North Pacific Climate Change Researcher

beBee Careers is seeking a postdoctoral researcher for a climate change project focused on the North Pacific Ocean. The role involves studying atmosphere-ocean and climate-biology interactions, particularly SLP-SST correlations. The project, funded by NOAA-FATE, aims to develop a new climate index for predicting changes in these correlations. The position is based in Kodiak, Juneau, or Fairbanks, Alaska, and requires expertise in relevant scientific fields.
• Postdoctoral Researcher Wanted for Climate Change Research Project*

We are seeking a highly skilled postdoctoral researcher to join our team working on climate change research in the North Pacific Ocean. The successful candidate will contribute to advancing our understanding of nonstationarity in atmosphere-ocean and climate-biology interactions.

Studies have shown that temporal changes in the relative importance of leading modes of North Pacific atmospheric and oceanic variability may have significant implications for climate-biology interactions. For example, the decline in Aleutian Low (AL) variability since the late 1980s has led to a loss of coherent variability in local climate processes driven by sea level pressure (SLP) variability. This change appears to have resulted in negative correlations between SLP and sea surface temperature (SST) in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) and eastern Bering Sea (EBS) ecosystems.

To explore this phenomenon further, we will be conducting a two-year research project funded by NOAA-FATE, commencing in 2018. The project aims to test the generality of SLP-SST correlations as predictors for biological responses to climate anomalies in the EBS, GOA, and northern California Current ecosystems.

A key objective of the project is to develop a new climate index reflecting the strength of SLP-SST correlations. This index will be used to make short-term predictions of changes to SLP-SST correlation patterns using seasonal climate forecasts. We encourage applications from researchers interested in collaborating with us to develop a research project under the University of Alaska Fairbanks Centennial Postdoctoral Initiative.

The successful applicant will be based in either Kodiak (preferred), Juneau, or Fairbanks. Applicants should have a background in atmospheric science, physical oceanography, fisheries oceanography, marine ecology, statistics, or a related field.

This is an excellent opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge research on climate-biology interactions and work closely with a multidisciplinary team.