Machine Learning Assisted Aerosol Retrieval from Space Lidar Measurements in Planetary Boundary Layer

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and designed to advance NASA's missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology. This specific opportunity focuses on developing ML-assisted retrievals of aerosols in the planetary boundary layer, emphasizing aerosol and cloud detection and classification using multichannel measurements at the highest spatial resolution. The extensive 17-year CALIOP archive provides an ideal training dataset for ML algorithms, enabling their adaptation to EarthCARE's ATLID and the future CALIGOLA mission. This research aims to generate a multi-year dataset of boundary layer aerosol properties, enhancing our understanding of aerosol-cloud interactions and their impact on climate processes.