Fadji Zaouna Maina is an Associate Research Scientist in the Hydrological Sciences Lab at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. She received her Ph.D. in Hydrology in 2016 from the University of Strasbourg (France). Before joining NASA GSFC, Fadji had been working on the development of mathematical models to address water resources issues in California, France and Italy. Fadji uses high-performance computing and remote-sensing methods to understand the impacts of climate extremes and changes in land use and land cover on water resources.
12/2021
-
Present
Associate Research Scientist
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, University of Maryland Baltimore County,
Greenbelt, MD
8/2020
-
11/2021
Associate Earth Scientist
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Universities Space Research Association,
Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
3/2018
-
8/2020
Postdoctoral Researcher
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,
Berkeley, California, USA
2/2017
-
3/2018
Postdoctoral Researcher
Politecnico di Milano ,
Milan, Italy
10/2016
-
1/2017
Postdoctoral Researcher
Laboratory of Hydrology and Geochemistry of Strasbourg, French National Center for Scientific Research ,
Strasbourg, France
10/2013
-
9/2016
Graduate Research Assistant
French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission ,
Cadarache, France
Ph.D. in Hydrology, University of Strasbourg (France) 2013-2016
M.S. in Environmental Engineering, University of Strasbourg (France) 2011-2013
B.S. in Geological Engineering, University of Fes (Morocco) 2008-2011
Refereed
Maina, F. Z., and S. V. Kumar. 2023. "Diverging Trends in Rain‐On‐Snow Over High Mountain Asia."
Earth's Future,
11
(3):
[10.1029/2022ef003009]
Maina, F. Z., S. V. Kumar, and C. Gangodagamage. 2022. "Irrigation and warming drive the decreases in surface albedo over High Mountain Asia."
Scientific Reports,
12
(1):
16163
[10.1038/s41598-022-20564-2]
Maina, F. Z., H. M. Wainwright, P. J. Dennedy-Frank, and E. R. Siirila-Woodburn. 2022. "On the similarity of hillslope hydrologic function: a clustering approach based on groundwater changes."
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences,
26
(14):
3805-3823
[10.5194/hess-26-3805-2022]
Maina, F. Z., A. Rhoades, E. R. Siirila-Woodburn, and P.-J. Dennedy-Frank. 2022. "Projecting end-of-century climate extremes and their impacts on the hydrology of a representative California watershed."
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences,
26
(13):
3589-3609
[10.5194/hess-26-3589-2022]
Maina, F. Z., S. V. Kumar, I. J. Dollan, and V. Maggioni. 2022. "Development and evaluation of ensemble consensus precipitation estimates over High Mountain Asia."
Journal of Hydrometeorology,
[10.1175/jhm-d-21-0196.1]
Maina, F. Z., E. R. Siirila-Woodburn, and P.-J. Dennedy-Frank. 2022. "Assessing the impacts of hydrodynamic parameter uncertainties on simulated evapotranspiration in a mountainous watershed."
Journal of Hydrology,
608:
127620
[10.1016/j.jhydrol.2022.127620]
Maina, F. Z., S. V. Kumar, C. Albergel, and S. P. Mahanama. 2022. "Warming, increase in precipitation, and irrigation enhance greening in High Mountain Asia."
Communications Earth & Environment,
3
(1):
43
[10.1038/s43247-022-00374-0]
Maina, F. Z., A. Guadagnini, and M. Riva. 2021. "Impact of multiple uncertainties on gravimetric variations across randomly heterogeneous aquifers during pumping."
Advances in Water Resources,
154:
103978
[10.1016/j.advwatres.2021.103978]
Dobi, F. B., E. K. Kouakou, Y. Nazoumou, et al. 2021. "Aquifer Depletion in the Arlit Mining Area (Tim Mersoï Basin, North Niger)."
Water,
13
(12):
1685
[10.3390/w13121685]
Maavara, T., E. R. Siirila-Woodburn, F. Maina, et al. 2021. "Modeling geogenic and atmospheric nitrogen through the East River Watershed, Colorado Rocky Mountains."
PLOS ONE,
16
(3):
e0247907
[10.1371/journal.pone.0247907]
Li, Z., I. Özgen-Xian, and F. Z. Maina. 2021. "A mass-conservative predictor-corrector solution to the 1D Richards equation with adaptive time control."
