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Maria Chinita

Photo of Maria Chinita

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive
M/S 233-304

Pasadena, CA 91109

Member of:

Aerosols And Clouds

Employed By

UCLA / JIFRESSE

Biography

I completed my Master’s degree with a project focused on the structure of sting-jet storms over the continental Portugal. During my Ph.D., I studied idealized strongly stable boundary layers using high-resolution large-eddy simulations, and I also developed a new method to decompose vertical turbulent fluxes based on a corresponding joint probability density function to help the development of improved parameterizations of the atmospheric boundary layer. Currently, I’m working on boundary layer processes from both weather and climate perspectives using modeling and remote sensing datasets.

Education

  • Ph.D., Meteorology, Faculty of Sciences of University of Lisbon, Portugal (2014-2018)
  • M.S., Geophysical Sciences, Faculty of Sciences of University of Lisbon, Portugal (2011-2013)
  • B.S., Geophysical Sciences, Faculty of Sciences of University of Lisbon, Portugal (2008-2011)

Professional Experience

  • Assistant Researcher, UCLA JIFRESSE, affiliated with and physically located at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena (June 2020 - present)
  • Postdoctoral scholar, UCLA JIFRESSE, affiliated with and physically located at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena (May 2019 - May 2020)
  • Gratis affiliation as research scientist, University of Connecticut – Department of Mechanical Engineering, Storrs, CT (2017-2018)
  • Participation in the JPL Visiting Student Researchers Program (JVSRP), Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA (2015-2018)
  • Research fellowship, IDL at Faculty of Sciences of University of Lisbon, Portugal (2012-2014)

Research Interests

  • Atmospheric stable and convective boundary layers
  • Turbulence in atmospheric flows
  • Climate dynamics

Selected Awards

  • Best Early-Career Scientist Poster at 3rd Decennial Workshop – Turbulence in Stably Stratified Planetary Boundary Layers, Delft (Netherlands), 2017

Selected Publications

  1. Witte M. K., A. Herrington, J. Teixeira, M. J. Kurowski, M. J. Chinita, R. L. Storer, K. Suselj, G. Matheou, and J. Bacmeister (2022): Augmenting the double-Gaussian representation of atmospheric turbulence and convection via a coupled stochastic multi-plume mass flux scheme. Mon. Wea. Rev. https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-21-0215.1
  2. Chinita, M. J., G. Matheou, P. Miranda, and J. Teixeira (2022): Large-eddy simulation of strongly stable boundary layers. Part I: Modeling methodology. Q J R Meteorol Soc, 1–19, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.4279
  3. Chinita, M. J., G. Matheou, P. Miranda, and J. Teixeira (2022): Large-eddy simulation of strongly stable boundary layers. Part II: Length scales and anisotropy in stratified atmospheric turbulence. Q J R Meteorol Soc, 1–16, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.4280
  4. Chinita, M. J., M. Richardson, J. Teixeira, and P. M. A. Miranda (2021): Global mean frequency increases of daily and sub-daily heavy precipitation in ERA5. Environ. Res. Lett., 16, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac0caa
  5. Couvreux, F., E. Bazile, Q. Rodier, B. Maronga, G. Matheou, M. J. Chinita, J. Edwards, B. Van Stratum, C. van Heerwaarden, J. Huang, A. F. Moene, A. Cheng, V. Fuka, S. Basu, E. Bou-Zeid, G. Canut, and E. Vignon (2020): Intercomparison of Large-Eddy Simulations of the Antarctic boundary layer for Very Stable Stratification.Boundary-Layer Meteorol., 176, 369–400, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-020-00539-4
  6. Chinita, M. J., G. Matheou, and J. Teixeira, (2018): A joint probability density-based decomposition of turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer. Mon. Wea. Rev., 146, 503-523, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-17-0166.1