I haven't done it myself but know a few people who did. They were all on the academic track and just made it happen and supporting their respective labs as postdocs. With an allowing or aligned professor I think it's very relistic in academia. From there you might find overlapping industry opportunities down the line. And I guess you have to be OK with pushing the envelope yourself.

I don't think it's at all as rare as I see other commenters say. I don't know earth sciences specifically but I'd be surprised if there is a STEM field where a strong SWE expertise isn't an asset you can put to regular use in research.