Ocean Circulation Studies Combining Satellite Data and Models

About the role

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects at a NASA Center, NASA Headquarters, or at a NASA-affiliated research institute. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and are designed to advance NASA’s missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology.

Description

This research opportunity aims to describe and to understand physical processes governing large-scale global ocean circulation from assimilating satellite observations with models of the ocean. The process of combining data and models, i.e., data assimilation, is an emerging area of oceanographic research allowing quantitative syntheses of diverse observations into complete descriptions of the ocean. The study builds on analyses of the Consortium for “Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean“ (ECCO, http://www.ecco-group.org/). Particular research emphasis is placed on the ocean's large-scale seasonal-to-decadal climate variability by analyzing fluxes and budgets of heat and freshwater, circulation pathways, dynamic balances, and causal mechanisms (e.g., Fukumori et al., 2021).

Fukumori, I., O. Wang, and I. Fenty, 2021: Causal Mechanisms of Sea-level and Freshwater Content Change in the Beaufort Sea. J. Phys. Oceanogr., 51, 3217-3234, https://doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-21-0069.1.

Field of Science

Earth Science

Advisors

• Ichiro Fukumori
  Ichiro.Fukumori@jpl.nasa.gov
  818-354-6965

Location

Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena, California

Requirements

• U.S. Citizenship, U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR), Foreign Nationals eligible for an Exchange Visitor J-1 visa status, or applicants for LPR, asylees, or refugees in the U.S. at the time of application with 1) a valid EAD card and 2) I-485 or I-589 forms in pending status
• Doctoral Degree

Qualifications

Research opportunities include analysis of observations and modeling/assimilation results, development and application of advanced modeling and data assimilation tools including model adjoints, and investigation of the relative merits of different observing systems.

Benefits

• One- to three-year fellowships
• Unique research opportunities at NASA Centers, NASA Headquarters, or NASA-affiliated research institutes
• Competitive program
• Advancement of NASA’s missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology

Pay

N/A

Schedule

N/A

Skills

• Data assimilation
• Oceanographic research
• Modeling and analysis
• Advanced tools and techniques

Benefits

• One- to three-year fellowships
• Unique research opportunities at NASA Centers, NASA Headquarters, or NASA-affiliated research institutes
• Competitive program
• Advancement of NASA’s missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology

Contact

Questions about this opportunity? Please email npp@orau.org