NASA Postdoctoral Program: Observational Constraints on Processes Controlling Atmospheric Composition

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 postdoctoral fellowship focuses on the use of satellite data to provide observational constraints on general circulation and chemical transport models through the use of optimal state estimation (data assimilation) techniques. Interesting aspects of this problem include the application of these techniques to understanding processes controlling ozone and their impact on air quality and climate, providing 'top-down' constraints on carbon dioxide fluxes, and creating a framework to reduce uncertainty in the climate response to anthropogenic forcing. The research will be conducted at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, under the guidance of advisor Kevin Bowman.