Scientist Air-Sea Interaction at The South African Weather Service (SAWS)

Job summary 
A Scientist Air-Sea interaction will conduct research on the role of local air-sea interaction in fire activity over South Africa. The candidate will assess the suitability of various indices, such as the Fire Weather Index (FWI) and Lowveld Fire Danger Index (LFDI), primarily for South African coastal areas, in close collaboration with the SAWS Research Department and other stakeholders, contributing to the development of a new National Fire Danger Rating System. Additionally, the successful applicant will collaborate and participate in other research activities with the Marine Research Unit as delegated by the Lead Scientist / Senior Manager. Experience working with the fire indices will be an added advantage. 
 
Key Performance Areas 
The candidate will be required to: 

• Actively participate in marine related programmes, projects or activities related to commercial services and public good at national and international scale. 
• Assist in the development or improvement of products and services, methodologies and/or processes to improve service delivery to clients. 
• Assist with the development or enhancement of validation methodology for marine related forecast models. 
• Represent SAWS where appropriate and serve on national or international scientific panels/committees or specialist groups in an expert capacity. 
• Continue self-development and maintain currency with regard to new developments in the fields of ocean and atmospheric sciences to ensure that SAWS continues to provide highly competitive products and services that meet the needs of the users. 
• Assist forecasting department in monitoring and issuing of marine-related weather hazard warnings ahead of significant weather systems. 
• Assist with implementation and requirements of the SAWS TQM System. 
• Collaborate with other SAWS departments to monitor, improve and fully leverage observation and forecasting systems. 
• Promote the awareness of marine SAWS products and services to relevant stakeholders. 
• Ensure that the work environment complies with legislative requirements in relation to Occupational Health and Safety. 

 
Minimum Requirements 
Education and Experience 

•  BSc Honours in a related field (e.g., Oceanography, Atmospheric Science, Meteorology, Environmental Science, and Physics). 
•  3 years of experience in marine, atmospheric science, or a related field. 
•  Demonstrate understanding on air-sea interaction and boundary layer marine meteorology. 
•  Expertise in the evaluation of observational and model data, using meteorological observations. 
•  Demonstrated proficiency in scientific data analysis and programming, specifically in MATLAB and/ or Python, or R. 

Behavioural Competencies 

• Innovation leading to implementation 
• Analytical thinking 
• Creative thinking 
• Emotional intelligence 
• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal)