Neena Joseph Mani
Associate Professor and Associate Dean (Academics)
Earth and Climate Science
Monsoon dynamics, Intraseasonal Oscillations, equatorial waves, teleconnections, predictability
+91-20-25908182
neena@iiserpune.ac.in
Neena J Mani obtained her PhD in Atmospheric Science in 2012 from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune. She was a postdoctoral fellow jointly at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology and University of California Los Angeles before joining IISER Pune in 2015.
Research
Tropical climate variability and predictability
Neena’s research primarily focuses on tropical intraseasonal oscillations (Tropical ISO), particularly the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) and the Boreal Summer Intraseasonal Oscillation (BSISO), and their predictability. These tropical modes, along with other equatorial wave modes, strongly influence monsoon variability and act as major sources of predictability on subseasonal to seasonal timescales. Using numerical forecast outputs, her work investigates both the theoretical and practical limits of predictability across different scales of atmospheric variability. She is also interested in understanding how large-scale climate modes—such as El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO)—affect both short- and long-term variability of the Indian summer monsoon. In addition, her research explores the interactions between different climate modes and examines how large-scale circulation systems respond to a warming climate.
Her research group addresses these problems using a combination of climate data analysis, machine learning and numerical modelling approaches.
Some of her key research contributions include:
1. Identification of a decline in monsoon weather predictability in a warming climate
2. Quantification of the predictability of Tropical Intraseasonal Oscillations in contemporary climate models
3. Development of model performance metrics for evaluating intraseasonal oscillations
4. Advancing a mechanistic understanding of the El Niño–monsoon teleconnection
Selected Publications
Baruah, P.P.*, Neena, J.M., and Suhas, E. (2025): The role of tropical synoptic-scale disturbances in modulating the strength of east Pacific Hadley circulation. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 130, e2024JD042980. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JD042980
A. Dutta*, R. Sivankutty and J.M. Neena (2024): Investigating the Atlantic-Indian monsoon teleconnection pathways in PMIP3 Last Millennium Simulations, Climate Dynamics, 62, 1765-1782, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-023-06994-2
J.M. Neena, E. Suhas, and X. Jiang (2022): Modulation of the Convectively Coupled Kelvin Waves by the MJO over Different Domains, Journal of Climate, 35, 7025-7039, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-21-0641.1
Neena, J.M., E. Suhas and R. Murtugudde (2020): Boreal Spring El Niño Convective State and Its Impact on Monsoon Onset, Geophysical Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090136.
Neena, J.M., D. Waliser and X. Jiang (2017): Model Performance Metrics and Process Diagnostics for Boreal Summer Intraseasonal Variability. Climate Dynamics 48(5–6):1661–1683, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-016-3166-8
Neena, J.M., J-Y, Lee, D. Waliser, B. Wang, and X. Jiang (2014). Predictability of Madden-Julian Oscillation in the Intraseasonal Variability Hindcast Experiment (ISVHE). Journal of Climate 27:4531–4543, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00624.1