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About

About

I’m a senior researcher at INESC TEC, working at the interface of data science, earth observation and robotics. My background is in physics and applied mathematics (astronomy), with a master degree in the field of scientific computing and a PhD in surveying engineering [Thesis: Sea level change in the North Atlantic from tide gauges and satellite altimetry]. My research is highly interdisciplinary, with a strong emphasis on data science, particularly time series analysis of environmental data. I’m keen on ensuring that data is FAIR and open, and I have published and made publicly available +10 datasets. I edited a book and 4 topical volumes, and authored 3 book chapters and +55 papers in international peer-reviewed journals. I served as expert evaluator for +10 foreign funding institutions.


Details

Details

  • Name

    Susana Alexandra Barbosa
  • Role

    Senior Researcher
  • Since

    12th January 2015
009
Publications

2024

SHORT: Evaluating Tools for Enhancing Reproducibility in Computational Scientific Experiments

Authors
Costa, L; Barbosa, S; Cunha, J;

Publication
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2ND ACM CONFERENCE ON REPRODUCIBILITY AND REPLICABILITY, ACM REP 2024

Abstract
Ensuring the reproducibility of computational scientific experiments is crucial for advancing research and fostering scientific integrity. However, achieving reproducibility poses significant challenges, particularly in the absence of appropriate software tools to help. This paper addresses this issue by comparing existing tools designed to assist researchers across various fields in achieving reproducibility in their work. We were able to successfully run eight tools and execute them to reproduce three existing experiments from different domains. Our findings show the critical role of technical choices in shaping the capabilities of these tools for reproducibility efforts. By evaluating these tools for replicating experiments, we contribute insights into the current landscape of reproducibility support in scientific research. Our analysis offers guidance for researchers seeking appropriate tools to enhance the reproducibility of their experiments, highlighting the importance of informed technical decisions in facilitating reproducibility across diverse domains.

2024

Characterisation of Dansgaard-Oeschger events in palaeoclimate time series using the matrix profile method

Authors
Barbosa, S; Silva, ME; Rousseau, DD;

Publication
NONLINEAR PROCESSES IN GEOPHYSICS

Abstract
Palaeoclimate time series, reflecting the state of Earth's climate in the distant past, occasionally display very large and rapid shifts showing abrupt climate variability. The identification and characterisation of these abrupt transitions in palaeoclimate records is of particular interest as this allows for understanding of millennial climate variability and the identification of potential tipping points in the context of current climate change. Methods that are able to characterise these events in an objective and automatic way, in a single time series, or across two proxy records are therefore of particular interest. In our study the matrix profile approach is used to describe Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) events, abrupt warmings detected in the Greenland ice core, and Northern Hemisphere marine and continental records. The results indicate that canonical events DO-19 and DO-20, occurring at around 72 and 76 ka, are the most similar events over the past 110 000 years. These transitions are characterised by matching transitions corresponding to events DO-1, DO-8, and DO-12. They are abrupt, resulting in a rapid shift to warmer conditions, followed by a gradual return to cold conditions. The joint analysis of the delta 18O and Ca2+ time series indicates that the transition corresponding to the DO-19 event is the most similar event across the two time series.

2024

The SAIL dataset of marine atmospheric electric field observations over the Atlantic Ocean

Authors
Barbosa, S; Dias, N; Almeida, C; Amaral, G; Ferreira, A; Camilo, A; Silva, E;

Publication

Abstract
Abstract. A unique dataset of marine atmospheric electric field observations over the Atlantic Ocean is described. The data are relevant not only for atmospheric electricity studies, but more generally for studies of the Earth's atmosphere and climate variability, as well as space-earth interactions studies. In addition to the atmospheric electric field data, the dataset includes simultaneous measurements of other atmospheric  variables, including gamma radiation, visibility, and solar radiation. These ancillary observations not only support interpretation and understanding of the atmospheric electric field data, but are also of interest in themselves. The entire framework from data collection to final derived datasets has been duly documented to ensure traceability and reproducibility of the whole data curation chain. All the data, from raw measurements to final datasets, are preserved in data repositories with a corresponding assigned DOI. Final datasets are available from the Figshare repository (https://figshare.com/projects/SAIL_Data/178500) and computational notebooks containing the code used at every step of the data curation chain are available from the Zenodo repository (https://zenodo.org/communities/sail).

