Dear Colleagues,

Please see below for recent job opportunities for Geoscience Australia.

Researcher: Near Real Time TZD Estimation Using GNSS

http://www.seek.com.au/job/27802934?pos=2&type=standout

This position is a project based two year appointment within the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRCSI). The CRCSI is a collaborative joint venture and works with industry, government and the education and science
sectors in Australia and New Zealand to produce business outcomes and benefits for participants involved in the spatial sector.

The appointee will be engaged on a two year research Project. The appointee will be a geoscientist and will undertake operational activities and research with the aim of developing a new GNSS meteorology capability within the Australian
Government, working collaboratively with scientist from Geoscience Australia and the Bureau of Meteorology. This project will develop an operational capability and business processes within the Australian Government to deliver GPS derived Zenith Tropospheric
Delay (ZTD) estimates and undertake research towards full multi-GNSS ZTD estimation.

The role will be based in Canberra ACT, Australia in Geoscience Australia (GA), Geodesy section and co-located with an aligned project.

The appointee will initially work with GPS data only, but will in due course focus on exploiting Australia´s unique position as one of the few regions in the world to see all the new and emerging global and regional navigation satellite
systems including Galileo (Europe), GPS III (USA), GLONASS (Russia) and Beidou (China), QZSS (Japan) and IRNSS (India).

The role will also ensure that a GNSS meteorology capability is appropriately implemented into the CRCSI Analysis Centre Software (ACS).

Project Scope

Hourly Zenith Tropospheric Delay (ZTD) estimates with latencies no greater than 3 hours will be delivered for all available GPS CORS stations in Australia, Antarctica and the South Pacific. State and Territory data will also be included
subject to it being provided to GA and the Bureau at no cost. The products generated will be assessed for their fitness-for-purpose as a component of the project. The determination of integrated Precipitable Water Vapour (PWV), which is derived from ZTD with
temperature and pressure observations, is considered beyond the scope of this project.

Overview of Project

The propagation delays of microwave signals in the atmosphere caused by water vapour are dealt with in space geodetic analyses as ´nuisance´ parameters. Currently in its routine GPS analysis, Geoscience Australia (GA) computes hourly
estimates of Tropospheric Zenith Delay (ZTD) for all available Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) that track GPS in the Asia Pacific region. This operational analysis currently runs with a 48-72 hour latency, which is sufficient for geodetic
applications but not for atmospheric meteorological applications that require product generation latencies less than 3 hours. A whole-of-government approach to the determination ofGNSS derived water vapour estimates was flagged during the National Positioning
Infrastructure (NPI) stakeholder consultations. This project will contribute to an improved weather forecasting capability in Australia.

The two year project will be implemented in two phases. The first phase, implemented over the first 12 months, would be to operationalise the use of GPS-derived ZTD estimates into the Australia Bureau of Meteorology´s weather forecasting
processes. The second phase, implemented over the second 12 months, would be more research focussed and explore the use of GNSS data other than GPS (e.g., Beidou, Glonass, QZSS, Galileo, IRNSS) to estimate improved ZTD and potentially Slant Total Delays (STD).
This work will link to efforts in the CRCSI´s Analysis Centre Software (ACS) Project.

Minimum Requirements:

·        
Doctoral degree in a relevant discipline, such as geomatics, geodesy, aerospace engineering, mathematics, physics, or telecommunications engineering

·        
An ability to work across government and with scientists from non-GPS disciplines.

·        
A demonstrated ability to undertake scientific research; an ability to develop algorithms and software

·        
Demonstrated expertise in GPS or related fields; good knowledge and understanding of GPS applications

·        
Computer programming and real-data handling skills

·        
Project management skills preferably in the research project management environment

·        
Linux and Windows virtual machine skills

·        
Excellent interpersonal and organisational skills

·        
A commitment to maintain a high standard of professional work

This position is open to Australian and non-Australian  candidates.

Applications close January 31 2015.

For any details or to apply via-email please send a CV and a cover letter exposing your interest and motivations  to Dr. John Dawson
John.Dawson@ga.gov.au

Dr. Stavros Melachroinos

Geodetic Scientist  |  Geodesy Section | Geodesy and Seismic Monitoring Group |

Community Safety & Earth Monitoring Division
|  
GEOSCIENCE AUSTRALIA

Applying geoscience to Australia’s most important challenges