Paulo F. Penteado
ppenteado.net
📧 pp.penteado@gmail.com
📍 Los Angeles, CA
LinkedIn
Summary
Scientist with over 20 years of experience in developing algorithms and pipelines to explore, process, and visualize remote sensing observations—from Earth to deep space. Proven track record designing mission-critical tools, enabling scalable and automated analysis, and delivering operational products for NASA missions in Earth, planetary, and solar science.
Expertise
- Remote Sensing: Earth (AIRS, MODIS, VIIRS, ASTER, HyTES, SMAP), Titan (Cassini VIMS, ISS, CIRS, UVIS, RADAR), Sun (Parker Solar Probe, Solar Orbiter), generating data products and visualizations for scientists, stakeholders and the public, including distribution through GIBS, Worldview, Eyes on Earth, A-SIPS, CSPP, DRL.
- Scientific Software Development: From research algorithms to production pipelines
- Geospatial Data Mining & Visualization: Interactive and automated tools
- Radiative Transfer & Geometry Modeling: MODTRAN, Discrete Ordinates, SPICE
- Data Processing: OpenMP, MPI, EC2/Lambda, CUDA
Core Skills
- Algorithm development for radiative transfer, observation geometry, and data fusion
- Automation of bulk data processing and visualization pipelines
- Mission design tools for observation planning and strategy optimization
- Remote sensing data mining to detect anomalies, patterns, and trends
- Programming: IDL, Python, C/C++, Fortran, Java, SQL, Git
Experience
Jet Propulsion Laboratory – Pasadena, CA
Data Visualization Developer (2016 – Present)
- Built and deployed automated, parallelized pipelines for AIRS hyperspectral products via LANCE/GIBS and Worldview
- Developed algorithms for radiometric and geometric mapping of solar data (Parker Solar Probe, Solar Orbiter)
- Contributed to Plume Tracker for detecting atmospheric emissions using radiative transfer modeling
- Created planning tools for MAIA’s observation targeting and strategy
- Developed tools for Cassini imaging and hyperspectral observations (VIMS, ISS, CIRS, UVIS, RADAR), including titanbrowse and OMINAS.
Northern Arizona University – Flagstaff, AZ
Postdoctoral Researcher (2013 – 2015)
- Modeled Titan’s atmospheric and surface properties from Cassini VIMS data
- Created georeferenced mosaics of planetary data
- Built searchable databases of planetary observations
Universidade de São Paulo – São Paulo, Brazil
Postdoctoral Researcher (2008 – 2013)
- Expanded titanbrowse for high-performance hyperspectral exploration
- Helped discover Titan’s tropical lakes by mining VIMS datasets
- Initiated work on perceptual colormaps for science visualization
Education
University of Arizona – Tucson, AZ
Ph.D. in Planetary Sciences (2003 – 2008)
- Developed titanbrowse tool in IDL
- Analyzed methane clouds and haze on Titan using radiative transfer techniques
Observatório Nacional – Brazil
M.Sc. in Astronomy (2002 – 2003)
- Simulated angular momentum evolution in asteroid collisions
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro – Brazil
B.Sc. in Astronomy, Magna cum Laude (1998 – 2002)
- Developed physical simulations of rubble-pile asteroid fragmentation
Tools & Languages
IDL, Python, C/C++, Fortran, SQL, Java, Git, MODTRAN, SPICE, OpenMP, MPI, EC2, Lambda, SExtractor, IRAF, GeoTIFF, KMZ, GeoJSON, GeoCSV, netCDF, HDF, ENVI, ISIS, FITS, VICAR, PDS
Publications
See full list on Google Scholar, Researcher ID, or Scopus.
