Earth Science: Remote Sensing and Modeling of Terrestrial Seasonal Snow

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 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.

This opportunity is closed to applicants who are Senior Fellows (5‑years or more past PhD). The Hydrological Sciences Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is seeking a post‑doc candidate to conduct research in the remote sensing of terrestrial seasonal snow. The Lab has expertise in ground, airborne, and space‑based observation and modeling of snow, soil moisture, precipitation, and terrestrial water storage.

Research areas involving terrestrial seasonal snow can include snowpack physics, interactions between snowpacks and soil, vegetation, and/or the atmosphere (wind, rain, sun, etc.), as well as snow‑related societal uses of snow (applications) including water resources, natural hazards (floods and droughts), water security, and weather and climate. The candidate is encouraged to explore collaborative opportunities with other Lab members and external groups to develop comprehensive and complete understanding of the global water cycle and to assist in the enhancement of decision‑support tools at agencies using NASA Earth science products and technologies.

The remote‑sensing component of the candidate’s research could include any combination of sensing techniques from passive and active microwave, to passive VIS/IR sensing, lidar, signals of opportunity, gravity and/or gamma radiation. Sensing tools could be traditional as well as experimental, and platforms could range from snowshoes to manned aircraft, UAVs, and satellites. The full exploitation of multi‑sensor satellite data from US and non‑US sources (e.g., Snow Ex, NASA, ESA, JAXA), combined with numerical models, is encouraged.

The candidate may also contribute to the design, implementation, and science of a future snow remote‑sensing mission, and opportunities for snow field work are highly likely as part of the Snow Ex campaigns.

The ideal candidate will have experience or an educational background in the collection and use of remote‑sensing data, the design and improvement of algorithms and models, and the collection of field data and its use in validation studies. Computation‑intensive projects can exploit NASA’s supercomputers and the NASA cloud.

Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

Earth Science

11/1/2026 6:00:59 PM Eastern Time Zone

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

Applications with citizens from Designated Countries will not be accepted at this time, unless they are Legal Permanent Residents of the United States.

Ed Kim:
Edward.

J.Kim, 301‑614‑5653

Matthew Rodell:
Matthew.

Rodell, 301‑286‑9143

Questions? Please email npp