Postdoctoral Scholar – AI-Driven Ocean Remote Sensing and Polar Air-Sea Interaction Research

[Lia Siegelman]

Dear all, 

We have an open postdoc position - see below.

Please do not hesitate to widely share the ad! 

Thanks a lot. 

Best, 

Lia and Luc

Postdoctoral Scholar – AI-Driven Ocean Remote Sensing and Polar Air-Sea Interaction Research

Position: Full-Time (2 years)
Salary: Negotiable, commensurate with qualifications and experience 
Start Date: Spring 2027
Application Deadline: October 1, 2026

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (University of California San Diego) invites applications for a two-year Postdoctoral Scholar position to advance GOFLOW at high latitudes (e.g., Greenland Current System and Labrador Sea). GOFLOW is a cutting-edge machine learning framework that reconstructs high-resolution ocean surface velocity fields from geostationary satellite imagery.

A longstanding challenge in Earth system science is obtaining coincident, collocated, high-resolution observations of the coupled ocean and atmosphere. GOFLOW addresses this challenge by leveraging continuous satellite observations with state-of-the-art machine learning techniques to infer ocean surface currents from basin scales down to the submesoscale at sub-hourly temporal resolution.

The successful candidate will join an interdisciplinary team led by Lia Siegelman and Luc Lenain (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego), working closely with the broader GOFLOW team including researchers at UCLA and URI. The position is supported by the Office of Naval Research.

The primary scientific focus of this project is the application and further development of a polar GOFLOW to investigate coupled ocean-ice-atmosphere interactions at high latitudes. The postdoctoral scholar will develop new machine learning methodologies and analyze large satellite and observational datasets to study the coupled dynamics of ocean currents, sea ice, and the atmosphere across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales.

Qualifications

Applicants should have:

• A Ph.D. in machine learning, data science, physical oceanography, atmospheric science, applied mathematics, computer science, or a closely related field, completed before the appointment start date.
• Strong programming skills in Python or a related scientific programming language.
• Experience working with large geophysical datasets and/or machine learning methods is highly desirable.
• A demonstrated record of scientific writing and publication in peer-reviewed journals.
• The ability to work both independently and collaboratively within a multidisciplinary research team.

Application Instructions

Please submit the following materials:

• Curriculum vitae
• Statement of research interests and relevant experience
• Contact information for three references

Applications and inquiries should be sent to:

• Lia Siegelman – lsieg...@ucsd.edu
• Luc Lenain – lle...@ucsd.edu

For full consideration, applications should be received by October 1, 2026.

About UC San Diego

The University of California San Diego is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to protected characteristics in accordance with applicable federal and state law. We are committed to fostering an inclusive and collaborative research environment.