Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) – The Research University in the Helmholtz Association creates and imparts
knowledge for the society and the environment. It is our goal to make significant contributions to mastering the
global challenges of mankind in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, more than 9.000
employees of KIT cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in research, academic education, and innovation.
We are looking for the Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research - Atmospheric Trace Gases and Remote Sensing
(IMK-ASF) as soon as possible and limited up to 3 years for a
Scientist (f/m/d) in Computer Science,
Meteorology or Physics
– 75 % part time, with the option to acquire a PhD –
The IMK-ASF investigates dynamics, microphysical and chemical processes in the Earth’s atmosphere, with the goal
to understand, quantify and predict its natural variability and long-term changes. Accurate measurements of
atmospheric trace gases from various observational platforms (ground-based stations, aircraft, balloons,
satellites) are key for these research objectives.
The IASI satellite instruments have been providing very high quality infrared spectra on a global scale since 2007
with daily global coverage and high spatial resolution (up to 4 million measurements per day). At IMK-ASF the
MUSICA IASI satellite data processor was developed during the last decade. This processor enables us to estimate
atmospheric trace gas composition from the IASI measurements.
The aim of this activity is a complete (re-)processing of the IASI measurements for the period 2007-2024 in order
to investigate regional long-term changes in the atmospheric trace gas composition (H2O, HDO/H2O ratios, CH4, N2O
and HNO3). For the (re-)processing of the large amount of data an optimization of the whole MUSICA IASI processing
chain is required. This includes the treatment of the IASI measurements, the line-by-line radiative transform
calculations and the generation of NetCDF output data files. For the identification of regional long-term changes,
a generation of spatially and temporally averaged data is necessary. This is realized by an optimized data fusion
technique, which uses the redundant spatial-temporal high-resolution information for improving the vertical
information and for reducing the noise error (averaging without significant loss of information).
This activity is a collaboration between IMK-ASF and the Steinbuch Centre for Computing (SCC) and fully benefits
from SCC’s powerful IT infrastructures and outstanding computing expertise.
The tasks include:
- Optimization of Python (treatment of IASI measurements/generation of NetCDF output) and Fortran codes
(radiative transfer calculations) and their interfaces for the application on HPC systems. Important is a
comprehensive documentation and benchmarking of the achieved optimizations (sustained software development)
- (Re-)processing of IASI measurements (2007 – 2024) using the optimized chain
- Collaboration for the development of a Kalman filter data fusion method for achieving an optimized data
averaging. Apply the method to MUSICA IASI products (2007 – 2024)
- Documentation and publication of results (e.g. presentation on international and national conferences)
- Support of atmospheric scientists for usage of new and heterogenous HPC systems, e.g. training events,
seminars, hackathons, guided tours.
This position offers the possibility to acquire a PhD degree.
Personal qualification:
- Diploma (University)/Master in Computer Science, Physics, Meteorology, or Mathematics
- Practical experience with Research Data Management (RDM) and High Performance Computing (HPC)
- Experience in Python (and ideally Fortran), knowledge of Matlab is advantageous.
- Strong interest in applications in the climate and environment research area
- Proven experience in documentation, teamwork, and written and spoken English skills
IMK-ASF offers an exciting and varied job within an international and diverse environment - in terms of scientific and geographical background, expertise and languages, age and gender. We work in topic-oriented teams, offer excellent professional development opportunities as well as a high degree of self-responsible work. For us, work-life balance is important; this includes flexible working time models and opportunities for mobile work and New Work.
We offer you an attractive and modern workplace with access to the excellent equipment of the KIT, a varied work, a wide range of training opportunities, flexible working time models, an allowance for the job ticket BW and a casino/cafeteria.
We prefer to balance the number of employees (f/m/d). Therefore we kindly ask female applicants to apply for this job.
Recognized severely disabled persons will be preferred if they are equally qualified.
Please apply
online until
30.09.2022 using the vacancy number
477/2022 and the
reference number 6 to Mr Gehringer, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Human Resources, Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany. For further information, please contact Dr. Matthias Schneider,
matthias.schneider@kit.edu, phone +49 721 608-26222 or Dr. René Caspart,
rene.caspart@kit.edu, phone +49 721 608-25631
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KIT – The Research University in the Helmholtz Association