GFZ is Germany's national centre for solid Earth research. We advance the understanding of dynamic processes to address global challenges, from mitigating the impacts of natural hazards and sustaining our habitat amid global change to responsibly managing georesources. We are part of the Helmholtz Association, the largest German scientific organisation. With around 1,200 employees as well as ca. 500 guest researchers, we contribute to the Helmholtz Research Field Earth and Environment, aligning cutting-edge research with societal relevance and international collaboration. Our work integrates multidisciplinary studies across Earth's system components, leveraging advanced technologies and infrastructure to research solutions and to transfer our knowledge to society. We are doing this according to our vision: “Taking the pulse of our Earth to safeguard a habitable planet”.

The Earth’s gravity field can be mapped globally based on satellite observations and surface gravity measurements. However, the spatial resolution is limited due to the band-limited spectral content of the input data. The DFG-funded GRAV4GEO project aims to expand the resolution of global gravity field models beyond their limits using a forward gravity modelling technique based on very high-resolution digital elevation data and laterally varying mass density information (instead of commonly used averaged density values). Such an approach allows for complementing the medium to very short wavelength information of the global gravity field. GRAV4GEO aims at developing topographic gravity field models in terms of ellipsoidal and spherical harmonic coefficients for the Earth’s upper crust, which represents an important part of the entire gravitational potential of the Earth. 

Your responsibilities:

• Development of new input data files: Merging global density files for crust and upper crust, replacing density grids where known regional density files exist
• Validation, adaption, optimization of existing software written in C++ and Fortran
• Preparation and update of a user manual for the developed software
• Generation of global high resolution topographicgravity field models in terms of ellipsoidal harmonics based on merged crustal density and digital elevation data
• Collaboration with colleagues working in the field of 3D gravity modelling (e.g., using IGMAS + software) and International Height Reference Frame studies
• Presenting the results of your work on related geoscientific conferences and to publish scientific results in highly-ranked international journals

Your qualification and skills:

• Master`s degree or equivalent and a PhD in geodesy, (geo-)physics, mathematics or a related discipline
• Solid background in potential theory and preferably experience in global gravity field modelling
• Strong foundation in forward gravity modelling and related data analysis
• Demonstrated excellent programming skills in C++ and FORTRAN and editing source codes written in these languages
• Familiarity with computational techniques of high performance massive parallel computing in Linux Environment e.g., on the basis of the Message Passing Interface (MPI)
• Ability to work independently
• Ability for and willingness to work in a multidisciplinary team and to communicate with collaborators
• Proficiency in spoken and written English