A Unique Opportunity to Make a Global Impact on Climate Change

Join us at IBET (Innovation Breakthrough Energy Technologies)! We are a distributed, passionate, and fun team based across Canada, creating commercially scalable gigaton solutions to the climate crisis. This critical role will join Project Strike Out, a 7-person team working on lightning suppression, as we move from lab to the cloud. This role may evolve to a full-time founding member of a new business, but currently needs anywhere from 5-20hrs/week.

Why Lightning? In 2023 alone, Canada’s wildfires burned 5% of its forests (18.4m ha) and released 2.4 GT of emissions. This was almost as much as India’s 2023 emissions, 3 times Canada’s anthropogenic carbon emissions, and 5% of global emissions. Most megafires are caused by lightning strikes, which are predicted to increase sharply with global warming. While efforts are being made to counter megafires through improved forest management, IBET wants to avoid lightning-induced megafires and their emissions now and thus buy humanity more time to solve our climate crisis.

Project Overview: Seeking a skilled Cloud Dynamics and Lightning Specialist to join a ground- breaking project aimed at preventing lightning-induced mega wildfires. This innovative initiative brings together a multidisciplinary team with extensive experience in aerospace, carbon sequestration, clean hydrogen, and clean energy, alongside electrical and biological engineers.

Key Responsibilities

2. 4. • Research and Analysis: Inform and help conduct cutting-edge research on cloud dynamics, lightning formation, and cloud behavior to mitigate the causes of lightning-induced fires.
      • Model Development: Develop and refine predictive models for lightning activity and associated wildfire risks, leveraging the latest in atmospheric and meteorological data.
      • Innovation: Work on the development of novel technologies or methodologies to prevent or reduce the occurrence of lightning-induced wildfires.
      • Collaboration: Engage with a team of business experts, engineers, and scientists to integrate findings into practical, scalable solutions for wildfire prevention.
      • Reporting: Provide regular updates on research progress, insights, and recommendations.
      • Attendance: Attend regular and ad hoc weekly virtual meetings on Pacific Time Zone.

Qualifications

2. 4. • Education: Advanced degree (Ph.D. preferred) in Atmospheric Sciences, Meteorology, Env. Science, or a closely related field with a focus on cloud dynamics and lightning.
      • Experience: Demonstrated experience in atmospheric research, particularly related to cloud dynamics, lightning, and their impacts. Experience with wildfire science is a plus.
      • Technical Skills: Proficiency in atmospheric modeling software, data analysis tools, and programming languages relevant to atmospheric and environmental research.
      • Innovative Thinking: Ability to think creatively and work on groundbreaking solutions in the field of wildfire prevention and environmental protection.
      • Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to convey complex scientific concepts to non-expert audiences.
      • Teamwork: Successfully collaborated on complex projects with multidisciplinary teams.

To Apply: Email sgoldman@ibetclimate.com with your cover letter and CV / Resume.

We cordially invite applications for four (4) postdoctoral and three (3) PhD student positions to work in the areas of weather forecasting, climate modeling, satellite data analysis and comparison, to aid the science development of a new Earth-observing satellite.

Research description

Joining the leadership in the space observations of climate change, Canada will contribute three instruments, TICFIRE (Thin Ice Cloud and Far InfraRed Emissions), ALI (Aerosol Limb Imager) and SHOW (Spatial Heterodyne Observations of Water), jointly known as HAWC (High-altitude, Aerosol, Water Vapour and Clouds), to co-fly with the other instruments in the NASA-led satellite mission: the Atmosphere Observing System (AOS).

The successful candidates will join the Canadian HAWC Science Development Team (SDT) funded by the Canadian Space Agency and steered by the HAWC Canadian University Consortium, to undertake a suite of science development activities that are crucial to developing the sciences and applications of the AOS/HAWC measurements. A total of seven positions are open in this initial round of SDT recruitment, including four postdoctoral researchers and three PhD students. Each hire will be appointed at McGill University, University of Toronto, or University of Waterloo, to focus on one of the research subprojects outlined below.

1. Thermodynamic and radiative anomalies of weather extremes

Subproject lead: Professor Yi Huang (yi.huang@mcgill.ca)

Positions open: one postdoc and one PhD student

Location: McGill University, Montreal, Canada

Objective: this research will assess thermodynamic and radiation anomalies in extreme events such as overshooting convections and cold air formation/outbreaks, using climate and radiative transfer modelling.

2. Trajectory hunting investigations for comparing HAWC data

Subproject lead: Professor Kaley Walker (kaley.walker@utoronto.ca)

Positions open: one postdoc

Location: University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

Objective: this research will investigate methodologies for satellite data comparisons by using trajectory hunting techniques and explore how these can be used for HAWC measurements.

3. Satellite detection of snowfall and snow accumulation across Canada’s North

Subproject lead: Professor Christopher Fletcher (chris.fletcher@uwaterloo.ca)

Positions open: one postdoc and one PhD student

Location: University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada

Objective: this research will develop new optimal retrieval algorithms for satellite detection of snowfall and snow accumulation across Canada's North by using instrument simulators and machine learning.

4. Cloud feedback and its far-infrared signatures in GCMs

Subproject lead: Professor Ivy Tan (ivy.tan@mcgill.ca)

Positions open: one postdoc and one PhD student

Location: McGill University, Montreal, Canada

Objective: this research will evaluate the Arctic cloud feedback in the Canadian climate model in connection with the representation of black carbon in particular.

Postdoctoral Researchers

Salary (including benefits): $60,000CAD/year

Expected start date: ASAP

Term: One year, renewable up to 2.5 years

PhD Students

To apply for the PhD positions, interested applicants are encouraged to first contact the leads of the subprojects of their respective interests. Please send a recent academic transcript, an updated resume, and a half-page statement of research experience and interests. The successful candidates need to meet the admission requirements of the respective universities. More information can be found at the following websites:

• McGill University/Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences: https://www.mcgill.ca/meteo/programs-0/graduate-studies/graduate-programs
• University of Waterloo/Department of Geography and Environmental Management:

https://uwaterloo.ca/graduate-studies-postdoctoral-affairs/future-students/programs/geography-phd-waterloo

Salary and benefits: set by each institution

Expected start date: January 1, 2025 (Note: application deadlines for PhD programs vary by institution and should be discussed with the lead from the appropriate institution).

How to apply

To be considered for the postdoc positions, an applicant must have a Ph.D. degree in atmospheric sciences, meteorology, physics, or a related discipline, received within the past 4 years (after January 1, 2020). The candidate shall have the ability to conduct original and independent scientific research and is expected to have experience in one or multiple of these skills:

• global or regional weather and climate modelling,
• radiative transfer modelling,
• trajectory modelling,
• satellite measurement simulation,
• analysis of model and/or satellite datasets,
• programming in Fortran, Matlab or Python on Linux systems.

Interested applicants are encouraged to directly contact the leads of the four subprojects of their interest by email, enclosing:

• a cover letter,
• a curriculum vitae,
• transcripts and academic records (B.Sc. and at the graduate-level), and
• names and contact information for at least two references.

An applicant can apply for one or multiple of these four subprojects simultaneously but is strongly recommended to clearly identify a primary subproject at the top of their application. The applications will be evaluated independently for each subproject. Evaluation of the applications will start once received and continue until all the positions are filled.

Yi Huang, McGill University

Kaley Walker, University of Toronto

Christopher Fletcher, University of Waterloo

Ivy Tan, McGill University

on behalf the HAWC SDT

Check out these great opportunities!

Masters and Doctoral research opportunities in the Canadian Arctic, Impacts of changing climate on permafrost, streamflow and

radionuclide mobility in the western Canadian Arctic

Professor Philip Marsh, Arctic Hydrology Research Group, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, CA

Dr. Elizabeth Priebe, P.Geo, Hydrogeochemist, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Chalk River, Ontario, CA

The Arctic is undergoing rapid and unprecedented climate change that is impacting streamflow with effects on ecosystems, communities, and infrastructure. These graduate opportunities will be focussed on developing improved understanding of these impacts on the Arctic through the integration of our existing long term data sets and permafrost-hydrology models in order to consider past and future changes in streams and lakes in the western Canadian Arctic. These positions will work with our collaborators at the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories to address the concern that legacy fallout radionuclides are being released from thawing permafrost and transported through freshwater streams.

These positions will focus on the western Canadian Arctic at our Trail Valley creek (TVC) (www.trailvalleycreek.ca) research station, but will have cross Arctic applications. Multi-decadal long hydrologic monitoring and research conducted at TVC makes it a unique natural laboratory for carrying out this project.

We invite applications to the following MSc or PhD positions:

1.  Field studies of permafrost hydrology runoff processes,

1. Mathematical modelling of coupled permafrost-hydrology-lake models for increased predictive capabilities, and
2. Field, lab and modelling studies of legacy fallout radionuclides being released from thawing permafrost and transported through freshwater streams

Past experience in Arctic field work, physics-based mathematical models, and water chemistry is a benefit. Further information on the Geography Program at Laurier is available at: https://uwaterloo.ca/waterloo-laurier-graduate-program-in-geography/

Ideal candidates should have previous degrees in relevant disciplines (e.g., numerical methods, hydrology, geography, earth science, environmental science, engineering, physics, and/or atmospheric science), and should possess aptitude and enthusiasm for understanding the integrated impacts of climate change on Arctic systems. For the modelling positions, we especially encourage applicants with an interest in high-resolution hydrologic modelling, and proficiency in numerical methods, physics and with appropriate modelling tools. Experience in northern environments is an asset for all positions but is not required.

Graduate students at Laurier receive competitive funding packages that come from a combination of teaching assistantships, internal scholarships, and research assistantships. All students are strongly encouraged to apply for a variety of external scholarships. Students in Melnik’s and Marsh’s research teams have been very successful in receiving such external awards over the past years. Canadian applicants are strongly encouraged to apply. Funding for Arctic field research is provided by external research grants.

https://www.wlu.ca/academics/faculties/graduate-and-postdoctoral-studies/funding-at-a- glance/index.html

Candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible by contacting Professor Marsh. Please submit a cover letter highlighting relevant experience and your interest in joining our research team, a list of courses taken and marks, and a curriculum vitae to: pmarsh@wlu.ca and elizabeth.priebe@cnl.ca with the subject line “Arctic Hydrology Graduate Students”.

Applicants will be reviewed in order they are received until successful candidates are found.

Dr. Philip Marsh, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Cold Regions Water Science, Wilfrid Laurier University