Department of Physics and Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway

UiT The Arctic University of Norway is a multi-campus comprehensive university at the international forefront. Our vision is to be a driving force for developing the High North. The Northern Sami notion eallju, which means eagerness to work, sets the tone for this motive power at UiT. Along with students, staff and the wider community, we aim to utilise our location in Northern Norway and Sápmi, our broad and diverse research and study portfolio and interdisciplinary advantage to shape the future.

Our social mission is to provide research-based education of high quality, perform artistic development and carry out research of the highest international quality standards in the entire range from basic to applied. We will convey knowledge about disciplines and contribute to innovation. Our social mission unites UiT across various studies, research fields and large geographical distances. This demands good cooperation with trade and industry and civil society as well as with international partners. We will strengthen knowledge-based and sustainable development at a regional, national and international level.

Academic freedom and scientific and ethical principles form the basis for all UiT’s activities. Participation, co-determination, transparency and good processes will provide the decision-making basis we need to make wise and far-sighted priorities. Our students and staff will have the opportunity to develop their abilities and potential. Founded on academic integrity, we will be courageous, committed and generous in close contact with disciplines, people and contemporary developments.

We will demonstrate adaptability and seek good and purposeful utilisation of resources, so we are ready to meet the expectations and opportunities of the future. We will strengthen the quality and impact of our disciplines and core tasks through the following three strategic priority areas.

Homepage: https://en.uit.no/forskning/forskningsgrupper/gruppe?p_document_id=398128

A Postdoctoral Research Fellow position is available at the Renewable Energy Group of the Department of Physics and Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway. This position is funded through an academic research agreement between UiT and Equinor.

The position is a fixed term position for a duration of two years with perspectives for funding over a longer period. Appointment to the position of Postdoctoral Research Fellow is mainly intended to provide qualification for work in top academic positions. It is a prerequisite that the applicant can carry out the project over the full course of the employment period. No person may hold more than one fixed term position as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the same institution.

The workplace is at UiT in Tromsø. You must be able to start in the position within a reasonable time after receiving the offer.

The Postdoctoral research fellow will work on multi-scaling weather modelling and wind resource assessment. The primary objective of the research project is to develop methodological background and programming implementation of coupling between a turbulence-resolving modeling system PALM and weather prediction models WRF and HIRLAM.

The Department of Physics and Technology consists of six research groups: Complex Systems Modelling, Earth Observation, Renewable Energy, Machine Learning, Space Physics, and Ultrasound, Microwaves and Optics. The department provides education at Bachelor, Master, and PhD levels; and hosts 35 permanent academic staff, and a technical/administrative staff of 15 persons. The position is attached to the Renewable Energy group, but intensive collaboration with other research groups at the department as well as with the Norwegian Meteorological Institute will be necessary.

The position’s field of research
Wind energy production becomes increasingly important for sustainable development, decarbonization, and ultimately for achieving better environmental and life quality. Its importance is reflected in the United Nations sustainable development goals SDG-7 (Energy), SDG-11 (Sustainable cities), SDG-13 (Climate actions), and others. Today, we have a good understanding of the availability and variability of renewable energy resources on large (regional) scales. Wind energy is still fragmentary understood on small spatial and time scales. Such understanding is however strongly required for economically successful and environmentally responsible development of wind energy projects.

The successful candidate will contribute to multi-scale wind modeling effortrun in the Renewable Energy Group. We primarily work with WRF and PALM modeling systems but want to develop research effortsin the direction of model coupling and integrated modeling system technologies. The candidate is expected to implement a multi-scale wind modeling system and to:

achieve a better understating of local-scale variability of the renewable energy resources
demonstrate a novel integrated technology for local-scale resource assessment
provide recommendations for Equinor renewable energy projects
The proposed research will include the following main tasks:

Revision and further development of multi-scale model coupling methodology related to the PALM model system
Improvements in current implementation of the PALM model system coupling
Setup and run high resolution simulations with PALM on the Norwegian e-infrastructure for Research and Education for wind park locations in Norway
Attribution of the observed local-scale variability of the renewable resources to physical processes using PALM simulations

All applications must be submitted through
https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/249953/postdoctoral-fellow-in-wind-resource-modeling-and-assessment