Job: Research engineer in coastal modelling

Location: University of Caen Normandy (Caen, France)

Start date: June 2020

Type of contract: Fixed term contract lasting 18 months

1) The laboratory

The Morphodynamic Continental and Coastal Laboratory (M2C) is a Joint Research Unit (UMR) created in 1996. It is supported by the CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research), the University of Caen Normandy (UNICAEN) and the University of Rouen Normandy (URN). The laboratory includes 86 people : 37 researchers and professors, 21 engineers and technicians, 28 PhD students. In addition, the laboratory regularly welcomes trainees and guests. M2C Research focuses on characterization and modeling of the dynamic of natural processes and different compartments, along the Land-Sea continuum, at different scales of time and space.

This research is carried out with an interdisciplinary approach integrating researchers specialized in fluid mechanics, geosciences, oceanography and hydrology, microbiology and ecology. Due to their response to the expectations of managers, communities and industry, our valorization activities are part of a variety of applied research. Our research combines in situ measurement with numerous dedicated equipment, experimental approaches and numerical modeling.

2) The project

The 5-years DEMLIT project is funded by Shom (French Navy) in the framework of the PEA PROTEVS II. The primary goal is to evaluate the model CROCO (https://www.croco-ocean.org) throughout the modelling of wave-current interactions for the simulation of hydro-sedimentary processes in nearshore and coastal zones. First, we will perform a validation step on the basis of available test cases in the bibliography (laboratory and in-situ experiments). Second, we will assess the ability of CROCO throughout a real application where we will aim to simulate the sediment transport in Bay of Somme (France) to understand the mechanisms inducing the Bay of Somme sand filling.

3) About the position

This position is designed for a highly motivated research engineer specialized in numerical modeling to test CROCO against test cases as well as to pre-build the configurations that will be used for the real case. The successfull person needs to build all test case configurations for the three versions : 1. CROCO (hydrostatic code) and a monochromatic wave model (WKB), 2. CROCO (hydrostatic code) and the spectral wave model (WAVEWATCH-III) and 3. CROCO (non-hydrostatic code). That includes meshing, implementing the forcing fields and initial conditions, choosing the solver. Otherwise, the research engineer will assess the performance of each version against measurements by comparing numerical outputs (e.g. flow velocity, sea surface height, wave characteristics, sediment flux) to measurements.

4) Competences and skills sought for the position

Coastal oceanography, fluid mechanics, applied mathematics, numerical modeling, wave-current interactions, sediment transport, nearshore and coastal zone dynamic, estuarine environment, programming skills (Fortran 90, Python, Matlab).

5) Person specification

We seek to appoint a research engineer, with a recently obtained PhD or equivalent experience, to contribute to the following deliverables of DEMLIT:

- Contribution to reports, conferences abstracts, conference proceedings and peer-reviewed publications.

- Preparation of project dissemination materials for different target audiences.

- Organization of workshops, meetings and conferences within DEMLIT.

6) Advisors: A.-C. Bennis (University of Caen Normandy), M. Boutet (CNRS).

7) How to apply: Please send a CV, a letter of motivation (up to one page long), and the names of two potential referees, to anne-claire.bennis@unicaen.fr and martial.boutet@unicaen.fr

8) Receipt of Applications

Applications will be received up to 31 March 2020. Interviews are expected to take place in April 2020.