Postdoc in “nowcasting Drought Stress Indices in

Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL

The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL is part of the ETH Domain. Approximately 600 people work on the sustainable use and protection of the environment and on the handling of natural hazards.

The Research Unit Forest Dynamics assesses the effects of changing environmental conditions on forest ecosystem functioning. In the Research Group Ecosystem Ecology we offer a
**2-year** position as

Postdoc in “Nowcasting drought stress indices in European forests” 80-100% (f/m/d)

Climate change and other environmental stressors such as air pollution create increasing pressure on forest ecosystems. Pan-European monitoring and evaluation of the impacts of climate change on forests are crucial and the ambition of the EU H2020 project FORWARDS. Within this EU project the target of your post-doc position will be to nowcast drought stress at several sites in Europe. Based on high resolution dendrometer data and a soil-vegetation-atmosphere transport model, you will establish a daily operational data processing pipeline to run simulations and merge it with other data sources. Further, you will develop statistical and machine learning models to derive drought stress proxies for display at a webpage and as an input to the ForestWard Observatory. Finally, you will publish the results in international journals and present them at conferences.

You hold a PhD degree in hydrology, plant physiology, environmental sciences or a related field. You have a strong background in hydrological and statistical modelling with excellent programming skills in R. Additionally, you are experienced in handling and managing large data sets. Good skills in scientific writing are essential. You are ambitious, used to a high standard of independent, structured, and careful work, and have a high level of self-motivation and good team spirit.
- Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf