Faculty
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Overview
Professor Mikael Witte studies clouds, precipitation and convection. He uses observations from aircraft and remote sensing platforms to gain a better understanding of the physical processes driving clouds and precipitation, and applies that knowledge to develop simplified representations of these processes in numerical models of the atmosphere.
Education
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PhD - University of California-Santa Cruz 2016
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BA - St. Olaf College 2008
NPS Experience
- 2021 - current: Assistant Professor
Other Experience
- 2019 - 2021 Assistant Researcher, University of California Los Angeles
- 2018 - 2019 Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California Los Angeles
- 2016 - 2018 Advanced Study Program Postdoctoral Fellow, National Center for Atmospheric Research
Research Interests
Dr. Witte's research interests are at the interface of cloud microphysics and boundary layer turbulence. He uses a broad suite of observations (airborne cloud measurements, ground-based remote sensing and space-borne remote sensing) and very high-resolution simulations to understand the physical processes governing evolution of clouds. These insights are then implemented in numerical weather prediction models to improve the representations of cloud and turbulence processes.
Teaching Interests
Dr. Witte teaches a variety of courses in meteorology and atmospheric science including: cloud physics; fundamentals of numerical weather prediction systems; atmospheric thermodynamics and radiation; remote sensing; and midlatitude synoptic meteorology.
Boards, Memberships, & Certifications
Professional Memberships
- 2009 American Meteorological Society
- 2009 American Geophysical Union
Scholarly Work
Publications
- Journal Articles
- Passer, SR, Witte, M., & Chuang, P, (2025). Aircraft evaluation of MODIS cloud drop number concentration retrievals. ATMOSPHERIC MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES, 15(18), 3819-3831.
- Meyer, K., Platnick, S., Arnold, G. T., Amarasinghe, N., Miller, D., Small-Griswold, J., Witte, M., Cairns, B., Gupta, S., McFarquhar, G., & O'Brien, J, (2025). Evaluating spectral cloud effective radius retrievals from the Enhanced MODIS Airborne Simulator (eMAS) during ORACLES. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 4(18), 981-1011.
- Jeong, J., Witte, M., & Smalley, M, (2023). Effects of Wind Shear and Aerosol Conditions on the Organization of Precipitating Marine Stratocumulus Clouds. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES, 24(128).
- Lebsock, M. D., & Witte, M, (2023). Quantifying the dependence of drop spectrum width on cloud drop number concentration for cloud remote sensing. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 22(23), 14293-14305.
- Chinita, M. J., Witte, M., Kurowski, M. J., Teixeira, J., Suselj, K., Matheou, G., & Bogenschutz, P, (2023). Improving the representation of shallow cumulus convection with the Simplified Higher-Order Closure Mass-Flux (SHOC+MF v1.0) approach. Geoscientific Model Development.
- Witte, M., Herrington, A., Teixeira, J., Kurowski, M., Chinita, M., Storer, R., Suselj, K., Matheou, G., & Bacmeister, J, (2022). Augmenting the Double-Gaussian Representation of Atmospheric Turbulence and Convection via a Coupled Stochastic Multi-Plume Mass-Flux Scheme. MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW, 9(150), 2339-2355.
- Suselj, K., Smalley, M., Lebsock, M., Kurowski, M., Witte, M., & Teixeira, J, (2022). Coupling Warm Rain With an Eddy Diffusivity/Mass Flux Parameterization: 1. Model Description and Validation. JOURNAL OF ADVANCES IN MODELING EARTH SYSTEMS, 8(14).
- Jeong, J., Witte, M., Glenn, I., Smalley, M., Lebsock, M., Lamer, K., & Zhu, Z, (2022). Distinct Dynamical and Structural Properties of Marine Stratocumulus and Shallow Cumulus Clouds in the Eastern North Atlantic. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES, 19(127).
