The Northern Aquatics Lab at York University, Toronto (http://tank-lab.blog.yorku.ca/) is seeking a motivated MSc or PhD student to study the effects of permafrost thaw on carbon cycling in aquatic environments. Successful candidates will begin their position in Sept., 2013, and work on a recently funded multi-year, multi-institutional project in the western Canadian Arctic. This research will specifically focus on the effects of permafrost thaw on the land-to-water flux of organic and inorganic C, and the fate of permafrost carbon in aquatic environments. The research will link to past and ongoing work in the lab that has examined the importance of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in lakes and river channels of the Mackenzie Delta, the interplay between DOC, bacteria, and greenhouse gas production, and the importance of constituent flux from large northern rivers for processes occurring in the Arctic Ocean nearshore. This work will have both laboratory and field components. Students will be expected to develop and conduct a research project, with supervision, master a range of laboratory and field techniques, and spend several months conducting field research based out of the Aurora Research Institute in Inuvik, NT, Canada (http://www.nwtresearch.com/). Canadian applicants are particularly encouraged.
The Northern Aquatics Lab is housed within York's Geography Department, details of which can be found here (http://www.yorku.ca/laps/geog/index.html). York University is located in north Toronto; as Canada's third largest university, it offers significant analytical and research facilities and houses a vibrant and multi-disciplinary university community. Candidates should have a background in physical geography, ecology, environmental science or biogeochemistry, and be able and willing to undertake field work in a remote, northern location. Interested candidates should send a statement of interest along with a recent CV to Suzanne Tank (ta...@yorku.ca) as soon as possible.
