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My research interests include improving our understanding of clouds and precipitation from satellite, aircraft, and ground-based observational
platforms, as well as using numerical models to understand the wide range of dynamics and microphysical processes
associated with precipitating cloud systems. I also study the interactions of precipitation systems with topography, the land surface, the oceans, weather systems in which they are contained, and the climate system as a whole. To study precipitation processes, I use and validate precipitation retrievals from radar and passive microwave sensors from a diverse set of satellite, aircraft, and ground based platforms (including ground-based scanning dual-polarization Doppler radars), as well as use data from in situ precipitation sensors such as rain gauges, disdrometers, and aircraft probes. I use numerical models, such as the NCEP/NCAR Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, to both improve the representation of cloud microphysical processes in models using observations. I also use these models and reanalysis products understand the environments of precipitation systems as well as the dynamical interactions between precipitation and other components of the earth system.
My research projects have ranged from studying precipitation from the Tropics through Mid- and High-latitudes, including studies of tropical cloud systems and mesoscale convective systems, tropical cyclones, warm season orographic precipitation, mid-latitude convective systems, and high-latitude cyclones. I have participated in the planning, execution, and analysis of field campaigns in 15 projects spanning four continents. I enjoy teaching meteorology, remote sensing, and measurements courses, with an emphasis on melding theory and observations and application of computational methods. I am actively engauged in service to professional societies, including editing the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology and serving on the American Meteorological Society's Science and Technical Advisory Committee on Radar Meteorology.
Professional Experience
- 2006 – present, Assistant Professor, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- 2005 – 2006, Research Scientist II, Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University
- 2003 – 2005, Research Scientist I, Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University
Honors
- 2011, NASA Group Achievement Award for the 2010 Genesis and Rapid Intensification Project (GRIP)
- 2008, NASA New Investigator Program in Earth System Science Award
- 2006 and 2011, Editors’ Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres, American Geophysical Union
- 2001 – 2003, NASA Earth System Science Fellowship
- 2002, Excellence in Graduate Research Award, University of Utah
- 1997, Highly Meritorious Meteorology Senior Award, State University of New York College at Oswego
- Spring 2007, Fall 2007, Fall 2009, Rated on the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students, University of Illinois
Synergistic Activities
- Editor, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology
- Co-Chair: American Meteorological Society's 35th Conference on Radar Meteorology, Pittsburgh, PA, 26-30 September 2011
- Member, American Meteorological Society Science and Technology Advisory Committee on Radar Meteorology (2007-2014)
- Member, WMO International Precipitation Working Group’s Validation Working Group (2010-present)
- Member, American Meteorological Society, American Geophysical Union, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
- Faculty Advisor of the University of Illinois Student Chapter of the American Meteorological Society
- Member, University of Illinois, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Policy and Development Committee
- Participant, University of Illinois, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Reflective Teaching Seminar, 2010-2011 academic year
- Reviewer for journals and agencies including
Atmosphera, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Atmospheric Research, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Cambridge Press, Geography Compass, Geophysical Research Letters, International Journal of Climatology, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, Journal of Climate, Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres, Journal of Hydrometeorlogy, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan, Monthly Weather Review, National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Weather and Forecasting.
Publications
1. Nesbitt, S. W., R. Zhang, and R. E. Orville, 2000: Seasonal and global NOx production by lightning estimated from the Optical Transient Detector (OTD). Tellus, 52, 1206-1215.
2. Nesbitt, S. W., E. J. Zipser, and D. J. Cecil, 2000: A census of precipitation features in the Tropics using TRMM: Radar, ice scattering, and lightning observations. J. Climate, 13, 4087-4106.
3. Cecil, D. J., E. J. Zipser, and S. W. Nesbitt, 2002: Reflectivity, ice scattering, and lightning characteristics of hurricane eyewalls and rainbands. Part I: Quantitative description. Mon. Wea. Rev., 130, 769-784.
4. Toracinta E. R., D. J. Cecil, E. J. Zipser, and S. W. Nesbitt, 2002: Radar, passive microwave, and lightning characteristics of precipitating systems in the Tropics. Mon. Wea. Rev., 130, 802-824.
5. Petersen, W. A., S. W. Nesbitt, R. J. Blakeslee, R. Cifelli, P. Hein and S. A. Rutledge, 2002: TRMM observations of convective regimes in the Amazon. J. Climate, 15, 1278-1294.
6. Nesbitt, S. W., and E. J. Zipser, 2003: The diurnal cycle of rainfall and convective intensity according to three years of TRMM measurements. J. Climate, 16, 1456-1475.
7. Barros, A. P., G. Kim, E. Williams, and S. W. Nesbitt, 2004: Probing orographic controls in the Himalayas during the monsoon using satellite imagery. Nat. Haz. and Earth Sys. Sci., 4, 1-23.
8. Nesbitt, S. W., E. J. Zipser, and C. D. Kummerow, 2004: An examination of version 5 rainfall estimates from the TRMM microwave imager, precipitation radar, and rain gauges on global, regional and storm scales. J. Appl. Meteor., 43, 1016-1036.
9. Cecil, D. J., S. J. Goodman, D. J. Boccippio, E. J. Zipser, and S. W. Nesbitt, 2005: Three years of TRMM precipitation features. Part I: Radar, radiometric, and lightning characteristics. Mon. Wea. Rev., 133, 543-566.
10. Higgins, W., D. Ahijevych, J. Amador, A. Barros, E. H. Berbery, E. Caetano, P. Ciesielski, R. Cifelli, M. Cortez-Vazquez, A. Douglas, M. Douglas, G. Emmanuel, C. Fairall, D. Gochis, D. Gutzler, R. Johnson, C. King, T. Lang, M.-I. Lee, D. Lettenmaier, R. Lobato, V. Magaña, J. Meitin, K. Mo, S. Nesbitt, E. Pytlak, P. Rogers, S. Rutledge, J. Schemm, S. Schubert, F. Torres, A. White, C. Williams, A. Wood, R. Zamora, C. Zhang, 2006: The North American Monsoon Experiment (NAME) field campaign and modeling strategy. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 87, 79-94.
