Graduate Student Opportunity in Ocean Carbon Uptake at University of Victoria, BC, Canada

We are seeking a motivated MSc student to study ocean carbon uptake at the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria (Victoria, BC, Canada). The global ocean absorbs roughly one third of human carbon emissions, which reduces the rate of global warming, but also leads to ocean acidification. The student will be part of a team working to quantify, understand and predict the ocean carbon sink in Canadian waters – a topic with particular relevance to national and international policymaking.

Prospective students should be bright and self-motivated with good communication skills.  We are looking for students with the ability to think logically, to work independently, and to perform detailed computational analysis on big datasets. The student will quantify the ocean carbon sink in Canadian waters using output from state-of-the-art Earth System Model simulations, and validate the model numbers using available observations. This approach will then be used to make predictions of future changes in the Canadian ocean carbon sink on decadal and centennial timescales. The potential also exists to expand the project to work on understanding the processes controlling the ocean carbon sink and to use the model simulations to inform future observational campaigns and to interpret the effects of sparse historical observational sampling. The successful applicant will require strong interest in quantitative fields such as Physics, Mathematics, or Computer Science. Experience in analysis of large datasets and scientific analysis software such as python or Matlab is an asset. For further information, contact Dr. Neil Swart at neil.swart@canada.ca.  Applications are due at University of Victoria by 15 February for full consideration. International students should take the GRE and may need to demonstrate English proficiency through tests like TOEFL, IELTS or MELAB.