2023

Automatic characterisation of Dansgaard-Oeschger events in palaeoclimate ice records

Authors
Barbosa, S; Silva, ME; Dias, N; Rousseau, D;

Publication

Abstract
Greenland ice core records display abrupt transitions, designated as Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) events, characterised by episodes of rapid warming (typically decades) followed by a slower cooling. The identification of abrupt transitions is hindered by the typical low resolution and small size of paleoclimate records, and their significant temporal variability. Furthermore, the amplitude and duration of the DO events varies substantially along the last glacial period, which further hinders the objective identification of abrupt transitions from ice core records Automatic, purely data-driven methods, have the potential to foster the identification of abrupt transitions in palaeoclimate time series in an objective way, complementing the traditional identification of transitions by visual inspection of the time series.In this study we apply an algorithmic time series method, the Matrix Profile approach, to the analysis of the NGRIP Greenland ice core record, focusing on:- the ability of the method to retrieve in an automatic way abrupt transitions, by comparing the anomalies identified by the matrix profile method with the expert-based identification of DO events;- the characterisation of DO events, by classifying DO events in terms of shape and identifying events with similar warming/cooling temporal patternThe results for the NGRIP time series show that the matrix profile approach struggles to retrieve all the abrupt transitions that are identified by experts as DO events, the main limitation arising from the diversity in length of DO events and the method’s dependence on fixed-size sub-sequences within the time series. However, the matrix profile method is able to characterise the similarity of shape patterns between DO events in an objective and consistent way.

2023

Precipitation-Driven Gamma Radiation Enhancement Over the Atlantic Ocean

Authors
Barbosa, S; Dias, N; Almeida, C; Silva, G; Ferreira, A; Camilo, A; Silva, E;

Publication
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES

Abstract
Gamma radiation over the Atlantic Ocean was measured continuously from January to May 2020 by a NaI(Tl) detector installed on board the Portuguese navy's ship NRP Sagres. Enhancements in the gamma radiation values are identified automatically by an algorithm for detection of anomalies in mean and variance as well as by visual inspection. The anomalies are typically +50% above the background level and relatively rare events (similar to<10% of the days). All the detected anomalies are associated with simultaneous precipitation events, consistent with the wet deposition of scavenged radionuclides. The enhancements are detected in the open ocean even at large distances (+500 km) from the nearest coastline. Back trajectories reveal that half of these events are associated with air masses experiencing continental land influences, but the other half do not display evidence of recent land contact. The enhancements in gamma radiation very far from land and with no evidence of continental fetch from back trajectories are difficult to explain as resulting only from radionuclides with a terrestrial source such as radon and its progeny. Further investigation and additional measurements are needed to improve understanding on the sources of ambient radioactivity in the open ocean and assess whether gamma radiation in the marine environment is influenced not only by radionuclides of terrestrial origin, but also cosmogenic radionuclides, like Beryllium-7, formed in the upper atmosphere but with the ability to be transported downward and serve as a tracer of the aerosols to which it attaches. Plain Language Summary Radioactive elements such as the noble gas radon and those produced by its radioactive decay are naturally present in the environment and used as tracers of atmospheric transport and composition. In particular, the noble gas radon, being inert and of predominantly terrestrial origin, is used to identify pristine marine air masses with no land contamination. Precipitation over land typically brings radon from the atmosphere to the surface, enhancing gamma radiation on the ground, but such enhancements have not been identified before nor expected over the ocean due to the low amount of radon typical of marine air masses. Here we report, for the first time, gamma radiation enhancements associated with precipitation in the oceanic environment, using measurements performed over the Atlantic Ocean in a campaign onboard the Portuguese navy ship NRP Sagres.

Supervised
thesis

2023

Analysis and classification of marine solar radiation data

Author
Márcia Silva Leite

Institution

2021

ClimateCollab: A collaborative graph for reproducible evidence of climate change

Author
Lázaro Gabriel Barros da Costa

Institution

2021

Prediction of extreme values in data streams

Author
Nuno Moura da Costa

Institution