Weather Radar Data Analyst

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory • Richland, WA

21d

About The Position

At PNNL, our core capabilities are divided among major departments that we refer to as Directorates within the Lab, focused on a specific area of scientific research or other function, with its own leadership team and dedicated budget.
Our Science & Technology directorates include National Security, Earth and Biological Sciences, Physical and Computational Sciences, and Energy and Environment. In addition, we have an Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a Department of Energy, Office of Science user facility housed on the PNNL campus.
The Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate (EBSD) leads critical research in four areas: Atmospheric, Climate & Earth Sciences, Biological Sciences, Environmental Molecular Sciences, and Global Change. Our vision is to develop a predictive understanding of biological and Earth systems in transition. We aim to understand energy and material flows within the integrated Earth system; to understand, predict, and control the response of biosystems to environmental and/or genomic changes; and to Model the Earth system from the subsurface to the atmosphere.
The Atmospheric, Climate, and Earth Sciences (ACES) Division comprises multidisciplinary teams working to advance the predictive knowledge of Earth systems. The ACES team includes researchers at every career stage who collaborate across disciplines to address some of the most pressing challenges which are critical to ensure a robust U.S. energy system. Scientists in ACES provide their expertise to major sections of the Department of Energy's Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research program, including the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility, the Atmospheric System Research program, and the Earth & Environmental Systems Modeling program.
The Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) facility operates and maintains a network of fixed and mobile atmospheric observatories providing data to the atmospheric research community (https://www.arm.gov). ARM observatories include a broad array of instrumentation including radars, lidars, radiometers, and meteorological sensors. The candidate will become a member of a team of scientists, engineers, and technicians responsible for characterizing and processing data from precipitation and cloud radars deployed around the world to ensure the data are research quality to meet the needs of the scientific community.
The Earth System Measurements and Data Group at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) seeks a radar data expert to serve a critical function within ARM. This position will work closely with the radar data and hardware engineering teams and other ARM staff such as site operations staff, the data quality office, and data product developers. Travel is expected to 1-2 ARM-related meetings and a radar science/technology meeting each year (<10% of the time).
The Weather Radar Data Analyst will characterize and process the ARM radar measurements. The primary goal of this work is to advance the utility of the ARM radar data for scientific applications. The weather radar data scientist is expected to have experience with weather radar systems and the analysis of radar measurements.

Requirements

• BS/BA and 2 years of relevant experience -OR-
• MS/MA -OR-
• PhD

Nice To Haves

• Degree in Electrical Engineering, Atmospheric Science, Meteorology, or a related field with relevant work experience.
• Expertise with weather radar.
• Strong skills in data analysis and visualization.
• Proficiency in Python and Jupyter notebooks, and UNIX/LINUX environments.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in diverse teams.
• Communicating clearly and effectively in a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional team.

Responsibilities

• Analyze radar calibration measurements with the ARM radar hardware engineering team and other ARM staff.
• Analyze radar measurements to evaluate instrument performance and to identify data quality issues.
• Develop diagnostic tools and methodologies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of calibration and measurement analyses.
• Quantify radar measurement uncertainty in radar reflectivity and other parameters.
• Communicate radar status and performance issues to ARM staff and the science community.
• Studies the geosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, and/or interactions of these systems with human activities.
• Uses scientific principles, instrument measurements, computer models, data analysis, and knowledge of policy and regulatory drivers to study the environment and/or develop solutions to environmental problems.
• Leverages knowledge and tools from fields such as ecology, biology, physics, chemistry, geochemistry, soil science, geology, hydrology, atmospheric science, economics, and/or integrated assessment.

Benefits

• Employees and their families are offered medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, robust telehealth care options, several mental health benefits, free wellness coaching, health savings account, flexible spending accounts, basic life insurance, disability insurance, employee assistance program, business travel insurance, tuition assistance, relocation, backup childcare, legal benefits, supplemental parental bonding leave, surrogacy and adoption assistance, and fertility support.
• Employees are automatically enrolled in our company-funded pension plan and may enroll in our 401 (k) savings plan with company match.
• Employees may accrue up to 120 vacation hours per year and may receive ten paid holidays per year.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree