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Paola Malanotte Rizzoli

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Paola Malanotte Rizzoli
Alma materScripps Institution of Oceanography
University of Padua
Scientific career
InstitutionsMassachusetts Institute of Technology

Paola Malanotte Rizzoli is a physical oceanographer known for her research on ocean circulation and sea level rise, especially with respect to flooding conditions in Venice.

Education and career

As a child growing up in Venice, Malanotte Rizzoli had a passion for music and by age eleven learned La Traviata while considering a future as an opera singer.[1] However, math prevailed and she earned a B.S. in physics and mathematics from Lyceum “Benedetti” Italy.[2] In 1968 she completed a Ph.D. at the University of Padua with a dissertation titled “Quantum-mechanical structure of biologically important molecules. Investigation of the complex molecules of nucleic acids”.[2] She spent one year as a postdoctoral fellow in Padua and then joined a study initiated by the Italian National Research Council to look at the issues surrounding Venice and the surrounding lagoon.[3] Starting in 1971 she traveled between Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Venice working on oceanographic studies of Venice.[3] Starting in 1972, she was also a research associate at Istituto Studio Dinamica Grande Masse (Institute for the Study of Great Masses), where she received tenure in 1976 and remained until 1981. In 1978 she completed a second Ph.D. at Scripps Institution of Oceanography with a dissertation titled “Solitary Rossby Waves Over Variable Relief and Their Stability Properties”.[4][5][6] At the time, she was the only woman in the physical oceanography department.[7] She remained at Scripps as a Cecil and Ida Green scholar from 1978 until 1980 at which point she moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),[8] and again was the only woman in physical oceanography.[7] In 1987, Malanotte Rizzoli became the first woman in MIT's Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences department to earn tenure.[8] In 1994, Malanotte Rizzoli was one of 16 women faculty in the School of Science at MIT who drafted and co-signed a letter to the then-Dean of Science (now Chancellor of Berkeley) Robert Birgeneau, which started a campaign to highlight and challenge gender discrimination at MIT.[9]

From 1997 until 2009, Malanotte Rizzoli led the MIT component of the MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Oceanography and Applied Ocean Science and Engineering, and has been the main advisor for 22 students in the program.[7]

Research

Malanotte Rizzoli has worked in multiple research topics, which she describes as her “renewal time” of 5–7 years.[7] In 1982 she started a program focusing on the physical oceanography of the eastern Mediterranean, the POEM project, where she led research into the circulation of water in the region.[10] As increasing amounts of data become available for oceanographic research, she has expanded her use of data assimilation,[11] with a focus on its applications to oceanographic questions.[12][13] Geographically, she has considered the formation of the rings of the Gulf Stream In the Atlantic Ocean[14][15] and she has also worked on the exchange of heat, water, and salt in tropical oceans.[16] In the early 2000s, Malanotte Rizzoli began work on climate science through a project that led to the development of a coupled ocean-atmosphere model in Southeast Asia where the Indonesian Throughflow allows passage of water from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean.[17] She was one of the contributing authors on the 2007 chapter on "Observations: Oceanic Climate Change and Sea Level" which was published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.[18]

Climate science, with its daunting complexity, is arguably the greatest challenge presently facing not only oceanography but the earth sciences in general

— Paola Malanotte Rizzoli, [7]

Malanotte Rizzoli grew up in Venice and remembers the 1966 Venice flood[19] and in 2017 she considered how her connections to Venice influenced her career arc.[7] The storm surge in Venice, the Acqua alta, has been the focus of her work and from 1995 until 2013, she was a consultant for Consorzio Venezia Nuova, the group tasked with the building the barriers designed to block the flow of water into the Venetian lagoon, the MOdulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico (MOSE) project.[20][7][21] In 2021, Malanotte-Rizzoli created an exhibit on the resilience of Venice with Laura Fregolent for the 17th International Venice Biennale of Architecture.[22][23]

