Research position (3 a, PhD) available in a DFG project on:
Soil-atmosphere exchange of persistent organic pollutants:
Determination of concentration gradients with passive samplers
The work involves field and laboratory studies and numerical simulations. 3 sites will be
investigated all well equipped with weather stations and soil moisture/temperature
probes. Passive samplers will be used to measure concentration (or fugacity) gradients
of contaminants (POPs - mostly polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) between soils and
the atmosphere in order to answer the question whether soils are sinks or sources for
such pollutants. Seasonal patterns of contaminant exchange behavior will be linked to
environmental parameters, such as soil water content, sorption capacity, temperature,
etc.. Two sites are in the vicinity of Tübingen in context with the WESS cluster, one is
located at Federsee and will be operated in collaboration with the university of Hohenheim. Interested candidates should have a profound understanding of relevant
processes (sorption/desorption kinetics, partitioning, transport by diffusion and advection, etc.) and some experience to work in the lab. For the field work a drivers
license is required.
Contact: Peter Grathwohl (grathwohl@uni-tuebingen.de)