Ocean Modeling Programming for Subseasonal/Seasonal Applications

Science Systems and Applications, Inc. (SSAI) seeks a talented and goal-oriented individual to join our team supporting NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The selected candidate will work closely with contractor and NASA scientists to provide technical support and scientific programming for the development, implementation, testing and documentation of modeling and data assimilation systems. The selected candidate will also contribute to the presentation of scientific results at conferences, workshops and in peer-reviewed publications.

The selected candidate will focus their efforts on the development and implementation of the ocean model component of the atmosphere-ocean coupled model in the configuration used specifically to conduct subseasonal to seasonal (S2S) prediction. This includes conducting experiments to explore different ocean parameterizations, grids and parameter settings, generation of new grids, and evaluation of the experiment results. The candidate selected for this position will also work closely with NASA ocean data assimilation personnel to further improve the initialization of coupled system.  Elements of the candidate’s work will also include modification of the Fortran code that includes the interface between components, and entails learning earth system modeling frameworks and application layers. The selected candidate will also assist in the evaluation of the ocean forecasts. Finally, the selected candidate will be responsible for maintaining the version of the model used for S2S Applications in a GitHub repository.

Required Skills/Expertise

• MS Degree in oceanography, or related field, with 4 years of experience.

• Experience with ocean models
• Experience with regional earth system models
• Proficiency in scientific programming using Fortran, Python, visualization, shell scripting, and collaborative version control software such as Git
• Knowledge of different data formats e.g., NetCDF
• Experience with scientific data analysis and data management and manipulation of large datasets
• Excellent communication skills
• This position requires Permanent Residency or US Citizenship

Desired Skills

• PhD Degree in oceanography or related field
• Expertise in the details of MOM6 ocean model
• Experience with global earth system models
• Familiarity with satellite and in situ estimates of the ocean, sea ice, sea surface salinity, sea surface temperature, currents, etc., from sources such as ocean reanalyses (eg., ORAS5, SODA, ECCO) and World Ocean Atlas estimates.
• Web development (e.g., positing experiments online)
• Work independently, self driven

EOE, including disability/vets

Physical Requirements:  While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand, walk, and use hands to touch, handle or feel objects, tools or controls. The employee frequently is required to talk and hear and occasionally required to reach with hands and arms and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. Must regularly lift and/or move up to 10 pounds, and occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and the ability to adjust focus.