Data Assimilation Scientist - Marine

Axiom is seeking a candidate to support the Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) in carrying out research and development work related to the future operational marine component of the Unified Forecast System (UFS). The candidate's work will involve the development, execution, testing, and evaluation of several components of the marine data assimilation system in the framework of coupled assimilation and modeling. The work location is at the NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction (NCWCP) in College Park, MD.

Responsibilities

The candidate will perform their job duties to a high standard, working both independently and collaboratively. They will assist in managing projects and in developing and applying innovative methods within the primary work areas outlined below. The candidate will collaborate with EMC scientists and external partners to calibrate, optimize, and evaluate the JEDI-based marine and coupled data assimilation systems of the UFS. The primary focus will be on optimizing and calibrating the marine JEDI system for the initialization of the marine components within the coupled UFS framework.

The successful candidate will work on the following scientific and engineering tasks:

• Advance the development of marine (ocean and sea ice) data assimilation systems and evaluate the scientific quality of the ocean analyses for use in global medium-range weather and subseasonal-to-seasonal prediction systems.
• Evaluate the scientific quality of the ocean and sea-ice analyses produced by the JEDI-based coupled assimilation system.
• Design, develop, and maintain evaluation tools for the ocean and sea-ice domains.
• Follow software development best practices.
• Develop a flexible software framework in Python, optimized for High-Performance Computing (HPC).
• Collaborate with multiple teams in an Agile-style development environment.
• Investigate the coupled model setup and parameterizations at the interfaces between interacting components of coupled Earth system models.
• Support and further develop the UFS' subsystems and their communication among the model and data assimilation components.

Qualifications

A Master's Degree or higher in physical oceanography, or related physical science with at least 2 years of experience in coupled forecast and analysis systems.

Demonstrated knowledge, skills, and abilities in at least five of the following areas:

• Expert knowledge of the physical and mathematical basis of geophysical modeling (oceanic and atmospheric).
• Advance knowledge of physical oceanography (ocean and sea-ice)
• Knowledge and experience of modern programming languages such as object-oriented python and C++
• Experience working in a UNIX environment with advanced scripting languages
• Experience in working with HPC platforms (MPI, OpenMP, etc.)
• Modern software engineering practices (requirements gathering, design, prototyping, version control, integration, testing, and documentation).
• Experience in model testing and evaluation and/or knowledge of verification principles.
• Ability to work independently and in a team environment on complex problems.
• Good oral and written communication skills in English
• Demonstrated skill in performing tasks requiring organization and attention to detail.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor's legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)