Journal of Hydrology,
592:
125809
[10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.125809]
Maina, F. Z., E. R. Siirila-Woodburn, and P. Vahmani. 2020. "Sensitivity of meteorological-forcing resolution on hydrologic variables."
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences,
24
(7):
3451-3474
[10.5194/hess-24-3451-2020]
Maina, F. Z., and E. R. Siirila‐Woodburn. 2020. "The Role of Subsurface Flow on Evapotranspiration: A Global Sensitivity Analysis."
Water Resources Research,
56
(7):
[10.1029/2019wr026612]
Maina, F. Z., E. R. Siirila-Woodburn, M. Newcomer, Z. Xu, and C. Steefel. 2020. "Determining the impact of a severe dry to wet transition on watershed hydrodynamics in California, USA with an integrated hydrologic model."
Journal of Hydrology,
580:
124358
[10.1016/j.jhydrol.2019.124358]
Graves, A., L. Rosa, A. M. Nouhou, F. Maina, and D. Adoum. 2019. "Avert catastrophe now in Africa’s Sahel."
Nature,
575
(7782):
282-286
[10.1038/d41586-019-03445-z]
Maina, F. Z., and E. R. Siirila‐Woodburn. 2019. "Watersheds dynamics following wildfires: Nonlinear feedbacks and implications on hydrologic responses."
Hydrological Processes,
34
(1):
33-50
[10.1002/hyp.13568]
Maina, F. H., P. Ackerer, A. Younes, A. Guadagnini, and B. Berkowitz. 2018. "Benchmarking numerical codes for tracer transport with the aid of laboratory-scale experiments in 2D heterogeneous porous media."
Journal of Contaminant Hydrology,
212:
55-64
[10.1016/j.jconhyd.2017.06.001]
Maina, F. Z., and A. Guadagnini. 2018. "Uncertainty Quantification and Global Sensitivity Analysis of Subsurface Flow Parameters to Gravimetric Variations During Pumping Tests in Unconfined Aquifers."
Water Resources Research,
54
(1):
501-518
[10.1002/2017wr021655]
Maina, F., F. Delay, and P. Ackerer. 2017. "Estimating initial conditions for groundwater flow modeling using an adaptive inverse method."
Journal of Hydrology,
552:
52-61
[10.1016/j.jhydrol.2017.06.041]
Maina, F., and P. Ackerer. 2017. "Ross scheme, Newton–Raphson iterative methods and time-stepping strategies for solving the mixed form of Richards' equation."
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences,
21
(6):
2667-2683
[10.5194/hess-21-2667-2017]
Maina, F., and P. Ackerer. 2017. "Groundwater flow parameter estimation using refinement and coarsening indicators for adaptive downscaling parameterization."
Advances in Water Resources,
100:
139-152
[10.1016/j.advwatres.2016.12.013]
NASA GSFC Hydrosphere, Biosphere, Geophysics Peer Award for Scientific Achievement, 2021
Listed among the African Women of the year 2020 by the New African Women, 2020
Listed among the 100 most influential Africans, New African Magazine, a bestselling pan-African magazine, 2020
Forbes 30 Under 30, Class of 2020
Selected to present my research at the Science Translator Showcase at the California State Capitol, 2020
Top downloaded paper, 2020, Hydrological Sciences Journal
Science SLAM finalist at Berkeley Lab, 2019, link to the video
Rising Star in Civil and Environmental Engineering, MIT, 2019
Rising Star in Hydrology, Gordon Research Conference, 2019
Kepler Award for the University of Strasbourg’ best PhD Thesis in Science and Engineering, 2017
Recipient of the French government excellence scholarship, 2012-2013
Recipient of the Moroccan government excellence scholarship, 2008-2011
Invited
The impacts of a changing climate and human activities on the hydrology of High Mountain Asia
2023
Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, USA
Satellite observations reveal the responses of Asian water towers to a changing climate and agricultural activities
2023
Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
On the 21st century techniques to boost the achievement of groundwater related SDG targets
2022
International Conference "Groundwater, key to the Sustainable Development Goals", Paris France
On the use of space technology to tackle water scarcity issues
2022
The Africa Aerospace and Defense Exhibition, Pretoria South Africa
Disentangling the impacts of anthropogenic activities and changing climate on the land surface processes in High Mountain Asia
2022
AGU Fall Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Rain-on-snow events over High Mountain Asia
2022
AGU Fall Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, USA
How does California’s new normal shape its hydrology?
