Vacancy No. 299/2025
PhD student position (f/m/d)
within the DFG-funded research project “Secondary ice production mechanisms: rime splintering and droplet shattering on freezing” (75% part-time)
Reliable modeling of cloud processes for weather predictions and climate change projections requires a sound understanding of the ice formation in mixed-phase clouds. Typically, ice particles form via heterogeneous freezing of supercooled cloud droplets containing ice nucleating particles (INPs). Ice crystal concentrations measured inside the clouds are often found to exceed the concentration of INPs by many orders of magnitude. To explain this discrepancy, the Secondary Ice Production (SIP) mechanisms, i.e., processes producing multiple ice particles upon freezing of a single cloud droplet or by fragmentation of existing ice particles, must be studied.
In a DFG-funded collaborative project between the Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK) and the Leibniz-Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) in Leipzig, we are investigating two potential SIP mechanisms: production of secondary ice particles caused by (A) droplet-ice collisions (rime-splintering) and (B) splintering of freezing droplets (see Figure 1). These two SIP mechanisms have been suggested to be of particular relevance in the mixed-phase clouds.
Job description
Our Institute IMKAAF seeks a highly motivated PhD student (f/m/d) to work on the experimental investigation of droplets splintering on freezing.
The successful candidate will:
- conduct experiments with the new experimental set-up, the Ice Droplet splintEring and Fragmentation eXperiment (IDEFIX);
- participate in experiments on identification of the physical mechanisms of rime-splintering SIP events together with the leading scientists at TROPOS;
- contribute to parameterization development for both SIP mechanisms;
- take part in the measuring campaign investigating SIP in mix-phase clouds.
- The parameterizations developed as a part of this PhD project will be applied for representation of SIP mechanisms in cloud microphysics resolving models.
Personal qualification
You have:
- A masters degree in physics, environmental physics, geophysics or meteorology
- Experimental skills and motivation to work in the lab
- Good communication skills, fluent English language in writing and speaking
Organizational unit
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research Atmospheric Aerosol Research (IMKAAF)
Starting date
01.10.2025
Salary
Salary category 13 TV-L, depending on the fulfillment of professional and personal requirements.
Contract duration
3 years.
Application up to
31.08.2025
Contact person in line-management
For further information, please contact Dr. Alexei Kiselev, Tel: 0721/ 608-26662, E-Mail: alexei.kiselev@kit.edu
or visit the home page of IMKAAF https://www.imk-aaf.kit.edu/OpenPositions_1929.php
Application
Please apply online using the button below for this vacancy number 299/2025 .
Personnel Support is provided by
Ms König
phone: +49 721 608-25077,
Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
We prefer to balance the number of employees (f/m/d). Therefore we kindly ask female applicants to apply for this job.
Recognized severely disabled persons will be preferred if they are equally qualified.