Researcher of the Month

Dr. Steve Nesbitt

Dr. Steve Nesbitt, assistant professor in Atmospheric Sciences, has just moved to the University of Illinois as part of the recently completed CWACES hiring initiative. His educational route to Champaign-Urbana has taken him around the United States, from his native New York State, to Texas, Utah, and Colorado. Dr. Nesbitt’s interest in weather began early in his life watching the lake-effect snow in western New York State, and the interactions between the atmosphere and the Great Lakes. With a desire for a career in weather forecasting, he attended the State University of New York at Oswego. While at Oswego, he became interested in research, and wanted to better understand cold season precipitation. However, in moving to Texas A & M University for his Master’s, he was introduced to tropical precipitation through the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), a NASA sponsored project. His work with TRMM involved working with the satellite data as well as field projects to validate rainfall measurements provided by TRMM. This involved gaining a better understanding of the cloud microphysics in tropical cloud systems through the examination of passive microwave and radar estimates of precipitation, lightning data, as well as rainfall data from precipitation gauges. After completing his Master’s, Dr. Nesbitt followed his advisor to the University of Utah, to continue his research on tropical meteorology for his doctorate. He worked on a NSF and NASA sponsored project in 2001 to examining the role of the Nepal Himalaya in enhancing precipitation. Not surprisingly, however, he was also introduced to mountain meteorology while in Utah!

After receiving his doctorate, Dr. Nesbitt went to Colorado State for postdoctoral work. While continuing to focus on TRMM, he also became involved with the latest polarimetric radar, which will be the basis for enhancements that are to be made to the National Weather Service (NWS) radar network for improved rainfall estimation. In addition, he spent the summer of 2004 examining the role of complex terrain and land-ocean contrasts in determining the predictability of precipitation in the area of the southwestern United States and adjacent Mexico that is influenced by the monsoon (the so-called NOAA- and NSF-sponsored North American Monsoon Experiment). Satellite and ground-based radar data was used during a 2-month period to better understand the processes that control the diurnal variability of convection.

Now at the U of I, Dr. Nesbitt wishes to continue pursuing his precipitation research interests. Some of his goals include the improvement of space-borne rainfall estimates, and launching of NASA’s Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) around 2013, which has a long-term aim of allowing the estimation of precipitation amounts worldwide via satellite. Dr. Nesbitt says that enhancements in precipitation estimation are important for assimilation in weather prediction models, improved basin-scale flood forecasting, and for enhanced landslide prediction. In fact, his first field project will be near Toronto, Canada to measure the effects of lake-effect and synoptic snow for GPM. Dr. Nesbitt also wants to use cloud physics parameters measured by satellites to improve global and regional forecast models. The challenge with this project will be to coordinate the data collected with diagnostics, so that the interpretation of cloud physics and dynamics is more realistic. He is planning to visit NASA to implement satellite simulators in global models such that satellite data can be compared with models. He also hopes to continue work started with the NAME monsoon project by continuing studies along the Sierra Madre Occidental for longer time scales. Additionally, when rollout of the NWS radar enhancements occurs, Dr. Nesbitt wants to be involved in the research applications and education of weather forecasters and the public on this new technology.

Dr. Nesbitt is happy to be at the U of I and part of CWACES. He believes that he brings a “unique perspective” of satellite data to CWACES with relation to water. He said that many new satellite platforms recently have been, or are about to be, launched, allowing an improved characterization of the water cycle on finer spatial scales. “This will allow our field to characterize the pathways of water in its many phases throughout the Earth system. These studies, along with field studies, will allow processes by which water goes through pathways on Earth so that improved climate predictions can be made,” Dr. Nesbitt said. As his research work involves satellite measurements, precipitation and hydrological applications, and rainfall estimation technology, Dr. Nesbitt believes that the integral expertise from the several different fields that are parts of the CWACES framework to will enhance his research

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