What it pays
Government survey numbers — not estimates, not ads.
Half of all Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health in the U.S. earn more than $82,220 a year — the middle 80% land between $52,520 and $140,010. About 89,250 people in the U.S. do this work. Figures are for the U.S. occupation group “Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health”. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics survey, published 2025.) In India, Professionals earn about ₹38,298 a month on average — around ₹4.6 lakh a year (government PLFS survey via ILOSTAT, occupation-family figure).
$82,220typical pay / year
89,250people in this work
$140,010+top 10% earn
₹4.6 lakha year in India (family avg)
Think you get this job?Six quick questions on how it really works — with a hint and the reason behind every answer.
Test yourself →The work, task by task
These are the real jobs-to-be-done, not a wish list. Each task shows where we found it, and the prompt underneath is written for that exact task.
Analysing1
Analyze climate policy data
+Merge policy scenarios with regional exposure layers, calculate portfolio-level financial risk under median…
Analyze climate policy data
+Merge policy scenarios with regional exposure layers, calculate portfolio-level financial risk under median and tail climate outcomes, and produce an executive summary showing expected losses and recommendations to limit insurer exposure.
The tools that do the workThe MathWorks MATLABjob descriptionsO*NET
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
The daily work19
Conduct research on climate processes
+Compile a dossier summarising recent peer-reviewed findings on stratospheric aerosol trends, key mechanisms…
Conduct research on climate processes
+Compile a dossier summarising recent peer-reviewed findings on stratospheric aerosol trends, key mechanisms driving regional precipitation shifts, and quantifiable uncertainty ranges for sea-level rise projections, citing sources and noting data gaps by next Wednesday.
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
Monitor policy implementation
+Track progress of the national flood resilience policy across the ten insured regions, flag missed milestones…
Monitor policy implementation
+Track progress of the national flood resilience policy across the ten insured regions, flag missed milestones and regulatory gaps, compile a weekly dashboard with one-page notes for Sophie in Government Affairs and send it every Friday morning.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft Wordjob descriptions
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
Analyse historic weather conditions
+Produce a 30-year summary of temperature and precipitation at the five coastal stations, calculate monthly…
Analyse historic weather conditions
+Produce a 30-year summary of temperature and precipitation at the five coastal stations, calculate monthly anomalies and return period estimates, annotate unusual years and deliver a clean CSV and a two-page briefing for the underwriting team by Wednesday.
The tools that do the workPythonMicrosoft WordESCO
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
Apply statistical analysis techniques
+Run a robust trend and variability analysis on the regional rainfall series using bootstrapped confidence…
Apply statistical analysis techniques
+Run a robust trend and variability analysis on the regional rainfall series using bootstrapped confidence intervals, test for change points, export the results and charts, and prepare short methods notes for peer review by Friday.
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
Advise on weather-related issues
+Draft clear adviser notes on the upcoming storm season risks for the coastal operations team, summarise…
Advise on weather-related issues
+Draft clear adviser notes on the upcoming storm season risks for the coastal operations team, summarise probable impacts, recommend three mitigation actions and a communications line for customers, then send to Maria in Operations by Tuesday afternoon.
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
Use measurement instruments
+Check the tide gauge and rain gauge instruments at the Hastings site, record calibration offsets, log sensor…
Use measurement instruments
+Check the tide gauge and rain gauge instruments at the Hastings site, record calibration offsets, log sensor drift over the past six months, note any outages, and prepare a maintenance request for field services by end of day Friday.
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
Scientific research methodology
+Design the protocol for a two-year coastal erosion study: define sampling frequency, statistical power for…
Scientific research methodology
+Design the protocol for a two-year coastal erosion study: define sampling frequency, statistical power for detecting a 10 percent shoreline change, data QA steps, and a timeline and budget to share with the research director next Monday.
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
Conduct environmental impact assessments
+Run the environmental impact assessment for the coastal development at Port Everton: assemble recent…
Conduct environmental impact assessments
+Run the environmental impact assessment for the coastal development at Port Everton: assemble recent temperature and precipitation observations, downscale the regional climate projections for 2030–2050, calculate exposure and vulnerability metrics, then draft the findings and uncertainties for the planning team.
The tools that do the workESRI ArcGISPythonjob descriptionsO*NET
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
Prepare policy briefs
+Draft a two-page policy brief for the Ministry of Infrastructure summarising projected heatwave frequency in…
Prepare policy briefs
+Draft a two-page policy brief for the Ministry of Infrastructure summarising projected heatwave frequency in the city, the estimated public health impacts under the medium emissions scenario, and three clear policy actions with cost–benefit notes for the minister’s meeting next Tuesday.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft WordMicrosoft ExcelESCOjob descriptions
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
Evaluate climate initiatives
+Assess the national tree-planting initiative: compile monitoring data from the pilot sites, compare observed…
Evaluate climate initiatives
+Assess the national tree-planting initiative: compile monitoring data from the pilot sites, compare observed survival rates to the project targets, run statistical significance tests on carbon uptake estimates, and produce a short verdict on whether to scale, modify, or halt the program.
