Physical Scientist

University of Washington•Seattle, WA

4d•Onsite

About The Position

CICOES has an outstanding opportunity for an Ocean Data Analyst/Physical Scientist to join the EcoFOCI team. About this Opportunity Reporting to a Research Scientist/Engineer 3 the ocean data analyst/physical scientist is responsible for some data processing, and submitting data collected by the EcoFOCI team to various databases and research partners. Data include hydrographic profiles and moored time series of temperature, salinity, oxygen, chlorophyll fluorescence, nutrients, and other parameters. EcoFOCI (Ecosystems and Fisheries-Oceanography Coordinated Investigations) studies the ecosystems of the North Pacific Ocean, Bering Sea and U.S. Arctic to improve understanding of ecosystem dynamics. This information is applied to the management of living marine resources. EcoFOCI is a joint research program between the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (NOAA/ NMFS/ AFSC) and the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (NOAA/ OAR/ PMEL) while partnering with numerous CICOES staff. This is a full-time position is located with PMEL at NOAA’s Western Regional Center at Sand Point, Seattle. PMEL-EcoFOCI includes ~12 research scientists that integrate field, laboratory and modeling studies to determine how varying biological and physical factors influence large marine ecosystems within Alaskan waters. EcoFOCI maintains approximately 35 moorings in the Gulf of Alaska, Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea. These moorings are serviced once or twice per year on research cruises. EcoFOCI participates on ~six cruises per year that collect a wide range of oceanographic data (physics to whales) and is involved in the development and deployment of new technologies (e.g., gliders, profiling moorings, under-ice samplers).

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in Physical or Computer Science or related field
2 years of relevant experience in scientific computing and data visualization
Must have experience in scientific computing and data visualization and be comfortable navigating a variety of operating systems such as Linux, and have applied experience with software such as Python.
The applicant will be expected to work with a broad range of scientific data in various formats (such as NetCDF) from a variety of oceanographic equipment.
The applicant will help with data processing and quality control. Processed data files will be verified and edited to specifications for archiving at various national and scientific repositories. This includes collecting information and composing metadata that is compliant with ISO standards.
Physically capable of participating for 3-4 weeks on 1 or 2 oceanographic research cruises per year. Most cruises will be in the North Pacific or Arctic.
Must have good communication skills for disseminating information in discussions with colleagues, strong organizational skills, independent problem-solving, and collaboration within research teams.

Nice To Haves

Experience writing technical reports; knowledge of oceanographic/meteorological equipment and software to process these data sets; and experience in instrument setup and data extraction.
Strong familiarity with Python, Jupyter Notebooks and Linux is preferred.
Proficiency with any of the following would be useful: Git/GitHub, Linux/Unix-like and shell scripting, NCO tools, Matlab, Google productivity tools and Apps, Microsoft Office Suite, and Microsoft Windows, R, Labview, web tools, mapping tools and databases (SQL/MariaDB).
Familiarity with scientific data formats such as NetCDF, HDF and Grib as well as emergent data distribution and access software (ERDDAP, cloud technologies and containers such as S3) and cloud native formats such as Zarr and GeoParquet is desired.
Knowledge of LLM/AI chatbots is helpful as a supplement but is not a replacement for knowledge of the tools above.
Familiarity with FAIR data practices (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) is desirable.
Experience in data management and distribution is desired, and cloud expertise is a plus.
Prior sea-going experience is desired.

Responsibilities

Ensure that EcoFOCI oceanographic data and metadata is distributed to appropriate databases and collaborators. Provide updates to the EcoFOCI web page.
Process oceanographic data as requested such as quality control of hydrographic and mooring data, appending new data to existing data sets, and processing data from selected instruments.
Participate on research cruises (1-2 cruises per year). Sea duties may include preparing, deploying, and sampling the CTD-rosette system, collecting seawater samples, and helping other research teams.
Assist in preparing for cruises (e.g., loading/unloading containers)
Participate in team meetings and contribute to data and cruise reports