Earth Sciences Division

Mei Han

(ASSOCIATE RESEARCH SCIENTIST)

Mei Han's Contact Card & Information.
Email: mei.han-1@nasa.gov
Phone: 301.614.6336
Org Code: 612
Address:
NASA/GSFC
Mail Code 612
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Employer: SCIENCE SYSTEMS AND APPLICATIONS INC

Brief Bio


Dr. Mei Han's research focuses on precipitation and cloud microphysics, and cyclone and frontal dynamics in the middle to high latitudes. She uses satellite active and passive microwave instruments, airborne remote-sensing and in-situ instruments, and research and operational models to study precipitation and cloud dynamics, microphysical properties, and processes.

 

Dr. Han’s past research includes evaluations of multiple bulk and bin microphysics schemes in the Weather Research and Forecasting model, using forward radiative transfer models to improve the understanding of cloud and precipitation microphysics, and diagnostics of circulations associated with the occluded front. Her current research projects are involved with the NASA Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation for Atlantic Coast-Threatening Snowstorms (IMPACTS) field campaign and the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. Her recent research effort includes understanding the global distribution of precipitation mean particle size with the GPM mission and using airborne data and the NWP models to understand supercooled liquid water (SLW) in snow-producing clouds. Currently, she and her colleagues are conducting exciting research about how gravity waves and turbulence might produce SLW at the cloud top.

Positions/Employment


Associate Research Scientist

Morgan State University - NASA/GSFC

January 2020 - September 2024


Assistant Research Scientist

Morgan State University - NASA/GSFC

November 2011 - January 2020


Assistant Research Scientist

University of Maryland, Baltimore County - NASA/GSFC

2008 - May 2011


Research Associate

University of Maryland, Baltimore County - NASA/GSFC

January 2005 - 2008


Research Assistant

University of Illinois - Urbana, IL

August 1999 - December 2004


Research Scientist

Science Systems and Applications Inc - Lanham, MD 20706

October 2024 - Present

Education


Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL

M.S. in Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

B.S. in Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

Publications


Refereed

2024. "Supercooled Liquid Water at the Top of a Snow-Producing Nimbostratus Cloud and Its Association with Gravity-Wave Breaking and Turbulence During IMPACTS." Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Understanding the Global Three-dimensional Distribution of Precipitation Mean Particle Size with the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission." Journal of Climate 34 9775-9796 [10.1175/jcli-d-21-0134.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Comparisons of bin and bulk microphysics schemes in simulations of topographic winter precipitation with radar and radiometer measurements." Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society [10.1002/qj.3393] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "Snow grain size retrieval over the polar ice sheets with the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) observations." Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer [10.1016/j.jqsrt.2016.03.033] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Evaluation of cloud microphysics schemes in simulations of a winter storm using radar and radiometer measurements." J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 118 (3): 1401-1419 [10.1002/jgrd.50115] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "GPM Satellite Simulator over Ground Validation Sites." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 94 (11): 1653-1660 [10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00160.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "Application of TRMM PR and TMI Measurements to Assess Cloud Microphysical Schemes in the MM5 for a Winter Storm." J. Appl. Meteor. Climatol. 49 (6): 1129-1148 [10.1175/2010JAMC2327.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2009. "Alongfront Variability of Precipitation Associated with a Midlatitude Frontal Zone: TRMM Observations and MM5 Simulation." Mon. Wea. Rev. 137 (3): 1008-1028 [10.1175/2008MWR2465.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2007. "High-resolution observations of the trowal/warm-frontal regions of two continental winter cyclones." Mon Wea Rev 135 1621-1646 [Journal Article/Letter]

2007. "Mesoscale Dynamics of the Trowal and Warm-frontal Regions of two Continental Winter Cyclones." Mon Wea Rev 135 1647-1670 [Journal Article/Letter]

1999. "The influence of moisture advection calculation on heavy rain simulation and a case analysis." Plateau Meteorology 18 219-229 [Journal Article/Letter]