Scientific researcher modeling forest-climate interactions

The chair for Physical Geography and Land Use Systems (Prof. Julia Pongratz) at LMU’s Department of Geography investigates the interactions between natural ecosystems, land use and climate change. Our group develops and applies the latest generation of land and Earth system models and integrates them with observations. Key research questions are the fate of natural ecosystems under the pressures of land use and climate change, Earth system feedbacks via energy, water and biogeochemical cycles, and assessing the role that the terrestrial vegetation can play for greenhouse gas emissions reduction and CO2 removals in support of the Paris Agreement. The team is strongly involved in large international collaborations such as the Global Carbon Project, CMIP and IPCC.

Your tasks and responsibilities:

The scientific researcher will be part of the Horizon Europe project “ForestNavigator”, which assesses the climate mitigation potential of European forests and forest-based sectors (http://www.forestnavigator.eu). It integrates an interdisciplinary suite of models with the aim to lay the scientific foundation for decision-making on the most suitable approach to forest policy and bioeconomy. In ForestNavigator, the scientific researcher at LMU will

• develop the ICON/MPI Earth System Model and its land surface component JSBACH for a better representation of forest management, and set up, run and analyze model simulations for various policy scenarios,
• collaborate closely with other partners towards the overarching goal of integrating Earth system, forest and economic modeling in a policy modeling toolbox,
• coordinate the work package on biodiversity and ecosystem services and oversee associated reporting duties,
• take a leading role in the development of scientific publications.