Tsunami Source Inversion with Geospatial Measurements

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.

Responsibilities

The research will focus on studying major earthquake processes using geospatial measurements, such as high-rate GPS data, seismographs, and GRACE measurements. Modeling earthquake fault parameters for tsunami early detections is the key part of the project. Processing real-time data streams, analyzing historical data sets, and model results are necessary.

Requirements

• A recent Ph.D. in geophysics, geodesy, applied mathematics, computational fluid dynamics, or a related field.
• Skills in Unix/Linux, Matlab and parallel computing are essential.
• Prior experience with earthquake source inversion models is preferred.
• Demonstrated proficiency in written and spoken English is also required.

Qualifications

• Related publications:
• Liu, Z., S. Owen, A. Moore (2014), Rapid estimate and modeling of permanent coseismic displacements for large earthquakes using high-rate Global Positioning System data, Seism. Res. Lett., 85(2), doi: 10.1785/0220130174.
• Xu, Z. and Y. T. Song (2013): Combining the all-source Green’s functions and the GPS-derived source for fast tsunami prediction – illustrated by the March 2011 Japan tsunami, J. Atmos. Oceanic Tech., http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-12-00201.
• Song, Y. T., I. Fukumori, C. K. Shum, and Y. Yi (2012): Merging tsunamis of the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake detected over the open ocean, Geophys. Res. Lett., doi:10.1029/2011GL050767.
• (Nature Highlights on March 8, 2012.)
• Song, Y. T. (2007): Detecting tsunami genesis and scales directly from coastal GPS stations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L19602, doi:10.1029/2007GL031681.

Skills

• Unix/Linux
• Matlab
• Parallel computing

Benefits

• One- to three-year fellowships
• Opportunities to engage in ongoing NASA research projects
• Competitive program

Pay

N/A

Schedule

N/A

Benefits

• Health insurance
• Retirement plan
• Professional development opportunities

Location

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California

Field of Science

Earth Science

Advisors

• Zhen Liu
• Tony Song

Contact Information

• Zhen.Liu@jpl.nasa.gov
• (818) 393-7506
• Tony.Song@jpl.nasa.gov
• (818) 393-4876

Eligibility

• U.S. Citizens
• U.S. Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR)
• Foreign Nationals eligible for an Exchange Visitor J-1 visa status
• 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

Questions

Please email npp@orau.org

Contact Person

Mikeala