Research Scientist , Sierra Snow Laboratory - at University of California,

Position: Research Scientist (5189U), Central Sierra Snow Laboratory - 79778 at University of California,[...]

Research Scientist (5189U), Central Sierra Snow Laboratory - 79778 job at University of California, Berkeley. Berkeley, CA.

Research Scientist (5189U), Central Sierra Snow Laboratory - 79778 About Berkeley

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Departmental Overview

Located at Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada, the Central Sierra Snow Laboratory (CSSL) is an off-campus research and teaching field station of UC Berkeley specializing in snow physics, snow hydrology, meteorology, climatology, and instrument design. It is in Soda Springs, about 25km northwest of Lake Tahoe and is one of the best instrumented hydrometeorological study sites in the world with consistent observations of a wide range of atmospheric and snowpack variables.

It has a wide range of collaborators, including the California Department of Water Resources, National Weather Service, Sandia National Labs, and a broad range of universities. Research projects at the lab have included climatological analysis of trends in hydrometeorological variables, development of new instrumentation technologies for the measurement of snow water equivalent, rain-on-snow forecasting and decision making, and investigation of wildfire burn scar effects on snowpack.

The lab is also one of the foremost media resources for snow and water information with international, national, and local media agencies regularly using the lab as a source.

Position Summary

The primary responsibility of the field researcher will be to evaluate the impacts of cloud seeding activities on snowpack mass and energy balance properties in representative regions of the Sierra Nevada mountains using the Weather Research and Forecasting Hydrological (WRF-Hydro) and iSnobal models. This will include evaluation of seeding activity impacts on snowpack longevity, sublimation/evaporation, and melt at different elevations and within wildfire burn scars.

Evaluation of the impact of antecedent soil conditions on runoff efficiency after seeding programs will also occur. The researcher will also coordinate with team members running WRF-WxMod and other WRF-Hydro instances for comparison of results and transfer of data. The field researcher will also be responsible for aiding in installation and maintenance of instrumentation related to the project at the Central Sierra Snow Lab and will be responsible for occasionally making hydrometeorological measurements to support various facets of the research.

The researcher will present the results from this work at internal project meetings, in published manuscripts, and at conferences.

Application Review Date

The First Review Date for this job is: 07/31/2025.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate cloud seeding impacts to snowpack mass and energy balance with particular focus on changes in cold content, sublimation/evaporation, and snowmelt processes. This work will focus on changes to snowpack longevity and fractions of snow water equivalent lost to various ablation processes.
• Investigate changes in energy balance and runoff efficiency resulting from seeding activities occurring at various times during the snow season. The purpose of this work will be to identify differences to energy balance and/or runoff efficiency resulting from seeding during warm' months such as December or March versus cold months such as January or February.
• Examine impacts of cloud seeding increases in snowfall/snowpack on runoff efficiencies at various catchment elevations. This work will focus on different physical processes during the ablation phase in various catchments to determine if catchments above/below certain elevations provide better runoff efficiencies related to cloud seeding…