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Geologist • Geology is the study of the solid earth, its rocks and minerals. Geologists are the 'field hands' of earth science: without ground-based observation to confirm or expand on space-based tools, we would have an incomplete or even inaccurate picture of our planet. Geologists understand how the dynamic forces which shape our earth work, and use this knowledge to predict their affect on mankind. Earthquakes, volcanoes and soil erosion affect all of us: even if the geological event occurs halfway around the world, we are all touched to a greater or lesser extent. Food grown in Nebraska depends on accurate soil sampling, land erosion monitoring and water drainage information all provided by earth scientists with a geological background. Fishermen who experience a 'drought' of fish look to geologists to explain silting, underwater seismic events or other phenomena in order to react appropriately. • More than just naming rocks and digging up fossilized bones, geologists tell us the story of the earth. That story goes back billions of years, and leaves its impression in the very ground we walk on. If that story is one you want to help tell, a career in geology and earth science is for you!
Meteorologist (Weather Man) • Perhaps the most direct way in which people benefit from earth science research is through daily weather prediction. Weather systems thousands of miles away have an effect on you right here at home. Earth science satellites provide up-to-the-minute information about weather patterns across the entire world, allowing meteorologists to forecast what's headed your way. More than just images of clouds, meteorologists compare temperature readings, winds, atmospheric pressure, precipitation patterns, and other variables to form an accurate picture of our climate. From past readings, meteorologists are able to draw conclusions and make predictions about how our climate will translate into local weather every day. They can also develop computer models that predict how climate and weather may vary in the future as a result of human activity. Meteorologists also carry out basic research to help us understand the way the atmosphere works, ranging from why hurricanes and tornadoes form when and where they do, to why the ozone hole formed over the Antarctic in the spring. They use satellites, aircraft, ships, and balloons to take the data needed to help understand, document, and predict weather and climate. • If understanding the atmosphere around you, helping to predict how it behaves - both today and in the future - sounds interesting to you, learn more about meteorology!
Atmospheric Scientist • Atmospheric science is the study of the physics and chemistry of gases, clouds, and aerosols that surround the planetary bodies of the solar system. Research in atmospheric science focuses upon such areas as: • Climatology. the study of long-term weather and temperature trends, • Dynamic meteorology. the study of the motions of the atmosphere, • Cloud Physics: the formation and evolution of clouds and precipitation, • Atmospheric chemistry: the study of atmospheric chemical reactions, • Oceanography: the study of the Earth's oceans and how they affect the atmosphere. • Some atmospheric scientists study the atmospheres of the planets in our solar system, while others study the Earth's atmosphere. Atmospheric scientists may work in the following areas: field research, laboratory studies and/or computer analysis and modeling. Good communication skills (oral and written) are necessary as atmospheric scientists attend conferences and workshops, where they share their results with other researchers. They write papers and technical reports detailing the results of their research, give progress reports, and disseminate information on satellite data. • The majority of atmospheric scientists in the United States work for the Federal Government. The largest number of civilian atmospheric scientists work for the National Weather Service and other branches of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as well as NASA, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Forest Service, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Energy. • Atmospheric scientists may also be found working for private weather services, television and radio stations, commercial airlines, state governments, colleges and universities, public utilities, consulting firms, and aircraft and instrument manufacturing companies. They often work in groups where their different skills and backgrounds can be combined to study specific scientific questions such as the effects of aircraft emissions on the atmosphere. These multidisciplinary teams usually include people in other related careers such as aerospace engineers, electronics engineers, computer and communications technicians, photographers, science writers, data systems analysts, astronauts, pilots, astronomers, physicists, geologists, oceanographers, and biologists.
Forest Ranger • America's forest land is managed largely by the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service. In addition to maintaining the man-made objects in the park, like roads and buildings, the Park Service's Forest Rangers oversee the safety of both man and beast in their care.Forest fires, drought and pollution cause a great deal of damage to America's forests each year. NASA's earth science provides valuable data to Forest Rangers, who in turn use this information to establish where it is safest for people to go in our National Parks. Balanced against this is the over-riding concern of conserving our natural resources so that future generations will still have them to see and appreciate. • Each year millions of Americans make use, indirectly, of earth science data through the work of Forest Rangers. If conserving our wilderness through better knowledge of our environment appeals to you, maybe you'll have 'Forest Ranger' on your resume someday!
