RESEARCH INTERESTS

 

Climate Dynamics, Variability and Prediction

 

EDUCATION

 

Ph.D., Atmospheric Science: Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, Colorado, 1994.

 

M.S., Meteorology: University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, 1988.

 

B.S., Meteorology: University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; December 1985.

 

WORK HISTORY

 

Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina – Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science, August 2013– Present

Department of Geography, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina – Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Science, August 2007 – August 2013

 

Meteorology Department, San José State University, San José, California - Adjunct Faculty, January 2005 – January 2007

 

GEST / NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland - Assistant Research Faculty, October 2000 – August 2004.

 

USRA / NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland - Visiting Scientist, October1996- October 2000

 

Atmospheric Science Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado - Post Doctoral Fellow, July 1994 – October 1996

 

University of the State of São Paulo, Bauru Meteorology Research Institute, São Paulo, Brazil, August 1988 - August 1989

 

Campinas Agronomy Institute, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil - Intern - January, August 1985

 

 

AWARDS

2014-2015 ECU Scholar-Teacher Award Recipient: This award recognizes ‘outstanding faculty who integrate scholarship and teaching and who seek to mentor others in doing so’.

2014 ECU Senate Teaching Grant Recipient - ‘Development of the ECU Weather Forecasting Teaching Laboratory (ECU-WFTLab)’.

GRANTS

National Science Foundation (NSF) Climate and Large Scale Dynamics Program: Mechanisms for the seasonal transition of precipitation organization in the southeastern United States: Current and future climate. R. Nieto-Ferreira, T. M. Rickenbach (co-P.I.s). FY 2016-2019.

ECU Teaching Grant: ‘Development of the ECU Weather Forecasting Teaching Laboratory (ECU-WFTLab)’, 2014.

National Science Foundation (NSF) Physical and Dynamic Meteorology Program: Development of a climatology of precipitation system organization in North Carolina to improve climate precipitation forecasts. T. M. Rickenbach and R. Nieto-Ferreira (co-P.I.s). FY 2012-2014.

NASA North Carolina Space Grant: ‘Weather and water delivery to North Carolina – one raindrop at a time’. North Carolina Space Grant Graduate Research Fellowship Program. L. Hall. (student) and R. Nieto-Ferreira (mentor). FY 2012-2013.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate and Global Change Program’s Climate Prediction Program for the Americas (CPPA): Onset of the South American Monsoon: Mechanisms and Predictability. T. M. Rickenbach and R. Nieto-Ferreira (co-PIs). FY 2007-2009.

 

NASA LBA Hydrology Program: `Role of land-surface processes and regional and global interactions in the seasonal to interannual variability of the atmosphere in the Amazon region’. R. Nieto Ferreira (PI) FY 1998-2003.

 

 

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Journal of Climate, Editor (2014-2017)

M.S. in Geography, Chair of the Graduate Program

LANGUAGES

Fluent Portuguese, English, Spanish, intermediate French

PUBLICATIONS

 

REVIEWED LITERATURE

Nieto-Ferreira, R., M. Nissenbaum, and T.M. Rickenbach (2018). Climate change effects on summertime precipitation

organization in the Southeast United States, Atmospheric Research, 214, 348-363. https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1Xdgdcd3S19g~

Luchetti, N., R. Nieto-Ferreira, T. M. Rickenbach, and J. McAuliffe, 2017: Influence of the North Atlantic Subtropical High on wet and dry sea-breeze events in North Carolina, United States. Investigaciones Geográficas, (68), 9-25. https://doi.org/10.14198/INGEO2017.68.01

Rickenbach, T. M., R. Nieto-Ferreira, C. Zarzar, and B. Nelson, 2014: A seasonal and diurnal climatology of precipitation organization in the southeastern United States. Q. J. Roy. Met. Soc. DOI: 10.1002/qj.2500

Nieto-Ferreira, R., and L. Hall, 2014: Midlatitude cyclones in the southeastern United States: frequency and structure differences by cyclogenesis region. Int. J. Climatology. DOI: 10.1002/joc.4247

Nieto-Ferreira, R., L. Hall, and T. M. Rickenbach, 2012: A climatology of the structure, evolution, and propagation of midlatitude cyclones in the Southeastern United States. J. Climate, 26, 8406–8421, Download Here.

Rickenbach, T. M., R. Nieto-Ferreira, R. Barnhill, and S. Nesbitt, 2012: Seasonal and regional differences in the rainfall and intensity of isolated convection over South America. Int. J. Climatology, 33, 8, 2002-2007. Download Here.

Nieto-Ferreira, R., and W. Chao, 2011: Aqua-planet simulations of the role of Amazon convection and cold fronts in the formation of the South Atlantic Convergence Zone. Int. J. Climatol. DOI: 10.1002/joc.3457. Download Here.  

