Improving the Global Ocean Winds Climate Data Record Using New Data and Theoretical Modeling

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects. This specific opportunity focuses on space-based scatterometers and ocean surface vector winds. The research will address the challenge of combining diverse space-based ocean surface wind observations and employing theoretical models to improve understanding of wind-driven ocean surface wave spectrum, understand differences among sensor-specific geophysical model functions, and interpret findings to improve merger and intercalibration of wind retrievals from multiple sensors to assemble a self-consistent climate data record of global winds. This one- to three-year fellowship is based at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and is designed to advance NASA's missions in Earth science. The research involves working with scatterometer-derived ocean surface wind vector data that has proven useful for studies of ocean air-sea interaction, ocean circulation, and operational numerical weather prediction.