Who are we?

Mercator Ocean International has been developing operational oceanography activities for nearly 30 years, as part of its public interest mission to preserve the ocean.

Many scientific and societal challenges must be met to ensure a sustainable ocean, whether they concern the environment, biodiversity, climate change, the blue economy or education. To meet these challenges, Mercator Ocean designs, develops, operates and maintains state-of-the-art digital systems capable of describing, analysing and forecasting the state of the ocean in 3D, continuously and in real time. The scientific information is then translated to be accessible to all, whether they are public or commercial services, political decision makers, industrialists, associations, NGOs, teachers or citizens. Mercator Ocean International thus combines scientific excellence and social commitment on a daily basis.

As a non-profit company under multinational governance (ES, FR, GB, IT, NO), we work in a climate of trust with our ten shareholder partners, all key players in the development of European oceanography.

About the job:

Working in the Ocean - Climate team of Mercator Ocean’s R&D department, you will develop numerical simulations of ocean wind-waves, on a global scale and regionally for the North-East Atlantic. You will evaluate simulations and past and future changes in the ocean wave climate.

You will participate in two European initiatives:

  • You will contribute to the development of the next generation of the Copernicus Marine Service global ocean wave reanalysis.
  • You will also join an exciting European research project aiming to advance regional climate projections over European seas (HORIZON Europe SEACLIM project). These regional ocean models will provide refined information on climate projections of the marine environment and associated impacts, fundamental to support climate policies and inform decision-making on climate change adaptation.

In this context, you will be more specifically in charge of:

  • Preparing the atmospheric and oceanic forcings needed to produce long ensemble simulations of wind-generated waves at the ocean surface, using data from ERA5/6 and CMIP6 climate models,
  • Producing a set of free global simulations covering the last few decades (since 1980) with the MF-WAM model using an existing configuration and ERA5 (or ERA6 if available) forcings,
  • Producing global and regional historical simulations and climate projections of ocean wind waves using forcings derived from CMIP6 simulations, under different shared socio-economic pathways / climate change scenarios,
  • Contributing to the development of ocean wind-wave modelling at Mercator Ocean,
  • Evaluating and analyzing the global and regional simulations produced, particularly in terms of ensemble dispersion, variability, extreme events and trends over the simulated periods,
  • Developing wind-wave climate monitoring indicators.

Assets for success:

We are looking for highly motivated, rigorous candidates with good analysis, organisational and communication skills.

You have a scientific master’s degree. You have at least 3 years’ professional experience (a PhD thesis, which would be a plus, could be included) in wave modelling.

You have advanced skills in programming languages (in particular Fortran and Python), scientific computing and experience in the use of supercomputers.

You wish to contribute your technical and scientific ideas to ambitious projects.

You are fluent in English (speaking/reading/writing).

Type of contract: Fixed-term contract with a defined purpose (36 months), Full time. Desired start date: As soon as possible. Benefits: Flexible working hours, luncheon vouchers, paid leave and “RTT” (9 weeks), teleworking (2 days/week), sustainable mobility package. Application ending date: 14th june 2025.

To apply : please visit this web page, select the position and click on “Postuler / Apply” https://www.mercator-ocean.eu/en/job-opportunities/

Any question ? Please contact Angélique Melet, head of the Ocean - Climate team at Mercator Ocean International (amelet@mercator-ocean.fr)