Chris Lennard

Although now a climatologist, I am a lapsed zoologist who has also dabbled in the dark art of oceanography. As such I hold an undergraduate degree in Zoology and post graduate degrees in Ocean and Atmospheric Science (B.Sc. Hons), Zoology (M.Sc.) and Climatology (Ph.D.). As a zoologist I was interested in the historic causes of historic avian extinction (introduced predators) and how these have changed over time with respect to the current most threatened species (habitat loss). My Ph.D. tested the ability of a regional climate model (MM5) to capture extreme rainfall events over Cape Town, South Africa. I have also lectured into a number of climate related courses at UCT and the CSAG Winterschool. Currently my responsibilities include: 1. Development of a wind atlas for South Africa (WASA ) using both statistical and dynamical methods for the assessment of renewable energy resources in South Africa. 2. Through the Co-Ordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX ) I lead the CORDEX-Africa Analysis Initiative and the development of an Impacts Atlas for Africa that will provide information on the regional climate expression of climate change under 1.5, 2 and 4 degrees of global warning as well as impacts of these changes on various sectors of society. One of my current Cordex responsibilities includes the engagement of users of climate information which I find particularly satisfying. 3. I am a lead author in Chapter 2 of the IPCC Special Report on Land and Climate and in AR6, WG2 Chapter 9 - Africa. 4. I am a member of the climate science work package in the Future Climate For Africa (FCFA) Future Resilience for African Cities and Lands (FRACTAL) project. Within FRACTAL I am involved in several sub-projects:

a. Quantifying the uncertainty in observed rainfall across Africa and development of a probabilistic observed rainfall dataset.

b. An assessment of the co-behaviour of remote and regional drivers of southern African rainfall.

5. The development of seasonal agricultural forecasts over southern Africa through testing the sensitivity of the agricultural models to the climate forecast to minimize uncertainties and errors in the crop modelling. 6. The development of seasonal hydrological forecasts over southern Africa from a suite of climate forecasts (included statistically and dynamically downscaled forecasts), hydrological models and land surface models including a quantification of uncertainty in the forecasting system and the development of user-friendly metrics. But I'd rather be running on a mountain or cycling or skiing. "Everywhere you go you always take the weather with you"......Crowded House

Personal Site