CW3E Welcomes Yazmina Rojas Beltran

January 9, 2024

Yazmina Rojas Beltran joined CW3E in January 2024 as a postdoctoral scholar.

Yazmina earned her BSc in Geophysics from the Universidad de Concepcion, Chile (2016), and her PhD in atmospheric science from the University at Albany in New York (2023). Yazmina’s doctoral dissertation focused on improving the understanding of orographic precipitation over the mountains of Extratropical South America, and on analyzing the utility of different datasets and tools to investigate high elevation precipitation data in a region with limited long-term records. Using a combination of observations, modeling, and reanalysis, she investigated the processes and mechanisms modulating the rain shadow strength over the southern Andes including the role of stability, atmospheric rivers, barrier jets, moisture flux, and synoptic storm structures.

At CW3E, under the supervision of Dr. Jason Cordeira, Yazmina will contribute to improving the understanding of landfalling atmospheric rivers and their interaction with topography, including the influence of the Sierra Barrier Jet on the orographic precipitation distribution and predictability in Northern California.