Meteorology Satellite Data Assimilation Research Scientist

SAIC•Monterey, CA

40d

About The Position

SAIC is seeking a Meteorology Satellite Data Assimilation Research Scientist to support their team at the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Marine Meteorology Division (MMD) in Monterey, CA. The Meteorology Satellite Data Assimilation Research Scientist will be responsible for but not limited to the following: Provide technical support for the NRL’s Advanced Variational Data Assimilation (NAVDAS) System for transitioning satellite sensor data into operations. Including developing, implementing, and impact assessment of new satellite sensors into a variational assimilation framework for numerical weather prediction (NWP). Specific short-term tasks include working to integrate and enhance the use of current and future MW sensors: SSMIS UPP, MWI, COWVR, TEMPEST, TROPICS, GEMS, HyMS, JPSS ATMS, SMBA, QuickSounder, MSSIS, and AMSR-3. Provide technical support to expand the GPS RO assimilation capability in the NAVDAS using NAVGEM. Includes expanding the one dimensional forward and tangent linear operator to two dimensions and assessing the impact of such a change. Use airborne GPS RO from the Atmospheric River Reconnaissance Project for experiment and impact assessment. Provide broad technical support, software development, and perform technical analysis as required for the NRL DoD MW Sensors CalVal efforts. Support tasks include but are not limited to: analysis of MW remote sensing systems, pre-flight specifications and characterizations of MW radiometer systems, sensor specific ground processing software systems, the post-launch calibration and validation of spaced based MW radiometric data, and the performance of DA Trials in support of transitioning the observed MW radiances and products into Navy NWP DA systems and models. Specific MW sensors and programs include the current DMSP SSMIS and STP-H8 COWVR/TEMPEST missions, the upcoming Air Force WSF-M (WSF-M) MW Imager (MWI) and multiple MW CubeSat CalVal efforts, as well as performing forecast sensitivity impact assessments of the missions. Other missions would include the NOAA JPSS, HyMS, SMBA, QuickSounder, GEMS and MSSIS sounding systems and other passive and active MW sensors such as the ISRO ScatSat program. Assist in developing, planning, architecture design, and implementing the software system for validating space-based Ocean Surface Wind Seed and Wind Vector (OSWS/OSWV) measurements in a general purpose OSWS/OWSV Validation Toolkit. Assist in implementing, testing and troubleshooting the MWI ground data processing system (GDPS) on the NRL Cal/Val Linux cluster and support the transition to FNMOC’s Linux cluster.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree and two(2) years’ experience; additional four (4) years’ experience can be considered in lieu of degree.
Must be able to obtain and maintain an active Secret security clearance; US Citizenship required.
Must have demonstrable report writing experience.
Must have demonstrable data processing experience.

Nice To Haves

PhD in Atmospheric Sciences
Experience with a combination of FORTRAN, Cylc, MATLAB, Python, or Shell Scripting programming languages.
Experience publishing peer-reviewed scientific literature, software documentation, guidebooks, and/or handbooks.
High Performance Computing (HPC) experience.

Responsibilities

Provide technical support for the NRL’s Advanced Variational Data Assimilation (NAVDAS) System for transitioning satellite sensor data into operations.
Developing, implementing, and impact assessment of new satellite sensors into a variational assimilation framework for numerical weather prediction (NWP).
Integrate and enhance the use of current and future MW sensors: SSMIS UPP, MWI, COWVR, TEMPEST, TROPICS, GEMS, HyMS, JPSS ATMS, SMBA, QuickSounder, MSSIS, and AMSR-3.
Provide technical support to expand the GPS RO assimilation capability in the NAVDAS using NAVGEM.
Expanding the one dimensional forward and tangent linear operator to two dimensions and assessing the impact of such a change.
Use airborne GPS RO from the Atmospheric River Reconnaissance Project for experiment and impact assessment.
Provide broad technical support, software development, and perform technical analysis as required for the NRL DoD MW Sensors CalVal efforts.
Analysis of MW remote sensing systems, pre-flight specifications and characterizations of MW radiometer systems, sensor specific ground processing software systems, the post-launch calibration and validation of spaced based MW radiometric data, and the performance of DA Trials in support of transitioning the observed MW radiances and products into Navy NWP DA systems and models.
Assist in developing, planning, architecture design, and implementing the software system for validating space-based Ocean Surface Wind Seed and Wind Vector (OSWS/OSWV) measurements in a general purpose OSWS/OWSV Validation Toolkit.
Assist in implementing, testing and troubleshooting the MWI ground data processing system (GDPS) on the NRL Cal/Val Linux cluster and support the transition to FNMOC’s Linux cluster.