Henrique Barbosa

Henrique Barbosa
Contact Information
hbarbosa@umbc.edu
410-455-1248
Physics, Rm 416

Barbosa Group

Title

Associate Professor

Education

Ph.D. 2004 State University at Campinas, Physics
M.S. 2000 State University at Campinas, Physics
B.S. 1998 State University at Campinas, Physics

Previous Experience

2019 Visiting professor, University of Granada, Spain
2017 – 2018 Visiting professor, University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA
2016 – 2021 Associate Professor, Physics Institute, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
2015 Visiting professor, University of Manchester, UK
2008 – 2016 Assistant Professor, Physics Institute, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
2007 – 2008 Assistant Researcher, Brazilian Institute for Space Research, Brazil
2004 – 2007 Postdoctoral Researcher, Brazilian Institute for Space Research, Brazil

Professional Interests

Dr. Barbosa’s research focuses on understanding the interaction of tropical rainforests with the atmosphere on multiple spatial and temporal scales, particularly the effect of deforestation and climate change on the hydrological cycle and the development of clouds, and the feedbacks in the climate system. On the macro scale, this involves looking at how water vapor released by the rainforest is transported thousands of kilometers promoting rain along the way; while on the micro scale, it involves cloud-aerosol interactions and how anthropogenic emissions modify these interactions.

To do so, our group combines different modeling tools with unprecedented cloud and aerosol observations over the Amazon rainforest. For instance, we have used a combination of Lagrangean dispersion model and complex-networks to perform the only study ever to include multiple land-evaporation cycles when looking at moisture transport, which we called “cascading moisture recycling”. We have also developed dynamical-system approaches or applied artificial intelligence models to investigate vegetation-atmosphere-precipitation coupling. Our group also relies on observations, for instance, to investigate how clouds over tropical rainforests grow from shallow warm clouds into organized thunderstorms, and how this processes is affected by anthropogenic activities.

We are always looking for excellent postdoctoral scholars and students of all. If you are interested, please send me an email.

Selected Publications

See complete list of my publications here:
Shrivastava et al., 2019: Urban pollution greatly enhances formation of natural aerosols over the Amazon rainforest, Nature Communications, volume 10, Article number: 1046

Fan et al., 2018: Substantial convection and precipitation enhancements by ultrafine aerosol particles, Science, Vol. 359, Issue 6374, pp. 411-418

Zemp et al., 2017: Self-amplified Amazon forest loss due to vegetation-atmosphere feedbacks. Nature Communications 8, Article number: 14681

Boers et al., 2017: A deforestation-induced tipping point for the South American monsoon system. Nature Scientific Reports 7, Article number: 41489

Wang et al., 2016: Amazon boundary layer aerosol concentration sustained by vertical transport during rainfall. Nature, 539, 416–419

Rosenfeld et al., 2016: Satellite retrieval of cloud condensation nuclei concentrations by using clouds as CCN chambers. PNAS, 113 (21), 5828-5834

Boers et al., 2014: Prediction of Extreme Floods in the Eastern Central Andes: A Complex Networks Approach, Nat. Commun. 5:5199

Some paper’s highlights:
2018
Even the tiniest aerosol particles can kick up a storm
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/481572

2017
Fewer trees mean less rain for the Amazon basin, https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-017-01215-3

2016
Amazon rainstorms transport atmospheric particles for cloud formation
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161024133844.htm

2014
New forecasting method: Predicting extreme floods in the Andes mountains https://phys.org/news/2014-10-method-extreme-andes-mountains.html

2011
Rivers on high, Anna Armstrong, Nature Geoscience 4, 580 https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo1254