Atmospheric Molecular Spectroscopy in support of Earth and Planetary Science

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. This specific opportunity focuses on high-resolution molecular spectroscopy of atmospheric species in support of Earth and Planetary Science. Research includes spectral data acquisition and analysis of rotational and vibrational molecular transitions in the infrared and near-visible region using a state-of-the-art Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) stationed at JPL. The work involves characterization of spectroscopic line parameters and cross-sections for atmospheric molecules such as CH4, NH3, hydrocarbons, and nitriles in a wide temperature range (80-1000K), measurements of collision-induced absorption, and precision-modeling of telluric absorption features to enable extreme precision radial velocity measurements in search of Earth-analogs in the habitable zone. The research produces spectral references and calibration data for Earth atmospheric trace gases and elusive molecules for Titan and cold giant planets, with measurements currently used by various NASA missions including OCO, Cassini/CIRS, and IRTF/NIRSPEC, as well as the HITRAN molecular spectroscopy database.