Nieto-Ferreira, R. and co-authors, 2011: A multi-national course on global climate change. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00048.1.

Nieto-Ferreira R., T. M. Rickenbach, and E. A. Wright, 2011: The role of cold fronts in the onset of the South American monsoon. Q. J. Roy. Met. Soc. 137, Issue 657, 908–922, Part B, DOI: 10.1002/qj.810  Download Here.

 

Rickenbach, T. M., R. Nieto-Ferreira, R. Barnhill, and S. Nesbitt, 2011: Regional contrast of mesoscale convective system structure prior to and during monsoon onset across South America. J. Climate, 24, 3753–3763. Download Here.

 

Nieto-Ferreira, R. and T. M. Rickenbach, 2010: Regionality of monsoon onset in South America: A three-stage conceptual model. Int. J. Climatol., doi:10.1002/joc.2161. Download here.

 

Rickenbach, T. M., R. Nieto-Ferreira, J. Rickenbach, and E. Wright, 2009: Monsoon in the Americas: Opportunities and challenges. Geography Compass, 3, 1-16, doi:10.1111/j.1749-8198.2009.00266.x, Download here

  

Rickenbach, T. M., R. Nieto-Ferreira, J. Rickenbach, and E. Wright, 2009: Monsoon in the Americas: Opportunities and challenges. Geography Compass, 3, 1-16, doi:10.1111/j.1749-8198.2009.00266.x, Download here

 

Nieto-Ferreira, R., T. Rickenbach, N. Guy, and E. Williams, 2009: Radar observations of convective system variability in relationship to African easterly waves during the 2006 AMMA special observing period. Mon. Wea. Rev., 137, 4136-4150, 2009. Download here.

 

Rickenbach, T. M., R. Nieto-Ferreira, N. Guy, and E. Williams, 2009: Radar-observed squall line propagation and the diurnal cycle of convection in Niamey, Niger during the 2006 African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses Intensive Observing Period. J. Geophys. Res., 114, D03107, doi:10.1029/2008JD010871, 2009. Download here.

 

Garcia, N. O., Nieto-Ferreira, R., and E. Latrubesse, 2009: Climate and Geomorphologycal disasters in Latin America. Edgardo Latrubesse (Ed.) Natural hazards and human exacerbated disasters in Latin America. Elsevier. Download here

 

Andre, R., A. Garcia, J. P. M. Abreu, R. Nieto Ferreira, P. V. V. Prasad, and D. White, 2006: Climate and weather risk assessment for agricultural planning.  Revisions to the World Meteorological Organization's Guide to Agricultural Meteorological Practices. (http://www.wmo.ch/web/wcp/agm/RevGAMP/RevGAMP.htm)

 

Schubert, W. H., E. Ruprecht,  R. F. A. Hertenstein, R. Nieto Ferreira, R. K. Taft, P. E. Ciesielski, and H.-C. Kuo, 2004: English translations of seven of Ertel’s original papers on vorticity and potential vorticity principles. Meteorologische Z., 13, 527-576.

 

Nieto Ferreira, R., T. M. Rickenbach, D. Herdies, and L. M. V. Carvalho, 2003: Variability of South American convective cloud systems and tropospheric circulation during January-March 1998 and 1999. Mon. Wea. Rev., 131, 961-973, 2003.

 

Herdies, D. H., A. Silva, M. A. F. Silva Dias, and R. Nieto Ferreira, 2002: The moisture budget of the bimodal pattern of the Summer circulation over South America. J. Geophys. Res., 107 (D20), 10.1029/2001JD000997.

 

Rickenbach, T. M., R. Nieto Ferreira, J. Halverson, D. Herdies, and M. A. F. Silva Dias, 2002c: Modulation of convection in the Southwestern Amazon Basin by extratropical stationary fronts. J. Geophys. Res., 107 (D20), 8040, doi: 10.1029/2000JD000263.

 

Nieto Ferreira, R., and W. H. Schubert, 1997: Barotropic aspects of ITCZ breakdown. J. Atmos. Sci., 54, 261-285.

 

Nieto Ferreira, R., and W. H. Schubert, 1997: On the role of tropical cyclones in the formation of tropical upper tropospheric troughs. J. Atmos. Sci., 56, 2891-2907.

 

Nieto Ferreira, R., W. H. Schubert and J. J. Hack, 1996: Dynamical aspects of twin tropical cyclones and the Madden-Julian Oscillation. J. Atmos. Sci., 56, 2891-2907.

 

Silva Dias, M. A. F. and R. Nieto Ferreira, 1992: Application of a linear spectral model to the study of Amazonian squall lines during GTE/ABLE IIB, J. Geophys. Res., 97, n. D18, 20405-20419.