2021
Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA
Understanding the impacts of wildfires on water supply in California
2020
AGU fall meeting, San Francisco, California, USA
Understanding the impacts of a changing climate on water supply in California
2020
University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylania, USA
Understanding the impacts of a changing climate on water supply in California
2020
Summer Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
How do wildfires impact water supply in California?”,
2020
Midday Science Café, Berkeley, California, USA
Feedbacks between evapotranspiration and subsurface flow: a global sensitivity analysis
2020
SIAM Uncertainty Quantification 2020, Munich, Germany
Calibrating an integrated hydrologic model using hydraulic heads
2018
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California, USA
Estimation of groundwater recharge by inversion
2016
University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
Adaptive downscaling parameterization for inverse models
2016
CEA Cadarache
Member of NSIDC, 2021 - present
Member of AMS hydrology committee, 2021 – present
Editor for PloS Water, 2021 – present
Associate editor for frontiers in climate and the hydrogeology journal, 2021 – present
Reviewer for NASA ROSES and NSF grants
Panelist of NASA programs
Reviewer for the Journal of Hydrology, Water Resources Research, Hydrology Earth and System
Sciences, Hydrogeology, and MDPI journals
American Geophysical Union,
2018
-
Present
American Meteorological Society,
2021
-
Present
European Geosciences Union,
2018
-
Present
Invited to a high-level panel on renewable energies in the Sahel by the United Nations Development Programme UNDP Senegal, 2021
Invited to discuss girls’ education with the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, 2020, Niamey, Niger
Oasis initiative (an organization aiming to advance women and girls education in Niger) board member, 2020 present
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Postdoc Association (BLPA) – Communication and outreach committee coordinator, Interview and write ‘Coffee with postdocs’ a blog post highlighting the contribution of Berkeley Lab postdocs to the breakthrough research of the Lab, 2018-2020
Attended the National Postdoc Association meeting, 2019, Orlando, Florida, USA
Participated in the DWR workshop and summit “Planning For Change”, 2019, Tahoe City, California, USA
Served as a judge for master student presentations at GEM conference, 2019, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Invited to present my research to Congress members visiting Berkeley Lab, 2019, Berkeley, California, USA
Next Einstein Forum- Africa Science Week, 2018 Niger
Vice president of the youth parliament of Niger, 2008
Refereed
Maina, F. Z., and S. V. Kumar. 2023. "Diverging Trends in Rain‐On‐Snow Over High Mountain Asia."
Earth's Future
11
(3):
[10.1029/2022ef003009]
Maina, F. Z., S. V. Kumar, and C. Gangodagamage. 2022. "Irrigation and warming drive the decreases in surface albedo over High Mountain Asia."
Scientific Reports
12
(1):
16163
[10.1038/s41598-022-20564-2]
Maina, F. Z., H. M. Wainwright, P. J. Dennedy-Frank, and E. R. Siirila-Woodburn. 2022. "On the similarity of hillslope hydrologic function: a clustering approach based on groundwater changes."
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
26
(14):
3805-3823
[10.5194/hess-26-3805-2022]
Maina, F. Z., A. Rhoades, E. R. Siirila-Woodburn, and P.-J. Dennedy-Frank. 2022. "Projecting end-of-century climate extremes and their impacts on the hydrology of a representative California watershed."
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
26
(13):
3589-3609
[10.5194/hess-26-3589-2022]
Maina, F. Z., S. V. Kumar, I. J. Dollan, and V. Maggioni. 2022. "Development and evaluation of ensemble consensus precipitation estimates over High Mountain Asia."
Journal of Hydrometeorology
[10.1175/jhm-d-21-0196.1]
Maina, F. Z., E. R. Siirila-Woodburn, and P.-J. Dennedy-Frank. 2022. "Assessing the impacts of hydrodynamic parameter uncertainties on simulated evapotranspiration in a mountainous watershed."
