Measuring Emissions of Urban Greenhouse Gases and Pollutants Using Mountaintop Remote Sensing Spectroscopy

The job at ORAU involves measuring urban greenhouse gases and pollutants using mountaintop remote sensing spectroscopy, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. The position is part of the NASA Postdoctoral Program, offering competitive fellowships for scientists in various fields. Applicants should have expertise in atmospheric modeling, remote sensing, or related areas. A complete application includes a research proposal and three letters of recommendation.
Organization

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Reference Code

0208-NPP-JUL25-JPL-EarthSci

How To Apply

All applications must be submitted in Zintellect

Please visit the NASA Postdoctoral Program website for application instructions and requirements: How to Apply | NASA Postdoctoral Program (orau.org)

A complete application to the NASA Postdoctoral Program includes:
• Research proposal
• Three letters of recommendation
• Official doctoral transcript documents

Application Deadline

7/1/2025 6:00:59 PM Eastern Time Zone

Description

About the NASA Postdoctoral Program

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.

Description:

The Los Angeles basin is a very large source of the important greenhouse gases CO2, CH4 and N2O, and pollutants such as CO and aerosols. Recent legislation in California, such as the Global Warming Solutions Act (AB32), has mandated progressive reductions in statewide greenhouse gas emissions. Verifying the effectiveness of greenhouse gas controls requires frequent, high-precision measurements over a large area combined within a modeling framework to account for the efffects of atmospheric transport and to convert measured atmospheric abundances into emission rates.

To address this requirement, we have developed an innovative mountaintop observatory, California Laboratory for Atmospheric Remote Sensing (CLARS), that uses high-resolution infrared spectrometers to survey the spatial and temporal distributions of greenhouse gases and pollutants in Los Angeles. In continuous operation since 2011, CLARS is a unique facility that has resulted in numberous publications on greenhouse gases, pollutants, aerosol physics and remote sensing technology.

We seek motivated applicants with backgrounds in fields such as atmospheric modeling, remote sensing, geographical information systems, spectroscopy and instrumentation.

References

He, L. et al.,; Atmospheric methane emissions correlate with natural gas consumption from residential and commercial sectors in Los Angeles; Geophys. Res. Lett.; 2019, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2019GL083400

Zeng, Z.-C. et al., Investigating wavelength-dependent aerosol optical properties using water vapor slant column retrievals from CLARS over the Los Angeles basin, Atmos. Chem. Phys.; 2017, 17, 2495-2508. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.5194/acp-17-2495-2017

Wong, K. W. et al., Mapping CH4:CO2 ratios in Los Angeles, with simulated satellite remote sensing from Mount Wilson, California, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 2015, 15, 241-252, http://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-241-2015

Location:

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, California

Field of Science:Earth Science

Advisors:

Stanley Paul Sander

Stanley.P.Sander@jpl.nasa.gov

818-354-2625

Applications with citizens from Designated Countries will not be accepted at this time, unless they are Legal Permanent Residents of the United States. A complete list of Designated Countries can be found at: https://www.nasa.gov/oiir/export-control.

Eligibility is currently open to:
• U.S. Citizens;
• U.S. Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR);
• Foreign Nationals eligible for an Exchange Visitor J-1 visa status; and,
• Applicants for LPR, asylees, or refugees in the U.S. at the time of application with 1) a valid EAD card and 2) I-485 or I-589 forms in pending status

Questions about this opportunity? Please email npp@orau.org

Point of Contact

Mikeala

Eligibility Requirements
• Degree: Doctoral Degree.