This year the CSAG UNITAR/C3D+ Winterschool participants visited Backsberg Estate Cellars and the Sustainability Institute for their field day. Backsberg Estate Cellars were chosen as they are the first wine producers in South Africa and one of only three in the world to gain Carbon Neutral status by sequestrating their carbon emissions. The participants were… Read more »
The location, variance and shape of statistical climatology As the curtain falls on the 12th International Meeting on Statistical Climatology (IMSC), it is time to spend a few moments to reflect on the past week. Location Every three years, the world’s statisticians and climate scientists get together to share results, methodologies and insights in a… Read more »
As I am moving into the frightening world of my PhD I have recently been asking myself questions like: Why am I drawn to scientific research? What is the point of research? Why do I want to commit to something that makes me feel stupid? A PhD or any other research for that matter is… Read more »
(This blog was written as an op-ed for the Sunday Times) Tens of thousands of scientific papers, thousands of top scientists, decades of research, and summarized in one newspaper article? I think not. The challenge is to ask you to suspend your opinion for a moment. Forget “It’s a hoax” or “we’re all going to… Read more »
Recently, I was impressed by Kayleigh Dodd’s vivid views about the precarious financial status of a young research scientist in a poorly funded field (http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/brain-flapping/2013/apr/26/research-scientist-thats-why-i-drink). I share the feeling that “the biggest struggle isn’t the pursuit of the undiscovered; but in fact getting the cash to do the work”. However, I am very likely in… Read more »
Earlier this year I wrote a guest post titled “My academic life so far” on a blog entitled “Evidence and Reason”. The post covers some of my adventures in academia and how I have felt about them. The blog itself is run by Jason Bosch, a MSc student in genetics and microbiology at UCT, and it… Read more »
CSAG, like many climate research units, is experiencing an ever-growing demand for “climate services”. In this context, I would define climate services as a mechanism for disseminating the results of research to the wider audience be it through capacity building/training, developing learning resources, developing online data sharing resources or through tailored consultancy work. It is… Read more »
I took 3 months late last year to travel to research sites in the region for data collection. I am carrying out a study which seeks to assess how climate change can impact smallholder crop production in southern Africa. The intention was to collect agronomic data for evaluating the performance of DSSAT (the crop model… Read more »
West African weather is largely controlled by the annual north-south oscillatory movements of the Inter Tropical Discontinuity (ITD), an imaginary line that separates cool maritime equatorial south-westerly wind from hot continental north-easterly wind. ITD reaches its northern-most (22°N) and southern-most (4°N) positions during the months of August and January respectively. Deep convective systems responsible for… Read more »