Dr. Annika Jersild (she/her)

Oceanographer
Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (610.1)

What inspired you to pursue a career in oceanography and Earth science?

I've always been passionate about the environment and Earth science, but it took me a while to realize I could create an entire career in the field. In my undergraduate, I started as a math major and explored a variety of applied math options. My sophomore year, I landed a summer internship at NASA Langley and got my first real exposure to atmospheric science research, and I was deeply intrigued. That being said, I was always a little tempted by the (cough, salaries of the) data analyst side of the industry, and my first year out of undergrad, got a job as a data analyst at FDIC. I really love taking big, unwieldly datasets and creating a story from them, but I was not passionate about banking. I realized, for me to be happy, I really needed to care about what I was working on. I started to apply to graduate schools that same year. I knew the tools I wanted to continue to use—my interest in data, statistics, and the quantitative side of science—and I knew I wanted to contribute to research, education, and understanding of the dynamics of the earth system. I'm still extremely grateful I've managed to pursue a career combining those interests.

Tell us about the research projects you are currently working on.

I'm currently researching several projects that are all working on quantifying uncertainty in oceanographic variables and understanding the impact of observations in ocean predictions. One of my research projects focuses on constraining uncertainty in machine learning estimations of ocean surface carbon and the air-sea carbon flux. Understanding and constraining the global carbon cycle is of considerable importance for improving our predictions of the future, and this research aims to contribute to that effort.

I'm also working on quantifying the impact of varying observational systems on our predictions for El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which is a critical Earth system phenomenon that impacts both local and global society, farming, economy, and climate. The goal of my research is to improve our ability to isolate the highest-impact regions for targeted observations, quantify the impacts of existing observational systems on our prediction capability, and apply this information to increasing our understanding of the drivers and dynamics of the tropical Pacific oceanographic system.

What do you enjoy the most about your job?

I've already mentioned that I love taking huge, unwieldly data sets and uncovering stories and information that people can use to understand the information. But more than that, I love the side of research that involves asking a difficult question and then sharing the answer with the public. The process of doing the research I of course enjoy, especially the planning stages when you're coming up with questions and methods to explore them where nobody really knows the answers—but I really love sharing it once it's completed. It's a special kind of challenge to dive deeply into a complex specialization, understand all the little parts, and then package it in a way that the community can interpret and use the results, and I really enjoy that challenge.

Presenting research for the “Machine Learning and Data Analysis in Oceanography” session at the International Liège Colloquium on Ocean Dynamics.
Credit: Jacqueline Behncke.

What is one thing you wish everyone knew about your particular field of science?

The general public often misunderstands the impacts of statistics. For scientific purposes, it's critically important to calculate the uncertainty for things. These values can be applied to optimization of observations and model development, identifying where to focus in order to reduce uncertainty in predictions, and understanding sources of variation in estimates. But when we talk about statistics to the public, people hear the word “uncertain” and leave it at that. Scientists don't put 100% certainty on almost anything, but we're still able to accomplish amazing technological feats within that range of uncertainty. I think one of the issues we're facing nationally with science is struggling to balance the technical accuracy of presenting scientific results with needing to encourage action and make results understandable—and actionable—for society as a whole. I don't have an easy answer, as I struggle with it myself, but it would make my job a lot easier if we had an easy solution for that!

What skills are most useful to you in your work, and where did you develop those skills?

One of the most applicable skills has been coding. I first started to develop this in undergrad, in both my applied math and my computer science courses. Coding and data analysis is so important for working with these large environmental datasets, especially somewhere like NASA where you get huge amounts of satellite data you have to be able to understand and pull out research conclusions from. But it can help you in most fields, STEM and otherwise—any field where you want to analyze data. It's an incredibly useful skill to develop early on, even before you decide on a career focus, because you can apply it in so many different ways. There are free online courses through Code Academy or Coursera that are a great resource for developing that skill.

A second skill in the sciences that I think is often overlooked is networking, communication, and developing friendships with colleagues. A key part of being a research scientist is coming up with new projects and getting involved on funded grants. While you as a scientist want to come up with interesting proposals yourself, it's essential to collaborate with others with varying skillsets, and likewise to have contacts who think of you when they're coming up with proposals where they need someone of your skill set. Having strong relationships in the field helps your own research have a larger impact, and helps you keep your mind broad and your creativity going as you continue to dive into new projects. Increased communication skills additionally help with sharing your research and making it more understandable to a broader audience.

I know, society-wise, those two skills are usually viewed as opposites, but I really dislike that stereotype, and if I were talking to an intern or student about what has gotten me the furthest in my career, it was consciously developing both those skills.

Annika (center) with colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Mariana Salinas (left) and Jacqueline Behncke (right), at the Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study (SOLAS) Summer School in Mindelo, Cape Verde.
Credit: SOLAS attendees.

If you were to expand your current research focus, what new topics would you explore?

My childhood home in Norfolk, Virginia now keeps a printout on the fridge of high tide times each day that week so that we know which streets to avoid due to flooding. I would love to do a project someday that works on sea level rise research, through reducing uncertainty in the predictions and assisting in mitigation and planning for affected communities. And if I were to go back and get another PhD, I also think it'd be really interesting to study epidemiology and modeling disease spread!

Tell us about a unique or interesting component of your work-life balance.

I write fiction novels. Nothing is published (yet!) but I love to incorporate science and add a little magic to the current laws of physics to create interesting worlds and explore overcoming challenges, and most nights after work you can find me curled up on our couch with my dog, writing. I also really love travel, and in order to maintain it, I do my best to incorporate travel into my work life as well. I'm always jumping at the chances to take part in summer schools, conferences, and in-person meetings in new places. On the work side, I think this helps a lot with networking, developing collaboration with colleagues, and research opportunities, and for my personal side, I love to combine a work trip with a long weekend of exploring a new place. I purposefully chose to apply to a postdoc in a country and city I'd never been to before and I loved every minute of it. It helped both sides of my life—personally, it placed me and my husband outside of our comfort zones, gave us the opportunity to truly explore a new culture and new side of the world, and was an amazing adventure. Work-wise, I learned incredible new skills (hello, machine learning!), established excellent new collaborations, and developed some really important research that led me to my job here at NASA.

Taking a day excursion to Chamonix, France while attending and presenting at the World Monitoring Organization (WMO)'s Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Symposium in Geneva, Switzerland.
Credit: Stephen Cosgrove.