of upwelling systems..), greatly facilitated by the
systematic production of long term, coherent time series.

Qualification: Ph.D. in oceanic sciences or related area is required prior
to the start of the appointment. The primary selection criteria will be
individual excellence in research, autonomy, communication and leadership
skills. Strong experience in computer programming and processing of ocean
colour remote sensing data is requested in addition to a solid knowledge of
the physics of the problem (the post will involve the handling of large
data-sets and creation of processing software).

Application: In order to ensure full consideration, a curriculum vitae,
statement of professional goals, and three letters of reference should be
sent ASAP to: