Postdoc in "Improving understanding & model representation of albedo" (f​/m​/d

Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL

Organisation/Company Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL Research Field Environmental science » Earth science Environmental science » Other Researcher Profile Recognised Researcher (R2) Final date to receive applications 29 Apr 2026 - 21:59 (UTC) Country Switzerland Type of Contract Permanent Job Status Full-time Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

The WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF is part of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL and thus of the ETH Domain. WSL focuses on the sustainable use and protection of the environment and on the handling of natural hazards. WSL employs approximately 600 people, of whom 180 work at SLF in Davos.

The Research Unit «Snow and Atmosphere» investigates snow and its interactions with the hydro- und atmosphere across different scales, with the aim to improve our understanding of the role of snow in the climate system. Within our Snow Physics group, we are looking for a

Postdoc in "Improving understanding & model representation of albedo" 80-100% (f/m/d)

This 3-year postdoc position is part of the deFIRN project, and is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). The project is a collaboration between the WSL (Ruzica Dadic), University of Fribourg (Martina Barandun and Horst Machguth), and ETH Zurich (Evan Miles). The core team consists of the 4 PIs, 4 PhD students, and 4 Postdocs and aims to quantify the impact of disappearing firn on mountain glaciers.

The project also features a broad network of partners in Europe and Central Asia.

The aim of this position is to implement improved parameterizations of albedo and radiative transfer in glacier surface energy balance models for large-scale simulations. This includes a new model representation of albedo for firn and for glacier ice, including newly exposed glacier ice. You will work on this project with a PhD student, whose main task will be to develop a process-scale representation of radiative transfer in firn, while your focus will be on implementing and representing processes at larger scales in models.

The parameterizations will be based on existing and new field observations (Swiss Alps and Central Asia), laboratory experiments and process modelling. This 3 year position is based at the SLF in Davos and will be supervised by Ruzica Dadic.

If you have a PhD in environmental science, geoscience, engineering, physics,

or a related field, you are interested in the cryosphere, you have experience in computational data analysis or modelling, and you would like to move to the beautiful Swiss mountains, this may be the perfect position for you.

If you are interested, please send your application, including a
1) motivation letter,
2) CV, and
3) educational transcripts to Clemens Güdel, Human Resources SLF, through our webpage. Applications via email will not be considered. The optimal starting date is between 1 April and 30. September 2026. Please contact ruzica.dadic if you have any questions. WSL is committed to diversity and inclusion as core values. We actively promote equality and foster an open, inclusive work environment.

Number of offers available 1 Company/Institute Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL Country Switzerland City Davos Dorf Postal Code 7260 Street Flüelastr. 11