PhD Researcher in Atmospheric Sciences - Emerging extreme fire weather risks

Are you a meteorologist or climate scientist with a passion to investigate the interactions between climate extremes and wildfire risks? Do you want to work on a research project that aims to understand the most extreme fire weather events possible, and how they will evolve in a warming world? Then this position may be the perfect opportunity for you!

The Meteorology and Air Quality (MAQ) Group at Wageningen University and Research is looking for a PhD candidate with a background in meteorology, atmospheric or climate sciences to work on unprecedented and emerging fire weather risks.

Extreme fire weather, referring to the meteorological component of fire risk that reflects the combined effects of heat, drought, wind, and atmospheric aridity, is one of the key factors influencing wildfire spread and intensity. Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of fire weather extremes across many regions, including the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes. Therefore, understanding and anticipating the most intense, persistent or otherwise most impactful fire weather conditions plausible today, as well as how these conditions may worsen under future warming, is crucial for fire risk assessment and preparedness. What are worst-case fire weather conditions possible under current climate versus in a warmer world, what atmospheric or climatic mechanisms drive them, and how this relates to actual fire occurrence and behaviour, are all questions that will be addressed within this PhD project. To answer them, you will investigate the most extreme events in the historical record and how they compare to the most extreme events in state-of-the-art climate modelling experiments.

This project will be supervised by Dr. Laura Suarez-Gutierrez in collaboration with Prof. Guido van der Werf and carried out in the highly multidisciplinary setting of the MAQ group. You will join a thriving, highly collaborative research environment with leading expertise in weather and climate extremes, fire dynamics, and their interactions.