The tools that do the workSASESRI ArcGISESCOjob descriptions
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
Present and defend proposals for climate change research projects.
+Prepare the research proposal presentation for the climate extremes project: create slides that state the…
Present and defend proposals for climate change research projects.
+Prepare the research proposal presentation for the climate extremes project: create slides that state the research questions, methods for extreme-event attribution, sample size and data sources, budget summary, and anticipated policy impacts so I can present and defend it at the funding panel on Thursday.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft PowerPointThe MathWorks MATLABO*NET
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
Prepare grant applications to obtain funding for programs related to climate change, environmental management, or sustainability.
+Assemble the grant application for the climate resilience program: write the project summary, justify the…
Prepare grant applications to obtain funding for programs related to climate change, environmental management, or sustainability.
+Assemble the grant application for the climate resilience program: write the project summary, justify the methodology with past monitoring results, include a detailed budget and timeline, and attach letters of support so the submission is ready two days before the funder deadline.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft WordMicrosoft ExcelO*NET
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
Collaborate with stakeholders
+Coordinate the stakeholder workshop on flood risk: draft the agenda, compile the technical briefs and maps to…
Collaborate with stakeholders
+Coordinate the stakeholder workshop on flood risk: draft the agenda, compile the technical briefs and maps to share, invite the municipal flood lead, two community reps, and the insurer, and prepare a one‑page outcomes tracker to capture agreements and next steps.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft OfficeESRI ArcGISjob descriptions
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
Scientific modelling
+Run the regional climate model with the latest sea surface and greenhouse gas inputs, produce a 30-year…
Scientific modelling
+Run the regional climate model with the latest sea surface and greenhouse gas inputs, produce a 30-year ensemble of temperature and precipitation projections for the catchment, check ensemble spread and save the vetted output datasets.
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
Carry out meteorological research
+Design and execute a field study to test summer convective patterns: compile station siting, instrument list,…
Carry out meteorological research
+Design and execute a field study to test summer convective patterns: compile station siting, instrument list, two-week sampling schedule, and data quality checks, then summarise methods and expected uncertainty for the team.
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
Collect weather-related data
+Pull hourly surface observations and radar-derived precipitation for the last five years over the watershed,…
Collect weather-related data
+Pull hourly surface observations and radar-derived precipitation for the last five years over the watershed, clean missing and suspect values, merge into a single time series and produce a provenance log for each sensor.
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
Perform scientific research
+Test the hypothesis that extreme rainfall frequency has increased: prepare the dataset, apply extreme value…
Perform scientific research
+Test the hypothesis that extreme rainfall frequency has increased: prepare the dataset, apply extreme value fitting on seasonal maxima, run bootstrap uncertainty, and deliver a methods note with diagnostics and code references.
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
Apply scientific methods
+Formalise the experiment: state hypotheses, specify observational and modelling steps, set acceptance…
Apply scientific methods
+Formalise the experiment: state hypotheses, specify observational and modelling steps, set acceptance criteria for data quality and model skill, and prepare the protocol so reviewers can replicate the study.
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
Execute analytical mathematical calculations
+Compute gridded heat index and extreme degree-day metrics for the past decade, vectorise results by…
Execute analytical mathematical calculations
+Compute gridded heat index and extreme degree-day metrics for the past decade, vectorise results by administrative unit, run sanity checks against station observations and export the validated summary tables.
Pasted it? Good. When the reply comes back, push once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part. — Did this prompt help?
Says who?
These are the pages we read to build this. Open any of them and check us.
The logs, files & records this job keeps
Shared with other careers — the same record means something different in each.
Related careers
Same family of work — each with its own tasks and prompts.
The LLOS Work Atlas is the world's largest evidenced task library — a map of human work, with a ready prompt behind every task. 1,774 careers · every task named by the sources that witnessed it — O*NET, ESCO, real job descriptions, Wikipedia — and the deepest tasks by several at once. And it is honest about limits: where AI cannot help, the map says so.
The rest of the map
Same library, five ways in.
Copyright © LLOS.ai · 2026 — original pedagogy, voice, and design — all rights reserved.
Built on public evidence: O*NET®, ESCO, Wikipedia, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ILOSTAT. All sources & licenses
Built on public evidence: O*NET®, ESCO, Wikipedia, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ILOSTAT. All sources & licenses