- Witte, M., Morrison, H., Davis, A., & Teixeira, J, (2022). Limitations of Bin and Bulk Microphysics in Reproducing the Observed Spatial Structure of Light Precipitation. JOURNAL OF THE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 1(79), 161-178.
- Smalley, M. A., Suselj, K., Lebsock, M. D., & Witte, M, (2022). Coupling Warm Rain With an Eddy Diffusivity/Mass Flux Parameterization: 2. Sensitivities and Comparison to Observations. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 8(14), e2021MS002729.
- Chandrakar, K. K., Morrison, H., & Witte, M, (2022). Evolution of Droplet Size Distributions During the Transition of an Ultraclean Stratocumulus Cloud System to Open Cell Structure: An LES Investigation Using Lagrangian Microphysics. Geophysical Research Letters, 17(49).
- Smalley, K. M., Lebsock, M. D., Eastman, R., Smalley, M., & Witte, M, (2022). A Lagrangian Analysis of Pockets of Open Cells over the Southeast Pacific.
- Hu, A., Igel, A., Chuang, P., & Witte, M, (2021). Recognition of Inter-Cloud Versus Intra-Cloud Controls on Droplet Dispersion With Applications to Microphysics Parameterization. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES, 18(126).
- Zhang, Z., Song, Q., Mechem, D., Larson, V., Wang, J., Liu, Y., Witte, M., Dong, X., & Wu, P, (2021). Vertical Dependence of Horizontal Variation of Cloud Microphysics: Observations from the ACE-ENA field campaign and implications for warm rain simulation in climate models.
- Witte, M., Chuang, P., Ayala, O., Wang, L., & Feingold, G, (2019). Comparison of Observed and Simulated Drop Size Distributions from Large-Eddy Simulations with Bin Microphysics. MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW, 2(147).
- Witte, M., Morrison, H., Jensen, J., Bansemer, A., & Gettelman, A, (2019). On the Covariability of Cloud and Rain Water as a Function of Length Scale. JOURNAL OF THE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 8(76), 2295-2308.
- Witte, M., Yuan, T., Chuang, P., Platnick, S., Meyer, K., Wind, G., & Jonsson, H, (2018). MODIS Retrievals of Cloud Effective Radius in Marine Stratocumulus Exhibit No Significant Bias. GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, 19(45), 10656-10664.
- Morrison, H., Witte, M., Bryan, G. H., Harrington, J. Y., & Lebo, Z. J, (2018). Broadening of Modeled Cloud Droplet Spectra Using Bin Microphysics in an Eulerian Spatial Domain. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 11(75), 4005-4030.
- Witte, M., Ayala, O., Wang, L., Bott, A., & Chuang, P, (2017). Estimating collision-coalescence rates from in situ observations of marine stratocumulus. QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, 708(143), 2755-2763.
- Technical Reports
- Russell, L., Lubin, D., Silber, I., Eloranta, E., Muelmenstaedt, J., Burrows, S., Aiken, A., Wang, D., Petters, M., Miller, M., Ackerman, A., Fridlind, A., Witte, M., Lebsock, M., Painemal, D., Chang, R., Liggio, J., & Wheeler, M, (2023). EPCAPE Field Campaign Report.
- Pressel, K., Heus, T., Zhang, Y., van Heerwaarden, C., Jaruga, A., Matheou, G., Witte, M., Fierce, L., Lundquist, K., Ghate, V., Yang, F., Chiu, C., & Richter, D, (2023). Department of Energy’s Atmospheric System Research (ASR) Program’s Workshop on the Future of Atmospheric Large Eddy Simulation (LES): Workshop Report.
- Russell, L., Lubin, D., Silber, I., Eloranta, E., Muelmenstaedt, J., Burrows, S., Aiken, A., Wang, D., Petters, M., Miller, M., Ackerman, A., Fridlind, A., Witte, M., Lebsock, M., Painemal, D., Chang, R., Liggio, J., & Wheeler, M, (2021). Eastern Pacific Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (EPCAPE) Science Plan.