1x Fully Funded - PhD position in Climate Change & Biogeosciences

(to Constructor University Website)

Enhanced Rock Weathering - the way forward to climate mitigation?

Background

This PhD thesis aims to explore the field of Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) to understand its potential as a climate mitigation agent. What are the mechanisms that play a key role in ERW, on which timescales are these relevant and how can they be adopted for climate change mitigation, are some of the overarching questions posed during this thesis work?

This PhD position offers the possibility to explore several different questions linked to the ERW, and its potential application for atmospheric carbon reduction.

One key aspect is understanding CO2 & N2O fluxes at the soil/atmosphere interface. The quantification of these fluxes is extremely challenging in lab and field conditions since many parameters affect the CO2 flux and are difficult to measure. Hence, the quantification of CO2 fluxes at a variety of spatiotemporal scales would form a crucial part of this work. This could potentially involve the design and development of intelligent sensors (DLR) that could complement existing technology (Eddy Covariance Towers), data/machine learning techniques for better estimations and error analysis, and soil parameter and interaction modelling to get a grasp on the carbon uptake potential of soils.

Field-based (both lab-controlled and outdoor fields) data on the usage of ERW and numerical modelling is available via collaboration with 2 partners active in the field of ERW: The Carbon Drawdown Initiative (https://www.carbon-drawdown.de/blog) and “reverce” (www.reverce.com). Further studies and experiments are needed to account for the heterogeneity of soils and changing physical conditions (temperature, moisture etc). These experiments and their results will support a better understanding of ERW and the possibility of scaling it up, for example to agricultural fields.

For ERW to be adopted by the larger community, both in terms of use, and political support for climate change activities, it needs to be incentivised. How, and what financial and political instruments, e.g. Carbon Credits could help incentivise ERW?

From the above, it is clear that the PhD thesis provides the opportunity to explore many topics related to ERW. The expectation is that the PhD candidate with a geoscience background, and strong digital/numerate skills work independently on ERW topics starting from the CO2 fluxes. An understanding of biogeochemistry or geochemistry would be beneficial. This position would be ideal for an enthusiastic, hardworking and independent researcher willing to think out of out-of-the box.

Depending on the candidate's background and strengths, the PhD could consist of three phases: a.) Year 1 - ERW CO2 flux background, and synthesis studies, design and development of methods, instruments and strategies for flux measurements, b.) Year 2 - experimental field-based, and numerical simulation-based studies on carbon budgets at different spatial-temporal scales, and c.) Year 3 - modelling carbon fluxes and budgets based on lab/field data; strategies for incentivisation, adoption, and use of ERW for climate mitigation.

Suggestions for publications (at least three publications are required for a successful PhD defence) could be, for example,
• Carbon and cation budgets from soil samples in closed systems under greenhouse conditions.
• Impact of ERW on nitrous oxide emissions from grassland
• Impact of fertiliser deployment on carbon storage and consequences for the MRV
• Implications for a workable MRV for the EU carbon removal certification framework

PhD Supervision
- Prof. Dr. Vikram Unnithan (Constructor University Bremen - formerly Jacobs University Bremen)
- Prof. Dr. Jelle Bijma (Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Sciences, Bremerhaven, Germany)
- Dr. Siwei Zhang (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) - German Center for Aerospace Research)
- Prof. Francesco Maurelli (Constructor University Bremen)


Funding
- Funded by the German  Helmholtz Association within the remit of the - iFOODIS project -