Modelling climate change impacts on Antarctic ecosystems using the Atlantis model

Summary

Antarctic marine ecosystems provide ecosystem services that are important on a global scale, and there is a strong imperative to understand and predict the responses of these systems and services to current and future climate change. An implementation of the Atlantis end-to-end ecosystem model has been developed for the East Antarctic region, and is well suited to exploring scenarios to evaluate potential climate change impacts on ecosystem structure and function. In this project, the successful candidate will work with modelling experts to complete the calibration of the East Antarctic Atlantis model, and to use the calibrated model to explore simple scenarios for ecosystem change. In the second part of the project, the candidate will update representations of sea ice and ice-dependent species in the model, and consider more detailed scenarios for change in sea ice habitats.

Supervisors

• Dr Sophie Bestley
• Dr Jess Melbourne-Thomas
• Dr Rowan Trebilco
• Dr Javier Porobic

Essential skills/experience

• First-class Honours or Masters equivalent research in science, mathematics or related discipline
• Demonstrated proficiency in written and verbal English language
• Experience in programming, and quantitative ecology, and knowledge of marine ecosystems

Desirable skills/experience

• Experience with C and R programming languages, ecosystem modelling
• Knowledge of Antarctic marine ecosystems and climate change