11. Matrosov, S., R. Cifelli, P. C. Kennedy, S. W. Nesbitt, V. N. Bringi. B. E. Martner, 2006: A comparative study of rainfall retrievals based on specific differential phase shifts at X- and S-band radar frequencies. J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 23, 952-963.
12. Zipser, E. J., D. J. Cecil, C. Liu, S. W. Nesbitt, and D. P. Yorty, 2006, Where are the most intense thunderstorms on earth? Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 87, 1057-1071.
13. Nesbitt, S. W., R. Cifelli, and S. A. Rutledge, 2006: Storm morphology and rainfall characteristics of TRMM precipitation features. Mon. Wea. Rev., 134, 2702-2721.
14. Liu, C., E. J. Zipser, and S. W. Nesbitt, 2007: Global distribution of tropical deep convection: Different perspectives using infrared and radar as the primary data source. J. Climate, 20, 489-503.
15. Lang, T. J., D. Ahijevych, S. W. Nesbitt, R. Carbone, and S. A. Rutledge: 2007: Radar-observed characteristics of precipitating systems during NAME 2004. J. Climate, 20, 1713-1733.
16. Cifelli, R., S. W. Nesbitt, and S. A. Rutledge, W. A. Petersen, and S. E. Yuter, 2007: Radar characteristics of precipitation features in the EPIC and TEPPS regions of the East Pacific. Mon. Wea. Rev., 135, 1576-1595.
17. Liberman, R. S., D. M. Riggin, D. A. Ortland, S. W. Nesbitt, and R. A Vincent, 2007: Variability of mesospheric diurnal tides and tropospheric diurnal heating during 1997-1998. J. Geophys. Res., 112, D20110, doi:10.1029/2007JD008578.
18. Liu, C., E. J. Zipser, D. J. Cecil, S. W. Nesbitt, and S. Sherwood, 2008: A cloud and precipitation feature database from nine years of TRMM observations. J. Appl. Meteor. Clim., 47, 2712-2728.
19. Cifelli, R., S. W. Nesbitt, and S. A. Rutledge, W. A. Petersen, and S. E. Yuter, 2008: Diurnal characteristics of precipitation features over the East Pacific: A comparison of the EPIC and TEPPS regions. Mon. Wea. Rev., 21, 4068-4086.
20. Lyon, S. W., F. Domingues, D. J. Gochis, N. A. Brunsell, C. L. Castro, F. K. Chow, D. Fuka, Y. Hong, P. Kucera, S. W. Nesbitt, Y. Fan, N. Salzmann, J. Schmidli, P. K. Snyder, A. J. Teuling, T. E. Twine, S. Levis, J. D. Lundquist, G. D. Salvucci, A. M. Sealy, M. T. Walter, 2007: Coupling terrestrial and atmospheric water dynamics to improve prediction in a changing environment. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 89, 1275-1279.
21. Nesbitt, S. W., D. J. Gochis, and T. J. Lang, 2008: The diurnal cycle of clouds and precipitation along the Sierra Madre Occidental during the North American Monsoon Experiment: Implications for precipitation estimation in complex terrain. J. Hydromet., 9, 728-743.
22. Gochis, D. J., S. W. Nesbitt, W. Yu, and S. Williams, 2009: Comparison of gauge-corrected versus non-gauge corrected satellite-based quantitative precipitation estimates during the 2004 NAME Enhanced Observing period. Atmosphera, 22, 69-98.
23. Peters, O., J. D. Neelin, and S. W. Nesbitt, 2009: Mesoscale convective systems and critical clusters. J. Atmos. Sci, 66, 2913-2924.
24. Lang, T. J., S. W. Nesbitt, and L. D. Carey, 2009: On the correction of partial beam blockage in polarimetric radar data. J. Atmos. Ocean Tech., 26, 943-957.
25. Nesbitt, S. W., and A. M. Anders, 2009: Very high resolution precipitation climatologies from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Precipitation Radar. Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L15815, doi:10.1029/2009GL038026.
26. Molthan, A., W. A. Petersen, S. W. Nesbitt, and D. Hudak, 2010: Evaluating the snow crystal size distribution and density assumptions within a single-moment microphysics scheme. Mon. Wea. Rev., 138, 4254-4267.
27. Rickenbach, T. M., R. Nieto-Ferreira, R. P. Barnhill, and S. W. Nesbitt, 2011: Regional contrast of mesoscale convective system structure prior to and during monsoon onset across South America. J. Climate, 24, 3753-3763.
28. Harnos, D. J., and S. W. Nesbitt, 2011: Convective structure in rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones as depicted by passive microwave measurements. Geophys. Res. Lett. 38, L07805, doi:10.1029/2011GL047010.
29. Schiffer, N. J., and S. W. Nesbitt, 2011: Moisture sources and precipitation associated with Gulf of California surges. J. Climate, in review.
30. McFarquhar, G. M., B. Jewett, M. A. Gilmore, S. W. Nesbitt, and T.-L. Hseih, 2011: Vertical velocity and microphysical distributions related to the rapid intensification of Hurricane Dennis (2005). J. Atmos. Sci., submitted.
31. Rickenbach, T. M., R. Nieto-Ferreira, R. P. Barnhill, and S. W. Nesbitt, 2011: Seasonal and regional differences in the
rainfall and intensity of isolated convection over South America. J. Climate, submitted.
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