Postdoctoral Research Associate I, Hydrology & Atmospheric Sciences

We seek an early career scientist with background in ecohydrology, numerical modeling and/or remote sensing to fill a position as Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences. The postdoctoral researcher will investigate remote sensing methods to estimate whole ecosystem scale transpiration at the Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO) located at Biosphere 2.

Together with an interdisciplinary team of scientists, the Postdoc will develop upscaling methods to estimate ecosystem scale transpiration based on locally observed energy balance partitioning. Affinity with remote sensing techniques is a plus. The candidate is expected to contribute to research proposals that can be submitted to relevant funding agencies, such as National Science Foundation, to further fund the research. The project will take advantage of the exceptional measurement capability of the LEO hillslopes and will gain novel insights into the mechanisms that control transpiration of ecosystems.

The project aims to:

• Improve our understanding of what controls net primary production of ecosystems.
• Develop upscaling methods to estimate whole-ecosystem transpiration from local measurements of water and energy balance components.
• Test these upscaling methods at the Landscape Evolution Observatory.
• Publish research results in international peer-reviewed journals

Outstanding UA benefits include health, dental, vision, and life insurance; paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays; UA/ASU/NAU tuition reduction for the employee and qualified family members; access to UA recreation and cultural activities; and more!

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• Organize existing data from measurement campaigns in 2024 at the LEO; these data include water vapor and CO2 flux measurements using LiCOR, thermal infrared images at locations of these LiCOR measurements, and nearby shallow soil moisture and soil temperature measurements.
• Extend the database by organizing follow-up campaigns; these campaigns may include working with undergraduate students during summer months.
• Apply existing remote sensing based algorithms, such as 3T, to estimate latent heat fluxes from thermal imagery and soil water balance.
• Develop and test upscaling methods to estimate whole-ecosystem transpiration from local observations.
• Contribute to the preparation of reports and proposals.
• Participate with supervision of students and teaching.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:

• Strong communication skills.

• PhD in Hydrology or related field must be attained by time of hire.
• Track record of peer-reviewed publications.

• Experience with Matlab, Phyton, C++ or other programming languages.
• Experience with remote sensing (multispectral and thermal IR).
• Experience with LiCOR measurements.
• Experience with machine learning.
• Demonstrated experience in innovative research.