Postdoctoral Research Positions on Cloud Forcing and Climate Tipping Points

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects. This specific postdoctoral position focuses on advancing understanding of climate tipping points and the irreversibility of temperature changes, with emphasis on cloud forcing and its impact on critical thresholds. The research leverages advanced atmosphere-ocean-ice coupled models, including the NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM) and/or the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) Model E, to explore climate change dynamics under high greenhouse gas emission scenarios. The position investigates mechanisms driving climate tipping points, climate vulnerabilities such as AMOC collapse and Greenland ice sheet loss, and the role of clouds particularly in the Southern Ocean. Fellows conduct baseline simulations from 2015 to 2115 using SSP5-8.5 CO2 concentrations and sensitivity runs to examine climate system reversibility under CO2 removal scenarios. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and designed to advance NASA's missions in Earth science.