Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Snow and Ice Hydrology; Canmore, AB

Primary

Purpose:

Applicants are invited for the position of Post-Doctoral Fellow to undertake research to apply a new land surface hydrological model in the Canadian Rockies and evaluate its representation of snow and glacier physical processes and ability to predict cold regions hydrology. The researcher will use the observations from the Canadian Rockies Hydrological Observatory of Global Water Futures Observatories and remote sensing products to evaluate model performance and diagnose deficiencies.

Comparisons to model predictions using the Cold Regions Hydrological Model, Canadian Hydrological Model and MESH model will be made. Model diagnostics will be used to identify hydrological change and cryospheric tipping points in headwater river basins of the Canadian Rockies. This research is part of the MountAInWater Project of the Virtual Institute for Earth’s Water.

Nature of Work: The successful candidate will conduct research under the direction of Distinguished Professor John Pomeroy in the USask Centre for Hydrology’s Coldwater Laboratory in Canmore, Alberta as a contribution to of the MountAInWater Project of the Virtual Institute for Earth's Water – a program funded by Schmidt Sciences that is headquartered at ISTA in Austria. The candidate will evaluate and apply the Thethys-Chloris land surface hydrology-cryosphere model and evaluate its process representation against field and remote sensing observations in the Canadian Rockies, compare its simulations to Canadian models such as CRHM, CHM and MESH and diagnose model improvements and tipping points in cryospheric-hydrological system behaviour in the region.

There will be opportunities to participate in fieldwork in the Canadian Rockies Hydrological Observatory at its 40 sites in Banff and Jasper National Parks and Kananaskis Country parks. This is the most intensely monitored mountain environment in Canada including research basins on glaciers, tundra, forests and wetlands.

The Centre for Hydrology is the premier research group for cold regions hydrology in Canada and is known around the world for advances in snow, glacier and frozen ground hydrology and modelling  . The work will be based out of its Coldwater Laboratory in Canmore, Alberta. The Coldwater Lab has scientists, technicians, students and professors devoted to better measuring, predicting and understanding mountain cryospheric hydrology.

It contributes to the USask Global Institute for Water Security, the top ranked water resources research institute in Canada, and contributes to the World Climate Research Programme’s GEWEX and the UN’s Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences.

• The PDF will report directly to Prof. John Pomeroy.
• Work with minimal supervision, multi-task, and prioritize workload.
• Conduct studies that advance the science and practice of hydrological-cryospheric modeling.
• Prepare drafts of papers and reports as necessary.
• Mentor graduate students and junior colleagues as necessary.
• Establish and maintain effective, productive relationships with staff, peers, immediate supervisor and senior management and with the campus community.
• Manage own time effectively and ensure the managers are kept informed of activities, and progress of work.
• Provide technical support for other team members through technical advice.
• Recommend changes to processes or procedures.
• Must be open to learning and development and be willing to accept new challenges and assignments.

The successful candidate will have completed a PhD in a relevant discipline such as hydrology, water resources, civil or agricultural engineering, environmental earth science, physical geography or atmospheric science, within the last 5 years.

The PDF will have knowledge…