CGCS Directory

Paola Rizzoli

Professor of Physical Oceanography
Faculty

Affiliations

EAPS, CGCS

Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli is a physical oceanographer interested in: investigation and modeling (mathematical and numerical) of nonlinear coherent structures such as oceanic rings shed by western boundary currents and atmospheric blocking in the atmosphere; the circulation and water mass formation processes of marginal, semi-enclosed seas such as the Mediterranean and Black Sea, including modeling of their shallow water ecosystems (northern Adriatic, Black Sea shelf); the development of novel, theoretical methods for the assimilation of oceanic observations into general circulation ocean models; and investigation and modeling of the processes characterizing the tropical oceans ( tropical Atlantic, South China Sea and Indonesian Through-Flow) and of their ocean/atmosphere coupled modes of interaction. Her most recent interests are focused on the development and application of a regional climate coupled ocean/atmosphere model for the South Asia Maritime Continent for the understanding of its present climate and the prediction of future climate scenarios. A constant interest throughout her career has been the study and prediction of the extreme floods affecting the city of Venice, Italy, and of its lagoon and the construction of the mobile barriers at the lagoon inlets for their protection.

Selected publications:

Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli ( 2017 ), invited autobiographical article for the 2017 volume of Annual Review of Maribe Science, "Venice and I : How a City Can Determine the Fate of a Career", Ann. Rev.Mar. Sci., 9: 1-29, doi: 10.1146/annurev.-marine-010816-060632

Jun Wei, Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli,  M.-T.Li & H.Wang  (2016), "Decomposition of thermal and dynamic changes in the South China Sea induced by boundary forcing and surface fluxes during 1970-2000", J. Geophys. Res. doi: 10.1002/2016JC01207

Jun Wei, Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli, Arnold J.Gordon, M.-T.Li & D.X. (2016) "Opposite variability of Indonesian Throughflow and South China Sea Throughflow in the Sulawesi Sea", J.Phys.Oceanogr., doi: 10.1175/JPO-D-16-0132.1

Bjorg Thomson, Pavel Tkalich & Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli  (2016), "Regime shift of the South China Sea SST in the late 1990's", Climate Dyn., doi:10.1007/s00382-016-3178-4

Bjorg Thompson, Pavel Tkalich, Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli, B.Fricot & J.Mas (2015) "Dynamical and Thermodynamical Analysis of the South China Sea winter cold tongue", Climate Dyn., doi: 10.1007/s00382-015-2924-3

Pengfei Xue, Elfatih Eltahir, Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli & Jun Wei (2014) "Local feedback mechanisms of the shallow water region around the Maritime Continent", J.Gophys.Res., 119, doi: 10.1002/2013JC009700
 
Haoliang Chenm Tien-Yong Ko, Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli & S.Guiting (2014), "The relative importance of the wind-driven and tidal circulations in the Malacca strait", Cont. Shelf Res. 88, 92-102, doi: 10.1016/j.csr.201.07.012

Jun Wei, Dongxiao Wang, Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli & M.Li, (2014) ,"Coupled seasonal and intra-seasonal variability in the South China Sea", Climate Dyn., doi: 10.1007/s00382-014-2250-1

Contact Information

t: 617-253-2451
e: rizzoli@mit.edu
w: http://web.mit.edu/rizzoli/Public/index.html

Education

PhD (1978) Scripps Institution of Oceanography
PhD (1968) Physics University of Padua-Italy