California fault processes constrained by InSAR andGPS observations

ORAU; Pasadena (CA); On-site; USD 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A research organization offers a postdoctoral position focused on analyzing surface deformation through advanced satellite and aerial data. The role requires a Doctoral Degree and eligibility for U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent residency. The candidate will improve the understanding of earthquake cycle dynamics by combining satellite data with numerical modeling techniques. This role is located at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and aims to contribute significantly to NASA’s research missions.

Qualifications

• Doctoral degree required for the role.
• Must have eligibility for U.S. citizenship or lawful resident status.

Responsibilities

• Analyze spatiotemporal variation of surface deformation using InSAR and GPS.
• Combine deformation maps with numerical modeling techniques.
• Improve understanding of lithospheric processes and earthquake-cycle dynamics.

Education

Doctoral Degree

Job description

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 at 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.

Responsibilities

Throughout the plate boundary zone, earthquakes respond to each other, transient stresses modulate earthquake occurrence, and tectonic and non‑tectonic (e.g., anthropogenic) processes can interact to produce non‑steady‑state behaviors in the fault and lithosphere system. Spaceborne surface deformation measurements are the primary observations to constrain these complex interactions. Data acquisitions from multiple satellite SAR sensors (e.g., ERS, Envisat, ALOS‑1/2, Radarsat, TerrasAR‑X, Cosmo‑SkyMed, Sentinel‑1A/B) and airborne SAR (e.g., NASA UAVSAR) now allow us to image time‑variable deformation with fine spatial resolution over a range of different time scales. A postdoc is sought to relate the spatiotemporal variation of surface deformation from a comprehensive analysis of satellite and airborne interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) and GPS to infer the slip and mechanical variations of faults, earthquake and anthropogenic sources, landslide processes, and the mechanics and rheology of the lithosphere along the plate boundary zone in California. The candidate will combine improved spatiotemporal deformation maps derived from satellite and airborne InSAR and GPS time series with advanced numerical modeling techniques to better constrain fault slip/locking, source parameters of solid‑Earth dynamic events, local stress/strain changes due to tectonic and non‑tectonic perturbations, and to constrain models of lithosphere rheology with the ultimate goal of an improved understanding of lithospheric processes and earthquake‑cycle dynamics.

Location

Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena, California

Eligibility Requirements

• Degree: Doctoral Degree.
• Eligible applicants: 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 1) a valid EAD card and 2) I‑485 or I‑589 forms in pending status.
• Applicants from designated countries are not accepted unless they are Legal Permanent Residents (LPR) of the United States.

Contact

Questions about this opportunity? Please email [e-mail]
Point of Contact: Mikeala