PRR Project

Summary

We propose to hire an entry-level Assistant Professor in Geophysics, with a specialization in Solid Earth Geophysics, or Physical Oceanography, or working at the interface between the Oceans and the Solid Earth. The Assistant Professor is expected to share his/her time between teaching/academic and research duties, benefitting from a virtuous relationship between the two. He/She will join the Department of the Geographical Engineering, Geophysics and Energy (DEGGE, https://ciencias.ulisboa.pt/pt/degge) of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (https://ciencias.ulisboa.pt/pt), and Instituto Dom Luiz (IDL), an excellent Research Unit and Associate Laboratory (https://idl.ciencias.ulisboa.pt).Both the oceans and the underlying solid Earth are key components of our Earth system. The oceans are a principal component of the climate system and a critical habitat for biodiversity. Although the ocean surface is fairly well monitored based on remote satellite observations, the deep ocean remains critically under-observed due to instrumentation challenges. Improving our knowledge on the dynamics of the oceans as a whole is critical to improve climate predictions and to improve relevant mitigation and adaptation strategies. An improved understanding of the oceans is also key to better forecast and mitigate the impacts of ocean storms, coastal surges, etc. The solid Earth remains as the least well observed sphere of our planet due to the difficulty to directly observe it. Still, the sub-surface hosts critical resources to mankind, such as mineral resources and underground water, which can only be characterized by geophysical inference methods. An improved understanding of the dynamics of the solid Earth is also key to monitor and mitigate the impacts of major natural hazards, including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, geomagnetic storms, etc. At the interface between the oceans and the solid Earth lies a rich and little explored diversity of critical Earth processes, namely deep ocean currents, the generation and deposition of important deep-sea minerals, and natural hazards such as tsunamis. Of key national strategic relevance, the expansion of the exclusive zone of the Portuguese continental shelf requires knowledge of the sea in terms of physical oceanography and deep seabed. In addition, the ongoing major investment to deployment wind-turbines offshore Portugal calls for a very fine and high-resolution characterization of the seabed.Over the past decades, our school achieved a leadership and projection position in these fields, both nationally and internationally, as a center of excellence in research and education. However, the recent retirement of three researchers in these fields in the last two years compromises this leadership, calling for a rejuvenation. Very importantly, new key opportunities are currently arising in observations at the interface between oceans and solid Earth. Portugal has recently approved and will globally pioneer the deployment of new submarine Science Monitoring And Reliable Telecommunications (SMART) cables. These cables, planned to be deployed in 2025, will continuously monitor ocean bottom temperature and pressure, as well as ocean bottom ground motion, at selected locations along the cable. These observations will open a new window into understanding deep ocean dynamics and seabed structure. It will also allow to strongly improve earthquake and tsunami monitoring and early warning capabilities. Submarine Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) cables have also been deployed in several locations in Portugal (offshore Madeira, Azores, and mainland) and have started to yield data that can be analyzed to infer information on local storms, ocean dynamics, seabed structure, earthquakes, submarine landslides, etc. Ocean Bottom Seismometers (OBSs), which have been developed at FCUL/IDL over the past decades, provide critical data both on the underlying solid Earth processes and on the overlying ocean dynamics. These in-situ OBS observations critically allow to validate the emerging data from the novel DAS and SMART cables.A new Professorship in the fields of Solid Earth Geophysics or Physical Oceanography is thus critical to retain leadership and further develop expertise in these important fields. It is very timely to open this position, both in light of the recent retirements and of the emerging new technologies at the interface between the Oceans and the Solid Earth.