NASA Postdoctoral Program - Microwave Observations of Giant Planets

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 research opportunity seeks candidates interested in using microwave observations to improve understanding of giant planet atmospheres and magnetospheres. The focus is on centimeter wavelengths, which probe thermal emission from the deep tropospheres or synchrotron emission from magnetospheres. Using observatories such as the Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico or antennas associated with NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) in California, the postdoc will plan and carry out observations, calibrate data, and interpret results. Data interpretation will require radiative transfer models and retrieval algorithms. The position is located at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, under the advisement of Dr. Steven Levin.