Journal of Hydrology
608
127620
[10.1016/j.jhydrol.2022.127620]
Maina, F. Z., S. V. Kumar, C. Albergel, and S. P. Mahanama. 2022. "Warming, increase in precipitation, and irrigation enhance greening in High Mountain Asia."
Communications Earth & Environment
3
(1):
43
[10.1038/s43247-022-00374-0]
Maina, F. Z., A. Guadagnini, and M. Riva. 2021. "Impact of multiple uncertainties on gravimetric variations across randomly heterogeneous aquifers during pumping."
Advances in Water Resources
154
103978
[10.1016/j.advwatres.2021.103978]
Dobi, F. B., E. K. Kouakou, Y. Nazoumou, et al. 2021. "Aquifer Depletion in the Arlit Mining Area (Tim Mersoï Basin, North Niger)."
Water
13
(12):
1685
[10.3390/w13121685]
Maavara, T., E. R. Siirila-Woodburn, F. Maina, et al. 2021. "Modeling geogenic and atmospheric nitrogen through the East River Watershed, Colorado Rocky Mountains."
PLOS ONE
16
(3):
e0247907
[10.1371/journal.pone.0247907]
Li, Z., I. Özgen-Xian, and F. Z. Maina. 2021. "A mass-conservative predictor-corrector solution to the 1D Richards equation with adaptive time control."
Journal of Hydrology
592
125809
[10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.125809]
Maina, F. Z., E. R. Siirila-Woodburn, and P. Vahmani. 2020. "Sensitivity of meteorological-forcing resolution on hydrologic variables."
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
24
(7):
3451-3474
[10.5194/hess-24-3451-2020]
Maina, F. Z., and E. R. Siirila‐Woodburn. 2020. "The Role of Subsurface Flow on Evapotranspiration: A Global Sensitivity Analysis."
Water Resources Research
56
(7):
[10.1029/2019wr026612]
Maina, F. Z., E. R. Siirila-Woodburn, M. Newcomer, Z. Xu, and C. Steefel. 2020. "Determining the impact of a severe dry to wet transition on watershed hydrodynamics in California, USA with an integrated hydrologic model."
Journal of Hydrology
580
124358
[10.1016/j.jhydrol.2019.124358]
Graves, A., L. Rosa, A. M. Nouhou, F. Maina, and D. Adoum. 2019. "Avert catastrophe now in Africa’s Sahel."
Nature
575
(7782):
282-286
[10.1038/d41586-019-03445-z]
Maina, F. Z., and E. R. Siirila‐Woodburn. 2019. "Watersheds dynamics following wildfires: Nonlinear feedbacks and implications on hydrologic responses."
Hydrological Processes
34
(1):
33-50
[10.1002/hyp.13568]
Maina, F. H., P. Ackerer, A. Younes, A. Guadagnini, and B. Berkowitz. 2018. "Benchmarking numerical codes for tracer transport with the aid of laboratory-scale experiments in 2D heterogeneous porous media."
Journal of Contaminant Hydrology
212
55-64
[10.1016/j.jconhyd.2017.06.001]
Maina, F. Z., and A. Guadagnini. 2018. "Uncertainty Quantification and Global Sensitivity Analysis of Subsurface Flow Parameters to Gravimetric Variations During Pumping Tests in Unconfined Aquifers."
Water Resources Research
54
(1):
501-518
[10.1002/2017wr021655]
Maina, F., F. Delay, and P. Ackerer. 2017. "Estimating initial conditions for groundwater flow modeling using an adaptive inverse method."
Journal of Hydrology
552
52-61
[10.1016/j.jhydrol.2017.06.041]
Maina, F., and P. Ackerer. 2017. "Ross scheme, Newton–Raphson iterative methods and time-stepping strategies for solving the mixed form of Richards' equation."
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
21
(6):
2667-2683
[10.5194/hess-21-2667-2017]
Maina, F., and P. Ackerer. 2017. "Groundwater flow parameter estimation using refinement and coarsening indicators for adaptive downscaling parameterization."
Advances in Water Resources
100
139-152
[10.1016/j.advwatres.2016.12.013]
