PhD opportunity in physical oceanography and sea level science
Employer
National Oceanography Centre/University of Liverpool
This project is based at the National Oceanography Centre/Liverpool and at the University of Liverpool.
Areas
Atmospheric Sciences (AS)
Climate: Past, Present & Future (CL)
Ocean Sciences (OS)
Type
Full time
Level
Student / Graduate / Internship
Preferred education
12 September 2025
Posted
10 September 2025
Understanding the physics of coastal sea level is essential for predicting it. Global sea level is rising as a result of climate change, and predicting the regional patterns of this change is of central importance for society.
Coastal sea level varies at time scales ranging from seconds to several years and decades in response to waves, tides, storms, atmospheric heating, winds, and deep-ocean current fluctuations. The contributions of these processes to the measured sea level in shelf seas around the world depend on the local topography, winds, ocean currents, and the shape of the coastline. Sea level change is therefore strongly regionally variable, and climate models struggle to represent these processes accurately.
In this project, we will implement simplified analytical (i.e., pen-and-paper) mathematical models based on the Partial Differential Equations that describe ocean circulation to understand and predict the spatial patterns of slow variations (from days to decades) in coastal sea level. We will also test these models against real measurements from tide gauges and satellite altimeters around the world’s shelf seas. This is an exciting opportunity to put advanced mathematical skills to work to understand the physics of regional sea level variability, with potentially transformative results applicable to sea level projections in a changing climate.
The student will be based at the National Oceanography Centre's (NOC) Liverpool site and will work with researchers experienced in the study of coastal sea level physics at the NOC and the department of Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences at the University of Liverpool (UoL).
Skills and training: A cornerstone of this project will be developing analytical mathematical models and implementing these simplified models numerically to understand regional variations in sea level physics. It will also involve analysis of real sea level measurements, simulated model fields, and the potential application of Physics-Informed Machine Learning techniques, subject to the student’s interests. Some specific skills the student will be able to develop are:
* Derivation of analytical mathematical models based on Partial Differential Equations that describe ocean circulation;
* Numerical implementation of analytical models in realistic coastal geometries using finite-element numerical methods;
* Time series and spatial data analysis (tide gauge, satellite altimetry, and wind data);
* Analysis of realistic ocean model fields;
* Coding in a high-level scientific programming language such as Python or Julia;
* Opportunity to combine Physics-Informed Machine Learning techniques with the above tools;
* Presenting research findings at national and international conferences.
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