> Markdown version of [/jobs/ext/1637457-job-offer](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/1637457-job-offer). Every page supports `.md` or `Accept: text/markdown`. Links point to the HTML versions so they work for humans too. Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Job offer - **Company:** EURAXESS - **Location:** Julich, Germany (Remote available) - **Experience:** Starter - **Contract:** Temporary contract - **Skills:** Fortran (Programming Language), Inventory Management Software, Python (Programming Language), Machine Learning, Operational Data Store, Software Engineering, Data Processing, High Performance Computing, Data Assimilation - **Published:** July 31, 2026 - **Apply:** https://recruiting.fz-juelich.de/jobposting/ec0d575de3146187f2099f9ee9293e1e4fa0bdbd?ref=helmholtz ## About the Role * M. Sc. degree in meteorology, physics, mathematics, or a related field * Good knowledge in data handling and machine learning * Good knowledge in software development, data processing and visualization with Python * Strong interest in atmospheric physics, chemistry, atmospheric modelling, and observations * Outstanding organizational skills and the ability to work independently * Very good cooperation and communication skills and ability to work as part of a team in an international and interdisciplinary environment Of great advantage are: * Experiences in numerical modelling * Basic knowledge of data assimilation * Experiences on high performance computing (HPC) * Knowledge of FORTRAN programming language ## Description Job description:PhD position - "Smart preparation of air pollutant satellite retrievals for optimizing emission inventory data" within the HDS-LEE graduate school Human activities-particularly increasing energy production and consumption, but also natural processes-release large quantities of trace substances, thereby influencing the composition of the atmosphere and the climate. Since the beginning of industrialization in the 19th century, the chemical composition of the air has changed significantly and today contains substantially higher levels of trace substances. This has two important consequences for the Earth system and human society: On the one hand, trace substances influence the Earth's radiation balance and climate; on the other hand, higher levels of pollution-particularly in the world's industrialized countries and megacities-lead to health impacts, damage to ecosystems, and crop losses. The Institute of Climate and Energy Systems - Troposphere (ICE-3) investigates the chemistry and transport of trace substances in the troposphere. To this end, field and simulation chamber experiments as well as model simulations are conducted. Our research in the "Atmospheric Modeling" division at ICE-3 aims to model and predict the composition of the atmosphere. The research focuses on multiphase processes, the role of tropospheric oxidants, and the role of pollutants in the gaseous and condensed phases on air quality. It also investigates the extent to which observations are predictable and whether known emissions of air pollutants can explain the observed pollutant concentrations. Your Job To make reliable predictions and analyses of air pollution, data assimilation methods, which integrate observational data into model simulation to update the model state and the underlying parameters, are inevitable. Specifically, the improvement of emission inventory data by data assimilation applications has demonstrated strong positive impact on the analysis' performance. However, recent studies have demonstrated the limitations of current ground- and satellite-based observational networks. The PhD project aims for a new method to derive ground-level concentrations from satellite-based measurements and additional data. Specifically, the project's objective is to develop a data-driven method that maps satellite-derived data to ground-level concentrations for air pollutants such as NO2 (nitrogen dioxide), CO (carbon monoxide), and SO2 (sulfur dioxide). The methodology will be embedded into the data assimilation workflow of the European Air pollution Dispersion-Inverse Model (EURAD-IM). Focus will be placed on the Sentinel-5P TROPOMI (Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument) data, which is available since 2018 and thus provides a big dataset. However, the transferability to Sentinel 4 and 5 data recently launched in July and August 2025 will be explored. All this has the potential to enhance the performance of emission data analyses to the next level. The outcome of the project is twofold. Firstly, the project aims at developing a method that can derive ground-level concentrations of air pollutants on a high spatial resolution directly from satellite retrievals. Secondly, the outcome of this research will enable the sampling of satellite data to identify an optimal subset of observational data for optimizing the emission inventory data. Analyses of these emission corrections will be performed with the four-dimensional variational data assimilation (4D-var) system within the chemistry-transport-model EURAD-IM. The simulation improvements due to optimized emission data will be evaluated with independent observations, such as vertical profile data from the In-service Aircraft for a Global Observing System (IAGOS). The project will be conducted as a collaboration of the Air Quality and Emission Optimization group at the Institute of Climate and Energy systems (ICE-3) at Forschungszentrum Jülich and the group working on Methods for Model-based Development at RWTH Aachen. The PhD candidate will be based at Forschungszentrum Jülich where the scientific focus on atmospheric research is placed. To exchange and deepen the collaboration in particular with respect to methodological approaches of data-driven solutions, at least two short but intensive research stays at RWTH Aachen are planned. It is envisioned that this strengthens the communication and advances the progress of research. Your tasks involve: * Developing a machine learning-based model to map satellite retrievals to ground based air pollutant concentrations * Conducting error assessment on the derived concentration data * Implementing new observational data into an operational data assimilation system * Evaluating potentials and limitations of the integration of the derived data for air quality modelling and analyses * Presenting research results at national and international conferences * Preparing and contributing to scientific publications ## Related Videos - [How Lufthansa Industry Solutions is preparing for the Quantum Age! ](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1443-how-lufthansa-industry-solutions-is-preparing-for-the-quantum-age) - [Implementing continuous delivery in a data processing pipeline](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/73-implementing-continuous-delivery-in-a-data-processing-pipeline) - [Introduction to Azure Machine Learning](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/368-introduction-to-azure-machine-learning) - [Strange New Worlds: shaping the future of the digital age](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/677-strange-new-worlds-shaping-the-future-of-the-digital-age) - [Why and when should we consider Stream Processing frameworks in our solutions](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1085-why-and-when-should-we-consider-stream-processing-frameworks-in-our-solutions) - [What non-automotive Machine Learning projects can learn from automotive Machine Learning projects](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/397-what-non-automotive-machine-learning-projects-can-learn-from-automotive-machine-learning-projects) ## Related Articles - [The Most Popular IT Jobs on the Market](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/376-the-most-popular-it-jobs-on-the-market) - [Where to Find Entry-Level Software Engineering Jobs](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/397-where-to-find-entry-level-software-engineering-jobs) - [Finding Jobs in Germany](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/375-finding-jobs-in-germany) - [Jobs in Germany for Americans](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/423-jobs-in-germany-for-americans) - [System change: restart as developer?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/39-system-change-restart-as-developer) - [Data Analyst Salary Germany](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/277-data-analyst-salary-germany)