Ph.D. position open for Fall 2025 focused on improving clouds in climate models
We have a Graduate Student Research Assistantship opening in our Tropical Climate Dynamics group at MIT-WHOI for Fall 2025. We are seeking a bright and enthusiastic student who has strong skills in applied mathematics and computer programming with interests in improving climate modeling of clouds and the interactions between the upper ocean and lower atmosphere. More details are below.
Alleviating climate model double ITCZ biases through improved understanding of low cloud processes
For over three decades, coupled climate models have suffered from too much precipitation in the southern hemisphere branch of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), often called the double ITCZ bias. This project seeks to better understand cloud structures in and surrounding the southern hemisphere branch of the ITCZ over the east Pacific Ocean with a long-term goal of alleviating the double ITCZ bias. The project will focus on low cloud distributions in observations and model simulations, quantifying the influence of processes in the atmospheric boundary layer (fast), upper ocean (slow), and at the air-sea interface.