Sina Khani
(SENIOR RESEARCH SPECIALIST)
| Email: | sina.khani@nasa.gov |
| Org Code: | |
| Address: |
NASA/GSFC Mail Code 610.1 Greenbelt, MD 20771 |
| Employer: | SCIENCE SYSTEMS AND APPLICATIONS INC |
Positions/Employment
Senior Research Scientist
SSAI / NASA-GSFC - Greenbelt, MD
January 2025 - Present
• Support for ocean modeling, coupled atm-oce-seaice setup, and data assimilation in NASA's GEOS model.
• Work on the improvement of weather, seasonal and climate forecasts.
• Analyze/evaluate outputs of coupled atm-oce-seaice experiments versus other reanalysis and observation datasets.
Research Scientist
CIRES CU Boulder / NOAA GSL - Boulder, CO
February 2024 - December 2024
• Run and analyzed NOAA's global coupled Earth system models
• Evaluated/improved the performance of NOAA's Unified Forecast System (UFS) on (sub-) seasonal time scales
Research Associate
University of Texas at Austin - Austin, TX
August 2021 - January 2024
• Conducted research on coastal hydrodynamics algorithms for implementing a WRF-ADCIRC framework.
• Developed and run a high-resolution configuration for modeling Hurricanes Harvey (2017) and Ida (2021) using the WRF code.
• Assisted with grant writing, annual reports, progress reports and research reports for government agencies.
• Acted as a central resource to graduate students and post-doctoral fellows (i.e., mentor).
Postdoctoral Research Associate
University of Washington - Seattle, WA
August 2019 - July 2021
• Studied the horizontal structure of submesoscale motions in upper-ocean using EM-APEX and SWIMS data.
• Developed a coupled horizontal-vertical dissipation scheme for atmosphere and ocean simulation.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Princeton University / NOAA-GFDL - Princeton, NJ
July 2016 - May 2019
• Diagnosed uncertainties due to spatial resolution in Modular Ocean Model (GFDL’s MOM6).
• Parameterized transient and standing subgrid mesoscale eddies in a hierarchy of models with and without topography.
• Worked on efficiency of turbulent mixing in large-eddy simulations of ocean sub-mesoscales.
Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Waterloo - Waterloo, ON Canada
May 2016 - July 2016
• Worked on a framework to measure kinetic/potential energy backscatter in stratified turbulence.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) - Lausanne, VD Switzerland
May 2015 - April 2016
• Implemented a non-eddy viscosity subgrid-scale model for large-eddy simulations of atmospheric boundary layer using the Weather Research and Forecasting model.
• Evaluated non-eddy viscosity subgrid-scale models in stratified turbulence
Research and Teaching Assistant
University of Waterloo - Waterloo, ON Canada
May 2010 - April 2015
• Worked on measuring effective eddy viscosity using direct numerical simulations of stratified turbulence.
• Implemented a framework for large-eddy simulations and subgrid-scale parameterizations of stratified turbulence.
• Worked on numerical simulations for electroosmotic flows with interfacial boundary conditions.
Education
University of Waterloo | Waterloo, ON Canada | Doctorate degree (04/2015)
Major: Applied Mathematics | Minor: Geophysical Fluid Dynamics
Iran University of Science and Technology | Tehran, Iran | Master's degree (02/2010)
Major: Mechanical Engineering | Minor: Computational Fluid Dynamics
Professional Service
• Professional Services:
Associate Editor: Monthly Weather Review (2018 – 2020).
Reviewer (selective): NSF Physical Oceanography; J Fluid Mech.; J Advances in Modeling Earth Systems; J Climate; Monthly Weather Review; J Atmospheric Sciences; J Geophysical Research: Ocean; J Physical Oceanography; Boundary-Layer Meteorology; Frontiers in Earth Science; Geophysical Research Letters; Meteorologische Zeitschrift; International J of Digital Earth; Physical Review E; Physical Review Letters; Physical Review Research; Computers and Fluids; Physical Review Fluids; Theoretical and Computational Fluid Dynamics; J Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology; Remote Sensing; J Turbulence; Atmosphere; Communications in Nonlinear Sciences and Numerical Simulation; Computational Geosciences; Applied Sciences; Physics of Fluids; Fluids.
