Research Scientist
UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Laboratory | Posted Jul 30, 2025
Deadline: Aug 15, 2025
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- Experience Level:
- 0-5 Years
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Located at Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada, the Central Sierra Snow Laboratory (CSSL) is an off-campus research and teaching field station of UC Berkeley specializing in snow physics, snow hydrology, meteorology, climatology, and instrument design. It is in Soda Springs, about 25km northwest of Lake Tahoe and is one of the best instrumented hydrometeorological study sites in the world with consistent observations of a wide range of atmospheric and snowpack variables. It has a wide range of collaborators, including the California Department of Water Resources, National Weather Service, Sandia National Labs, and a broad range of universities. Research projects at the lab have included climatological analysis of trends in hydrometeorological variables, development of new instrumentation technologies for the measurement of snow water equivalent, rain-on-snow forecasting and decision making, and investigation of wildfire burn scar effects on snowpack. The lab is also one of the foremost media resources for snow and water information with international, national, and local media agencies regularly using the lab as a source.
The position focuses on evaluating snowpack mass and energy balance in response to precipitation enhancement activities in the Sierra Nevada, using models such as WRF-Hydro and iSnobal. In addition, the scientist will assist with installation and maintenance of atmospheric composition and particle measurement instruments at the lab and support occasional hydrometeorological field measurements.