Imaging Spectroscopy for Tropical Ecosystem & Biogeochemical Research

ORAU; Pasadena (CA); On-site; USD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

NASA is offering a Postdoctoral Program opportunity that invites research focused on advancing imaging spectroscopy retrievals, multi-sensor data integration, and biogeochemical scaling across tropical terrestrial ecosystems.

Fellows will work on Earth science problems aligning with NASA's Earth Science strategy, PAN-PANGEA field campaigns, and open-access data sharing across NASA centers and affiliated institutes.

Qualifications

• PhD in Earth science, remote sensing, or a related field.
• Experience with imaging spectroscopy and VSWIR data.
• Strong analytical and machine learning skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop imaging spectroscopy retrieval algorithms and methods.
• Integrate multi-mission datasets (satellite, airborne) for Earth surface investigations.
• Publish findings and present results to NASA and partner communities.

Job description

Organization

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Organization

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Reference Code

0345-NPP-NOV26-JPL-EarthSci

Application Deadline

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

Description

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.

The Earth’s terrestrial biosphere is a dynamic system where vegetation physiology, soil biogeochemistry, geomorphic evolution, and anthropogenic management intersect to drive global carbon, water, and nutrient cycles. Tropical forests in particular account for 40% of Earth's terrestrial biomass, yet they exhibit enormous structural, functional, and biogeochemical heterogeneity across landscape and cross-basin scales. Understanding these complex ecosystem dynamics requires measurements that go beyond traditional multi-spectral imaging. Imaging spectroscopy—capturing the full contiguous spectrum from the Visible to Shortwave Infrared (VSWIR, ~380-2510 nm)—provides the spectral fidelity necessary to quantify plant functional traits, crop stress, soil properties, and canopy stoichiometry across variable, complex terrain.

In alignment with NASA’s Earth Science strategy and the PAN tropical investigation of bioGeochemistry and Ecological Adaptation (PANGEA) scoping field campaign, this Postdoctoral Program opportunity invites research focused on advancing imaging spectroscopy retrievals, multi-sensor integration, critical zone biogeochemistry scaling, and geomorphic analysis across tropical and terrestrial ecosystems.

Research Focus

• Plant Functional Traits & Canopy Stoichiometry: Mapping canopy biochemistry (e.g., foliar N, P, Ca, Leaf Mass per Area [LMA], chlorophyll, non-photosynthetic vegetation, and N:P stoichiometric ratios) to understand ecosystem response to climate stressors, edaphic controls, and functional trait turnover.
• Geomorphic Gradients & Critical Zone Biogeochemistry: Investigating how landscape evolution as evaluated by hillslope morphology, erosional gradients, and geomorphic transience regulate rock-derived nutrient (P, Ca, Mg, K, and bedrock N) distributions across landscape to cross-basin scales.
• Agricultural & Agroecosystem Dynamics: Quantifying crop physiological status, nutrient use efficiency, water stress, and land cover/land use dynamics across tropical social-ecological systems to enhance food security models.
• Multi-Sensor Integration & Biogeochemical Scaling: Developing data-fusion algorithms that combine VSWIR spectroscopy with active radar/lidar, thermal, and atmospheric retrievals to scale plot- and tower-based flux measurements to pan-tropical scales, constraining uncertainties in Earth System Models (ESMs).
• Airborne Campaign Planning & Predictive Mapping: Conducting spatial scoping, observational gap analyses, predictive mapping of canopy chemistry, and flight-line optimization strategies to directly guide target site selection and campaign design for future PANGEA airborne deployments across tropical America and Africa.

Data and Methodology

The project will leverage NASA’s imaging spectroscopy archives, complementary multi-mission satellite and airborne platforms, and high-resolution digital topography. Candidates should have interest in using:

• VSWIR Imaging Spectroscopy: High-fidelity data spaceborne spectrometers such as EMIT on the ISS, PACE, and commercial platforms supported through the Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition program. Research should help pave the way for future global VSWIR missions such as NASA’s EAGLE-VSWIR and ESA’s CHIME. Airborne datasets whenever relevant including AVUELO and upcoming AVIRIS acquisitions in tropical regions.
• High-Resolution Topography & Active Sensors: Utilizing spaceborne and airborne lidar (GEDI, LVIS, small-footprint lidar) to extract fine-scale digital elevation models and calculate geomorphic parameters, alongside active SAR/radar platforms (NISAR, UAVSAR (AfriSAR-2), BIOMASS) for structural biomass and inundation profiling.
• Complementary Multi-Mission Datasets: Integrating spectroscopy retrievals with thermal/evapotranspiration metrics (ECOSTRESS), canopy SIF retrievals (OCO-2/3, TROPOMI), and surface hydrology stage measurements (SWOT) or inundation (NISAR).

Research methodologies may include advancing foliar trait retrieval algorithms, atmospheric correction over dense humid tropical canopies, machine learning and dimensionality reduction for handling big data, landscape evolution modeling, and data-model integration to advance science and derive actionable information from NASA Earth observations.

Field of Science

Earth Science

Advisors

Dana Chadwick

[e-mail]

[phone]

Questions about this opportunity?

Please email [e-mail]

Point of Contact

Mikeala

Eligibility Requirements

• Citizenship: LPR or U.S. Citizen
• Degree: Doctoral Degree.