Land data assimilation post-doctoral fellowship at CNRM F/M

As a public weather and climate expert, Météo-France is at your side to contribute to your day-to-day safety and help you make the best decisions in a changing climate. Faced with dangerous weather episodes that are even more intense and more frequent as a result of climate change, our missions in the service of your safety are crucial. We mobilize our expertise and our scientific and technological excellence to help you anticipate and adapt to challenging weather and climate phenomena.

Find us online: https://meteofrance.com/carte-didentite-de-meteo-france

Joining Météo France means joining a multi-site organization, located in France, overseas, etc. Météo-France is organized into central and inter-regional divisions. Below is a presentation of the department you could join :

The work carried out by the CNRMs VEGEO (Vegetation, Water and Geophysics) team focuses on four complementary areas:
(1) Modelling and remote sensing of wildfire danger and monitoring of fire emissions;
(2) Data assimilation to improve representation of the soil-plant system in the hydrological cycle and the impact of climate warming;
(3) Enhancing observation of land surfaces and data usage;
(4) Enhancing observation of atmospheric aerosols and data usage.

Why join us ?

Embark on a stimulating adventure in the service of all, alongside men and women committed to the daily challenges posed to our society by the weather and climate. And enjoy the following benefits: flexible working hours, RTT, telecommuting, administrative restaurant or luncheon voucher, 75% contribution to public transport, contribution to health insurance, sports and cultural associations depending on the site (climbing, gym, pottery, theater, etc.).

Other benefits await you, come and discover them !

The IRICLIM (Integrated Research Insight into Climate Risks) project, which will run from 2026 to 2029, is a research project coordinated by Météo-France as part of the Risks Programme (PEPR IRIMA). Its overall objective is to improve the data, tools and services needed to anticipate these changes and limit their impacts on regions and populations. IRICLIM will focus in particular on understanding and managing risks linked to weather conditions and climate change in mainland France and Corsica. IRICLIM is developing a new mapping method, based on a collaborative and multidisciplinary approach, to incorporate the impacts of global warming. This project brings together key stakeholders whose aim is to improve the assessment of climate-related disasters. Innovative methods will be developed to
(1) refine risk mapping by integrating multi-source data (satellite, geological, meteorological, climatic) and machine learning/artificial intelligence techniques,
(2) improve methods for anticipating flash floods, wildfires and hydrotechnical droughts by reducing uncertainties and refining spatial and temporal scales,
(3) assess the vulnerabilities of two regions by cross-referencing physical data with socio-economic factors, to enable more targeted risk management (lowlands: Centre-Val de Loire region / mountains: Isère department).

CNRM has developed the ISBA land surface model within SURFEX, an operational modelling platform capable of simulating terrestrial water and carbon fluxes. ISBA can be coupled with various atmospheric and hydrological models, and it incorporates a global land data assimilation system (LDAS-Monde). LDAS-Monde uses an extended Kalman filter to assimilate satellite data and analyse soil moisture and vegetation biomass at spatial resolutions ranging from 1 to 25 km. Initially, the postdoctoral fellow will implement LDAS over mainland France and Corsica, utilising atmospheric forcing from the AROME numerical weather prediction (NWP) model. Relevant land surface predictors of drought, such as soil moisture at various depths, will then be used to inform decision-support services relating to climate risks. The results will be published in open literature. The postdoctoral fellow will also contribute to the management of cross-cutting activities to implement a multi-risk approach that relies on interdisciplinarity.

Additional Information:

This position is open to people with disabilities.

Office hours.

Fixed-term contract of 12 months.

Remote work available: 1 or2 days per week.

You must hold a Ph.D. and be proficient in at least two of the following areas: deep learning, data assimilation, Earth surface modeling, and remote sensing.

You must also have experience programming in Python for data analysis and working in a Linux environment, and be fluent in French.

Application deadline: 17/09/2026

Email addresses for further information: jean-christophe.calvet@meteo.fr