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PDRA: Ice Core Gas Analysis
British Antarctic Survey
2 days ago
Posted date
2 days ago
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£41,344 - £45,479 the band minimum is the normal starting pay for those new to a role. In exceptional circumstances, when relevant skills and experience can be identified, a higher starting salary may be considered.

We will give full consideration to requests for flexible and part time working, such as reduced hours, compressed hours or job sharing. We also offer hybrid working and recognise the many benefits this brings. The nature of the role will determine if flexible and hybrid working options are possible.

Interview date - April 2025

British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is looking for a new postdoctoral researcher to join our Ice Dynamics and Paleoclimate team. BAS delivers and enables world-leading interdisciplinary research in the Polar Regions. We employ experts from many different professions to carry out our Science as well as keep the lights on, feed the research and support teams and keep everyone safe!

Working at BAS is rewarding. Our skilled science, operational and support staff based in Cambridge, Antarctica and the Arctic, work together to deliver research that uses the Polar Regions to advance our understanding of Earth as a sustainable planet. Through our extensive logistic capability and know how BAS facilitates access for the British and international science community to the UK polar research operation. Numerous national and international collaborations, combined with an excellent infrastructure help sustain a world leading position for the UK in Antarctic affairs. British Antarctic Survey is a component of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation www.ukri.org

As a valued member of our team, you'll be eligible for the following benefits:
  • 30 days annual leave plus bank holidays and 2.5 privilege days
  • Excellent civil service pension (with 26% or more employer contribution, depending on your band)
  • 24 hours/365 days access to employee assistance programme (EAP - including support with physical, mental, social, health and financial issues)
  • Flexible and family friendly working opportunities
  • Cycle to work scheme
  • Access to discounted shopping on a range of retail, leisure and lifestyle categories and much more.
You'll be joining our team of ice core scientists at BAS and University of Cambridge working with collaborators all around the world on two major international ice core projects. The Beyond EPICA-Oldest Ice Core project (BE-OIC) is a collaborative European effort to obtain a continuous ice core record of climate and carbon cycle changes across the mid-Pleistocene. The project recently completed the drilling of a new deep Antarctic ice core that holds ice from up to 1.2 million years before present. Our role in the project is to contribute our expertise in high-resolution, continuous ice core gas analysis.

Fate, Emissions and Transport of CH 4 (FETCH 4 ) is a global project supported by Schmidt Futures that aims to improve our understanding of methane levels in the atmosphere in the past, present and future. Our role is to help collect and analyse a new Greenland ice core to produce a detailed record over last ~150 years.

In collaboration with our European partners, you'll help us to deliver unprecedented records of greenhouse gases (GHG) from a continuous ice core that is older than any yet analysed. Preliminary results suggest the BE-OIC core captures the Mid-Pleistocene Transition - an enigmatic change in the Earth's climate whose origins are not understood. You will have the chance to collect some of the first greenhouse data on the changes in CH 4 , N 2 O and CO on this ice. Within the FETCH 4 project, you will be the key scientist producing CH 4 and CO concentration data from a new Greenland ice core and get to work alongside other scientists collecting isotopic data, which could include work in the field.

Within the role, there will be an opportunity to join a network of international ice core scientists and climate modellers through the BE-OIC and FETCH 4 projects. You will be able to enhance your set of lab skills using the cutting edge of ice core gas analysis - optimised to maximise the quality and resolution of ice core GHG record. Outside of the lab you will be trained on suite of efficient carbon cycle and atmospheric box models we have developed to interpret ice core data.

Current projects the team are working on include:
  • Ice sheet elevation reconstructions using total air content and other proxies (e.g. Griemen et al., 2024, Abrupt Holocene ice loss due to thinning and ungrounding in the Weddell Sea Embayment .
  • Recent carbon cycle changes from high-accumulation Antarctic site. (e.g. Strawson et al., 2024, Historical Southern Hemisphere biomass burning variability inferred from ice core carbon monoxide records .
Please feel free to contact Thomas Bauska ( thausk@bas.ac.uk ) for more information about this exciting opportunity.

Some of your main responsibilities will include:
  • Analysing the oldest ice samples from the Beyond EPICA project in conjunction with project partners to produce new records of atmospheric gases prior to 700,000 years ago, spanning the Mid-Pleistocene Transition. This is likely to take place in either Copenhagen or Grenoble.
  • Test and maintain a suite of Optical feedback - Cavity Enhances Absorption Spectrometer (OF-CEAS) instruments capable of analysing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ), nitrous oxide (N 2 O) and carbon monoxide (CO).
  • Potentially participate in one ice core drilling field season in southeast Greenland.
  • Utilise the Cambridge Model of Emissions, Reactions and Atmospheric transport in a BOX (Camera-Box) model to study past variations in CH 4 and CO.
For the role of PDRA Ice Core Gas Analysis, we are looking for somebody who has:
  • PhD in Earth Science, Physics, Chemistry, other-related Natural Science field
  • Experience working in a (geo-) chemistry analytical laboratory
  • Experience working independently on a research project
Please download job description for more details.

If we've just described you, we'd love to hear from you. Apply now at bas.ac.uk/vacancies.

What experiences can we offer you?

At BAS we believe everyone plays a vital role, is unique and valued, therefore, we embrace diversity as well as equality of opportunity and are committed to creating an inclusive and welcoming working environment where everyone's unique perspectives are valued.

Different perspectives and collaborative working help us achieve our best work and come together to form a high performing team which makes positive changes in the business. That's the power of every individual. Our cultural values are built on mutual respect, inclusion, commitment and excellence.

If you are looking for an opportunity to work with world class and amazing people in one of the most unique places in the world, then British Antarctic Survey could be for you.

If you require the job information in an alternative format (i.e. email, audio or video), or would like any further information or support, please do not hesitate to get in touch at jobs@bas.ac.uk or alternatively you can call us on 01223 221508.
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JOB SUMMARY
PDRA: Ice Core Gas Analysis
British Antarctic Survey
Cambridge
2 days ago
N/A
Full-time