• Software Development:
1. GPinOGCM (Zenodo/sinakhani/GPinOGCM/v1.0.0, founder), 2022. A code implementation for gradient-based
parameterization in ocean general circulation models.
2. Neverworld (Zenodo/sinakhani/Neverworld/v1.0.0, founder), 2019. A code implementation for diagnosing subgrid-scale fluxes due to spatial resolution in ocean models.
• Media Appearance:
Press release: Scientists Simulate Weather Beneath the Ocean. By Rebecca Riley, February 15, 2023.
Awards
• Selective Awards:
1. AOS Postdoctoral Fellowship, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA, 2016-2019, ($170,100).
2. Postdoctoral Fellowship, Swiss Fed. Instit. of Tech. in Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, 2015-2016 (CHF 81,400).
3. Doctoral Thesis Writing Award, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada, 2014 ($8,000).
4. Mathematics Graduate Experience Award, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada, 2012-2015 ($9,750).
5. The Silver Medal Award, 12th National Scientific Olympiad in Mech. Eng., University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran, 2007.
Publications
Refereed
2026. "The GEOS/ECCO C1440-LLC2160 Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean Simulation Dataset.", Scientific Data, [10.1038/s41597-026-07349-2] [Journal Article/Letter]
2023. "A Gradient Based Subgrid‐Scale Parameterization for Ocean Mesoscale Eddies.", Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 15 (2): e2022MS003356 [10.1029/2022ms003356] [Journal Article/Letter]
2022. "A Gradient Tensor–Based Subgrid-Scale Parameterization for Large-Eddy Simulations of Stratified Shear Layers Using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model.", Monthly Weather Review, 150 (9): 2279-2298 [10.1175/mwr-d-21-0217.1] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "An Anisotropic Subgrid-Scale Parameterization for Large-Eddy Simulations of Stratified Turbulence.", Monthly Weather Review, 148 (10): 4299-4311 [10.1175/mwr-d-19-0351.1] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "Diagnosing Subgrid Mesoscale Eddy Fluxes With and Without Topography.", Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 11 (12): 3995-4015 [10.1029/2019ms001721] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "Toward an Energetically Consistent, Resolution Aware Parameterization of Ocean Mesoscale Eddies.", Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 11 (8): 2844-2860 [10.1029/2019ms001750] [Journal Article/Letter]
2018. "Mixing efficiency in large-eddy simulations of stratified turbulence.", Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 849 373-394 [10.1017/jfm.2018.417] [Journal Article/Letter]
2017. "Evaluation of non-eddy viscosity subgrid-scale models in stratified turbulence using direct numerical simulations.", European Journal of Mechanics - B/Fluids, 65 168-178 [10.1016/j.euromechflu.2017.03.009] [Journal Article/Letter]
2017. "A Modulated-Gradient Parametrization for the Large-Eddy Simulation of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer Using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model.", Boundary-Layer Meteorology, 165 (3): 385-404 [10.1007/s10546-017-0287-5] [Journal Article/Letter]
2016. "Backscatter in stratified turbulence.", European Journal of Mechanics - B/Fluids, 60 1-12 [10.1016/j.euromechflu.2016.06.012] [Journal Article/Letter]
2015. "Large eddy simulations of stratified turbulence: the dynamic Smagorinsky model.", Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 773 327-344 [10.1017/jfm.2015.249] [Journal Article/Letter]
2014. "Buoyancy scale effects in large-eddy simulations of stratified turbulence.", Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 754 75-97 [10.1017/jfm.2014.381] [Journal Article/Letter]
2013. "Effective eddy viscosity in stratified turbulence.", Journal of Turbulence, 14 (7): 49-70 [10.1080/14685248.2013.837913] [Journal Article/Letter]
2012. "Electroosmotic flow in a water column surrounded by an immiscible liquid.", Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 372 (1): 207-211 [10.1016/j.jcis.2012.01.044] [Journal Article/Letter]