Selected publications

  • Ghil, Michael; Malanotte-Rizzoli, Paola (1 January 1991). "Data Assimilation in Meteorology and Oceanography". Advances in Geophysics. 33: 141–266. Bibcode:1991AdGeo..33..141G. doi:10.1016/S0065-2687(08)60442-2. ISBN 9780120188338. ISSN 0065-2687.
  • Malanotte-Rizzoli, Paola; Manca, Beniamino B; Ribera d'Alcala, Maurizio; Theocharis, Alexander; Brenner, Stephen; Budillon, Giorgio; Ozsoy, Emin (1 July 1999). "The Eastern Mediterranean in the 80s and in the 90s: the big transition in the intermediate and deep circulations". Dynamics of Atmospheres and Oceans. 29 (2–4): 365–395. Bibcode:1999DyAtO..29..365M. doi:10.1016/S0377-0265(99)00011-1. ISSN 0377-0265.
  • Malanotte-Rizzoli, Paola; Manca, Beniamino B.; D'Alcalà, Maurizio Ribera; Theocharis, Alexander; Bergamasco, Andrea; Bregant, Davide; Budillon, Giorgio; Civitarese, Giuseppe; Georgopoulos, Dimitris; Michelato, Antonio; Sansone, Emilio; Scarazzato, Paolo; Souvermezoglou, Ekaterini (January 1997). "A synthesis of the Ionian Sea hydrography, circulation and water mass pathways during POEM-Phase I". Progress in Oceanography. 39 (3): 153–204. Bibcode:1997PrOce..39..153M. doi:10.1016/S0079-6611(97)00013-X.
  • Malanotte-Rizzoli, Paola (2017-01-03). "Venice and I: How a City Can Determine the Fate of a Career". Annual Review of Marine Science. 9 (1): 1–29. Bibcode:2017ARMS....9....1M. doi:10.1146/annurev-marine-010816-060632. ISSN 1941-1405. PMID 27575741.
  • Urban, Edward R.; Sundby, Bjorn; Malanotte-Rizzoli, Paola; Melillo, Jerry M. (2009). Watersheds, bays, and bounded seas : the science and management of semi-enclosed marine systems. Washington: Island Press. ISBN 9781597265034.

Awards and honors

Personal life

Malanotte-Rizzoli is married to Peter Stone who is also a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2021 they endowed the Peter H. Stone and Paola Malanotte Stone chair whose first recipient is Arlene Fiore.[8]

