Effect of Wildfires on the Ocean Biogeochemistry

Organization

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

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.

Droughts and wildfires have become more frequent in recent decades, leading to loss of habitats in terrestrial ecosystems and the emission of substantial amounts of atmospheric aerosols. Aerosol emissions from wildfires can lead to the atmospheric transport of macronutrients and bio-essential trace metals such as nitrogen and iron, which are later deposited over the ocean, potentially fertilizing marine planktonic ecosystems. For example, the 2019‑2020 Australian wildfires triggered widespread phytoplankton blooms, evidenced in chlorophyll data obtained from satellite remote sensing and in situ profiling (BGC‑Argo) floats ( The NASA Ocean Biogeochemical Model (NOBM) has recently been coupled to the S2S‑V3 system used for seasonal climatological forecasting within the GEOS models developed by the Global Modeling Assimilation Office (GMAO). S2S‑V3 is informed by changes in atmospheric aerosols from wildfires, but the potential deposition of dust over the ocean and its impact on nutrients is not yet parameterized within the NOBM. This project seeks to explore ways to include this parameterization and improve the representation of ocean productivity and biogeochemical cycling within GEOS.

Field of Science

Earth Science

Advisors

Cecile Rousseaux

(443) 739‑0093

Eligibility Requirements

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