Selected Publications
- Structure of the Plasma near the Heliospheric Current Sheet as Seen by WISPR/Parker Solar Probe from inside the Streamer Belt
PC Liewer, A Vourlidas, G Stenborg, RA Howard, J Qiu, P Penteado, O Panasenco, CR Braga
The Astrophysical Journal (2023)
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acc8c7 - Extracting the Heliographic Coordinates of Coronal Rays Using Images from WISPR/Parker Solar Probe
PC Liewer, J Qiu, F Ark, P Penteado, G Stenborg, A Vourlidas, JR Hall, P Riley
Solar Physics (2022)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-022-02058-6 - Evolution of a streamer-blowout CME as observed by imagers on Parker Solar Probe and the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory
PC Liewer, J Qiu, A Vourlidas, JR Hall, P Penteado
Astronomy & Astrophysics (2021)
https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202039641 - Tracking solar wind flows from rapidly varying viewpoints by the Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe
A Nindos, S Patsourakos, A Vourlidas, PC Liewer, P Penteado, JR Hall
Astronomy & Astrophysics (2021)
https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202039414 - Trajectory Determination for Coronal Ejecta Observed by WISPR/Parker Solar Probe
PC Liewer, J Qiu, P Penteado, JR Hall, A Vourlidas, RA Howard
Solar Physics (2020)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-020-01715-y - Near-Sun observations of an F-corona decrease and K-corona fine structure
RA Howard et al., including P Penteado
Nature (2019)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1807-x - Simulating White Light Images of Coronal Structures for WISPR/Parker Solar Probe
P Liewer, A Vourlidas, A Thernisien, J Qiu, P Penteado, G Nisticò, R Howard
Solar Physics (2019)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-019-1489-4 - A corridor of exposed ice-rich bedrock across Titan’s tropical region
CA Griffith, P Penteado et al.
Nature Astronomy (2019)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-019-0756-5 - Current paradigms in parallelization: a comparison of vectorization, OpenMP and MPI
P Penteado
Journal of Computational Interdisciplinary Sciences (2015)
https://doi.org/10.6062/jcis.2012.03.03.0057 - Software and cyber-infrastructure development to control the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre (OAJ)
Includes P Penteado
SPIE Proceedings (2014)
https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2054944 - Goals and strategies in the global control design of the OAJ Robotic Observatory
Includes P Penteado
Highlights of Spanish Astrophysics VII (2013)
ADS Link - Possible tropical lakes on Titan from observations of dark terrain
C.A. Griffith, J. Lora, J. Turner, P. Penteado et al.
Nature (2012)
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11165 - Radiative transfer analyses of Titan’s tropical atmosphere
C.A. Griffith, L. Doose, M.G. Tomasko, P.F. Penteado et al.
Icarus (2012)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2011.11.034 - Latitudinal variations in Titan’s methane and haze from Cassini VIMS observations
P.F. Penteado et al.
Icarus (2010)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2009.11.003 - Ground-based measurements of the methane distribution on Titan
P.F. Penteado, C.A. Griffith
Icarus (2010)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2009.08.022 - VIMS spectral mapping observations of Titan during the Cassini prime mission
J.W. Barnes, P. Penteado et al.
Planetary and Space Science (2009)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2009.04.013 - Characterization of Clouds in Titan’s Tropical Atmosphere
C.A. Griffith, P. Penteado et al.
The Astrophysical Journal Letters (2009)
https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/702/2/L105 - Evidence for a Polar Ethane Cloud on Titan
C.A. Griffith, P. Penteado et al.
Science (2006)
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1128245 - The Evolution of Titan’s Mid-Latitude Clouds
C.A. Griffith, P. Penteado et al.
Science (2005)
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1117702 - Observations of Titan’s Mesosphere
C.A. Griffith, P. Penteado et al.
The Astrophysical Journal (2005)
https://doi.org/10.1086/444533 - Measurements of CH₃D and CH₄ in Titan from Infrared Spectroscopy
P.F. Penteado, C.A. Griffith, T.K. Greathouse, C. de Bergh
The Astrophysical Journal (2005)
https://doi.org/10.1086/444353 - Interacting ellipsoids: a minimal model for the dynamics of rubble-pile bodies
F. Roig, R. Duffard, P. Penteado, D. Lazzaro, T. Kodama
Icarus (2003)
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0019-1035(03)00216-1
Theses / dissertations