Robin Nakashita
MIT Department: Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences
Faculty Mentor: Faculty Advisor: Prof. William Green
Research Surpervisor: Julian Ufert
Undergraduate Institution: California State University, Long Beach
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Website: LinkedIn
Biography
Robin Nakashita is a senior undergraduate student pursuing a dual degree in Applied Mathematics and Physics at California State University, Long Beach. He was selected to attend the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/NASA internship workshop, expressing his interest in Earth and climate science. After this workshop, Robin helped a master’s student with his research project on using machine learning to estimate the surface groundwater discharge on volcanic tropical islands, specifically the island of French Polynesia, Mo’orea. Robin was also one of one thousand students selected to attend the California Forum for Diversity in Graduate Education at the University of San Francisco in 2023. Through this forum, Robin learned about the MIT Summer Research Program. Robin was accepted to MSRP in 2024 and works in the McGee laboratory using paleoclimate records to understand monsoon dynamics in East Africa. Robin is also the Vice President of the Water Resources Student Association at CSULB, where he actively works with his community to promote water resource applications. After he earns his Ph.D. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Robin aims to become a professor and researcher so he can collaborate with others to help mitigate the effects of climate change.
Abstract
Understanding Monsoon Dynamics in East Africa (Madagascar) and the
Indian Ocean
Robin Nakashita1, Benjamin Tiger2, David McGee2
1Department of Applied Mathematics and Physics, California State University, Long Beach
2Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology
Current climate data depicts a small fraction of total climate records on Earth. Furthermore, there is a lack of observational data for long term monsoon dynamics in the Southern Indian Ocean. Paleoclimatology reveals the past of Earth’s climate before instrumentation existed to record the changes in Earth system’s temperatures over a millennial time scale. Speleothems, such as stalagmites, help researchers and scientists identify, analyze, and record the changes in delta-18 oxygen values, which can tell us about precipitation patterns and changes in sea-surface temperatures on Earth. Understanding monsoon dynamics will help future climate scientists and environmental researchers reconstruct past precipitation and temperature changes. This project aims to analyze spatial climate data using Python and to compare paleoclimate records to climate models. By creating time-series graphs, analyzing seasonal annual precipitation patterns, and understanding the changes in the delta-oxygen 18 values, scientists can begin to predict future climate shifts. Current precipitation patterns show that Madagascar is getting drier, and the tropical rain belt located in the ITCZ is shifting North. By visualizing spatial climate data using Python and comparing climate models to climate records, I will improve our understanding of the tropical Indian Ocean sector in a changing climate.