Oceanographer/Marine Biologist • Oceanographers help us gain a better understanding of how our oceans, and living creatures in them, function as an ecosystem. Oceanography contains a wide range of jobs including engineers, marine biologists, and zoologists (people who study animals). People with skills in these and other areas are involved in oceanography because Earth has more oceans than land, and it is a huge task to understand how the oceans work. One of the better-known careers in oceanography is marine biology. While oceanographers study oceans as a whole, marine biologists focus on the living creatures in different types of water, not just huge oceans. They also study life in seas, bays, and other large bodies of water. Oceanographers may also be technicians who specialize in working on equipment used to study the oceans. Oceanography needs technicians who are able to work on boats, electronics, and specialty equipment to make sure that their experiments run smoothly. • Oceanographers also get to travel quite a bit to do research and experiments. Although some oceanographers write technical reports in a lab, others explore the oceans. If you enjoy the water, or marine animals then you should think about a career in oceanography.
Chemist • Chemistry is the study of the different elements which make up our world, and how they interact to form the world around us. Earth science relies heavily on chemistry. The study of chemistry provides us with the tools to answer questions such as "What are the Earth and atmosphere made of? How have they changed over the years? How is human activity changing their composition?"Mankind has changed his environment in many subtle ways; one of them is through the introduction of chemical compounds into the air and water which either would not have occurred naturally or would have been different without man's presence. Our ability to measure these compounds, many of which are present in very small amounts, relies on the developments of chemical techniques and our ability to apply them from the surface, balloons, aircraft, and satellites. • Examples of important Earth science problems whose study requires knowledge of chemistry include the formation of atmospheric aerosols from volcanic eruptions and industrial pollution, destruction of ozone from industrially produced molecules such as chloro-fluorocarbons, and global air pollution from fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning. • If you want to understand and explain how the elements affect each of us through the water we drink and the air we breathe, earth science needs you!
Engineer • An engineer is a person who is skilled at putting scientific knowledge to practical uses. The field of engineering is divided into different branches such as civil, electrical, mechanical, and chemical engineering. Anything that is built must first be planned out or "engineered." In the case of a complicated system, such as a spacecraft, many types of engineering must be performed. There are electrical, mechanical, and propulsion systems, that must be designed before the whole system can work. Due to this huge variety of skill, the engineering field is vast. There is something to interest almost everyone. • And with a background in engineering, you could be qualified for many other interesting jobs. For example, all of the NASA missions have ground controllers, project and program managers, data analysts, technical writers, etc. These jobs are not really engineering but you need some knowledge of engineering to perform them. • So if you want to know how and why things work, engineering is an ideal field to be in.
Computer Programmer • The Earth Science Enterprise, like all of NASA, relies heavily on computers for many of their operations. Computers aid in the design and building of spacecraft, as well as in their launching and tracking in orbit. Computers are used to capture the complex data Earth-observing satellites send back, and are used still more in analyzing that data to come up with useful results. All these various applications required dedicated programmers to keep them going. But there is even more: every Earth Scientist is part of a larger community of researchers. They share information over the Internet and via electronic mail -- systems designed specifically for their use by computer programmers who understood what they needed. And it's not just scientists; all earth science agencies need computer programmers to design applications to track their budgets, manage personnel records, schedule meetings and even publish scientific findings to the world. • The need for programmers, system administrators, designers and network architects is only going to increase. Our global community has ever more information it needs to collect, compile and share. That's where you come in: weather stations, volcano monitoring sites and satellite tracking stations all need specialized equipment and software, which can only be provided by trained professionals. • If you like the smell of Java in the morning, there is a career for you in earth science!