References

  1. ^ Salimbeni, Stefano (December 5, 2014). "MIT's Oceanographer Paola Malanotte – Bostoniano (Inglese) | Vocazione: REPORTER". Retrieved 2021-07-26.
  2. ^ a b "CV Malanotte Rizzoli" (PDF). Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Autobiographical Sketches of Women in Oceanography". Oceanography. 18 (1): 199. March 2005.
  4. ^ Rizzoli, P. Malanotte (1978). Solitary Rossby waves over variable relief and their stability properties. OCLC 1083431359.
  5. ^ Malanotte Rizzoli, Paola; Hendershott, Myrl C. (1980-04-01). "Solitary Rossby waves over variable relief and their stability. Part I: The analytical theory". Dynamics of Atmospheres and Oceans. 4 (4): 247–260. Bibcode:1980DyAtO...4..247M. doi:10.1016/0377-0265(80)90030-5. ISSN 0377-0265.
  6. ^ Malanotte Rizzoli, Paola (1980-04-01). "Solitary rossby waves over variable relief and their stability. Part II: numerical experiments". Dynamics of Atmospheres and Oceans. 4 (4): 261–294. Bibcode:1980DyAtO...4..261M. doi:10.1016/0377-0265(80)90031-7. ISSN 0377-0265.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Malanotte-Rizzoli, Paola (2017-01-03). "Venice and I: How a City Can Determine the Fate of a Career". Annual Review of Marine Science. 9 (1): 1–29. Bibcode:2017ARMS....9....1M. doi:10.1146/annurev-marine-010816-060632. ISSN 1941-1405. PMID 27575741.
  8. ^ a b c Hinkel, Lauren; McBride, Alice (June 11, 2021). "Malanotte-Rizzoli and Stone shape the future of climate and ocean science | MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences". eapsweb.mit.edu. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
  9. ^ Zernike, Kate (2023). The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science. New York, NY: Scribner. ISBN 978-1-9821-3183-8.
  10. ^ Malanotte-Rizzoli, P.; Artale, V.; Borzelli-Eusebi, G. L.; Brenner, S.; Crise, A.; Gacic, M.; Kress, N.; Marullo, S.; Ribera d'Alcalà, M.; Sofianos, S.; Tanhua, T. (2014-05-06). "Physical forcing and physical/biochemical variability of the Mediterranean Sea: a review of unresolved issues and directions for future research". Ocean Science. 10 (3): 281–322. Bibcode:2014OcSci..10..281M. doi:10.5194/os-10-281-2014. hdl:1721.1/88033. ISSN 1812-0792.
  11. ^ Ghil, Michael; Malanotte-Rizzoli, Paola (1991-01-01). "Data Assimilation in Meteorology and Oceanography". Advances in Geophysics. 33: 141–266. Bibcode:1991AdGeo..33..141G. doi:10.1016/S0065-2687(08)60442-2. ISBN 9780120188338. ISSN 0065-2687.
  12. ^ Malanotte-Rizzoli, Paola; Tziperman, Eli (1996-01-01). The Oceanographic Data Assimilation Problem: Overview, Motivation and Purposes. Elsevier Oceanography Series. Vol. 61. pp. 3–17. doi:10.1016/S0422-9894(96)80003-1. ISBN 9780444820792. ISSN 0422-9894.
  13. ^ LERMUSIAUX, PIERRE F.J.; MALANOTTE-RIZZOLI, PAOLA; STAMMER, DETLEF; CARTON, JAMES; CUMMINGS, JAMES; MOORE, ANDREW M. (2006). "Progress and Prospects of U.S. Data Assimilation in Ocean Research". Oceanography. 19 (1): 172–183. doi:10.5670/oceanog.2006.102. ISSN 1042-8275. JSTOR 43925736.
  14. ^ Malanotte-Rizzoli, Paola; Young, Roberta E. (1997-12-01). "Gulf Stream System Assimilation Experiments: A Sensitivity Study". Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. 14 (6): 1392–1408. Bibcode:1997JAtOT..14.1392M. doi:10.1175/1520-0426(1997)014<1392:GSSAEA>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0739-0572.
  15. ^ Malanotte-Rizzoli, Paola (1984-06-01). "Boundary-Forced Nonlinear Planetary Radiation". Journal of Physical Oceanography. 14 (6): 1032–1046. Bibcode:1984JPO....14.1032M. doi:10.1175/1520-0485(1984)014<1032:BFNPR>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0022-3670.
  16. ^ Goni, G. J.; Rizzoli, P. M. (2003-11-12). Interhemispheric Water Exchange in the Atlantic Ocean. Elsevier. ISBN 978-0-08-053489-3.
  17. ^ Wei, Jun; Malanotte-Rizzoli, Paola; Eltahir, Elfatih A. B.; Xue, Pengfei; Xu, Danya (2014-09-01). "Coupling of a regional atmospheric model (RegCM3) and a regional oceanic model (FVCOM) over the maritime continent". Climate Dynamics. 43 (5): 1575–1594. Bibcode:2014ClDy...43.1575W. doi:10.1007/s00382-013-1986-3. hdl:1721.1/87722. ISSN 1432-0894. S2CID 6549524.
  18. ^ "IPCC Authors (beta)". archive.ipcc.ch. Retrieved 2021-07-26..
  19. ^ McHugh, Josh (August 1, 2003). "The Lost City of Venice". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
  20. ^ Rossi, Marcello (April 5, 2018). "Will a Huge New Flood Barrier Save Venice?". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
  21. ^ "Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli". 2010-08-12. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
  22. ^ "Biennale Architettura 2021 -- Laura Fregolent; Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli". La Biennale di Venezia. 2020-04-15. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
  23. ^ Dizikes, Peter (July 8, 2021). "At the Venice Biennale, an architecture exhibition to meet the moment". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
  24. ^ "Masi Foundation, Roll of Honour of Masi Prize Winners". www.fondazionemasi.com. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
  25. ^ "List of Fellows". American Meteorological Society. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  26. ^ "Rizzoli". Honors Program.
  27. ^ "Rachel Carson Lecture | AGU". www.agu.org. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  28. ^ "Marchi Lecture 2018, 22 Giugno (Catania) - presentazioni e foto | GRUPPO iTALIANO DI iDRAULICA". www.gii-idraulica.net (in Italian). Retrieved 23 July 2021.
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