Evolution of the dry season in Central Africa during the Holocene and its implications for forest structure, water, and carbon fluxes (M/F)

id="offer-description" class="ecl-u-type-heading-2 ecl-u-mt-none ecl-u-mb-l">Offer Description In close collaboration with the partners of the ANR DYSCATTI project, you will be responsible for analyzing the evolution of the dry season in Central Africa during the Holocene. Your work will be based on simulations covering the last 6,000 years, conducted using the IPSL model, which integrates a vegetation dynamics module and the carbon cycle. The challenge is to provide a temporal depth to the understanding of the driving mechanisms of Saharan-origin dry incursions in the northern part of the Congolese forest, as well as their impact on the forest's structure (e.g., changes in Plant Functional Types, PFTs) and functioning (water and carbon fluxes). Using statistical analyses of event-type classification, contingencies, and causality, the objective will be to determine which characteristics of the region's semi-annual water cycle most significantly affected the natural evolution of the tropical forest during the Holocene, and to identify the environmental conditions most conducive to dry incursions. Particular emphasis will be placed on the role of Atlantic Ocean variability and the interactions between the hydrological and carbon cycles at the scale of the Congolese forest and its regional specificities. The results will complement the approaches of other partners based on in situ data, satellite imagery, and simulations of current and future climates, aiming to develop an integ