The Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment Arctic (NGEE Arctic) project seeks a postdoctoral researcher to study biogeochemical processes related to plant-soil feedbacks and greenhouse gas balance in Arctic tundra ecosystems using computational modeling. NGEE Arctic is a large, interdisciplinary research project that is geared towards improving the simulation of tundra ecosystems in the DOE’s earth system model E3SM.

Our team of scientists works at several national laboratories as well as the University of Alaska. We use experiments, field observations, and synthesis of existing data to inform the representation of environmental processes in models as well as model parameterization and evaluation. Recent efforts have focused on how above and below-ground plant functional traits influence ecosystem carbon (C), water, and nutrient fluxes, and how redox conditions in permafrost soil profiles drive iron cycling and production of greenhouse gasses.

The postdoctoral researcher will conduct and analyze model simulations integrating plant traits with biogeochemistry to explore how interactions among vegetation, hydrology, and redox drive carbon cycling and greenhouse gas balances in tundra ecosystems, involving model simulations at mesocosm to landscape scales. The postdoc will also lead data synthesis of soil biogeochemistry and greenhouse gas flux measurements from Arctic systems to constrain and evaluate model simulations.