Internet Designer • It seems the whole world is on the Internet now! This is especially true of the Earth Science community. Just as NASA was one of the first groups to make extensive use of the possibilities of the Internet, so too was its Earth Science section an early publisher to the World Wide Web. Earth Science information is more easily understood and often more relevant than many other branches of science: people see their environment and are affected by it every day. Thus, a medium where millions of people have access to your research naturally appeals to the Earth Science community. There are thousands of Web Sites devoted to Earth Science issues, filled with millions of individual pages and images. Everything from local weather to plate tectonics has multiple Web Sites, each carefully maintained (or not so carefully!) by professional Internet Designers. The page you are reading now was developed by Earth Science Enterprise's Internet Engineering group, some of whose members are behind the table right now. They come from many different specialized backgrounds, but for putting this site (and many others) together share one important thing: they all believe it is very important to share Earth Science information with the public, and the Internet is the place to do it. • If you like designing World Wide Web pages, doing HTML coding or designing entire web sites with graphics, background images, drop-down menus and super-cool Javascripts, there is a place for you in Earth Science. Why, just type "ozone hole" into any Search Engine and see what comes back!
Graphic Designer • One of the most interesting parts of NASA's Earth Science division is the images of deep space that are taken by the Earth Science technology equipment. We're very proud of the images discovered and wish to share them with the world through all types of media such as video, Internet, and print. Graphic designers are able to display these images in amazing ways using computer software and personal talents. NASA graphic designers are some of the most creative people that you will ever meet. They have to be extremely creative because their job revolves around creativity. There are many steps that designers must take before an idea can come to life. The steps in the designing process include creating designs, page layouts, illustrations, and graphics with the aid of computer design tools and other graphic design software packages. Designers are also skilled in the use of graphics equipment such as reproduction cameras and copiers, laser printers, scanners, disk drives, and modems. • Creative people are always needed in a field where original designs are required on a daily basis. If you would like a job where you can be creative, and see you're designs come to life on the Internet, then you may want to study graphic designing.
Lawyer • Earth Science directly benefits each of us through the research conducted by NASA and other government agencies. But how does all this research happen? Who pays for it? Who gets to use it, and who makes sure it is fairly distributed and that those who did it are compensated? NASA operates under Federal statutes drafted and perfected by lawyers with an interest in, and extensive knowledge of Earth Science. These statutes enable NASA and agencies like the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to collect information from all over the country, and around the world. • Laws are also written concerning how people can interact with their environment most effectively. Laws serve not just to punish but to educate, and compliance with environmental legislation helps everyone in the long run. Lawyers with an Earth Science background can help companies stay within legal guidelines and to plan ahead. They can also help NASA, NOAA, USGS and other agencies coordinate efforts to better understand our planet. • Put your detail-oriented mind to the best use: become a lawyer whose heart and mind are working for the planet.
Writer • Earth Science is a large field, containing many topics. Magazines like National Geographic contain many articles that deal, at least partly, with Earth Science. Hundreds of writers focus on Earth Science topics such as erosion, forest fires, and rain forest destruction. Almost every major publication, from Time to the New York Times, runs regular features about the environment. Every month there are new stories about environmental problems, ranging from mudslides in California, to people whose lives have been affected by hurricanes and tornadoes. • Journalism is only one aspect of writing which can involve Earth Science. Without informed research, Congressmen and Agency heads (like NASA's Administrator) could not make educated decisions about how government should react to environmental issues. That research is changed from raw science into informative articles by professional writers. There are hundreds of articles written every year by the scientific community which must be edited, and those editors are all professional writers. • So dust off your keyboard or sharpen your pencils, because Earth Science has room in it for writers like you!
Politician/Lobbyist • The environment is an important political issue. Year after year one or more environmental questions come up in virtually every election campaign. Earth scientists know a lot about how the planet's complicated systems work, and how we humans are affecting the planet, but they can't take steps to clean the air or protect against hurricanes -- only politicians and lobbyists who inform politicians can do that. Every good law that gets written to revise building codes, to withstand earthquakes, or stand up to tornadoes is the result of hard work by men and women in politics making use of Earth Science information. Every time people are successfully evacuated from hurricane paths and lives are saved by government-sponsored rescue teams, it can be traced back to forward-thinking and aware politicians or the people they appoint. • Disaster relief committees, groups prepared for emergency's, and other community-sponsored programs need people knowledgeable about Earth Science to help plan how best to react to environmental threats. Similarly, government agencies that protect endangered species, keep drinking water clean, and crops healthy rely on educated activists and consultants, who are well versed in Earth Science areas. • Politics is about bettering our community and our country; why not put an Earth Science background to use for us all!
