Chris Lennard

Research Staff

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 degrees in Zoology and Oceanography, 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.

Currently my CSAG projects and responsibilities include:

1. I serve on the CSAG Strategic Oversight Committee
2. Development of a Wind Atlas for South Africa (WASA ) for the assessment of renewable energy resources in South Africa.
3. I am PI on the (DECIMALS) project that is investigating the impacts of geoengineering on the southern African and African climate.
4. I am a member of the scientific team in two EU H2020 projects, namely FOCUS-Africa and CONFER. Furthermore I contribute to activities facilitating the co-production of knowledge by stakeholders and scientists to inform adaptation and mitigation strategies in response to global warming impacts, including the FRACTAL project.
5. I lecture into climate related courses at UCT and the CSAG Winterschool.
6. Student supervision at the Post-graduate and Post-Doctoral levels.

Internationally my responsibilities include:

1. Through the Co-Ordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX ) I lead the CORDEX-Africa Analysis Initiative; the development of the CORDEX Impacts Atlas for Africa; served a term on the CORDEX Scientific Advisory Team and am currently a Point of Contact for Africa. One of my current Cordex responsibilities includes the engagement of users of climate information which I find particularly satisfying.
2. For the IPCC 6th Assessment Cycle I am a lead author in the IPCC AR6 WG2 Africa chapter (Chapter 9) and was a lead author in Chapter 2 of the IPCC Special Report on Land and Climate.
3. I serve on the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Academy Lighthouse, am a regional focal point for Africa and facilitate the activities of the WCRP African Climate Research Forum .
4. I serve on the Vulnerability, Impacts, Adaptation and Climate Services (VIACS) Advisory Board for CMIP6 that seeks to enhance the use of climate modeling for applications around the world.

Please see my ORCID or Google Scholar profiles for my publications list.

When I'm not doing that I'm trying my best to be a good husband and dad; I love running or biking somewhere on Table Mountain and very occasionally, as opportunity presents itself, satisfy my craving to ski!

If any of the above resonates with you feel free to get in touch using lennard at csag dot uct dot ac dot za.

"Everywhere you go you always take the weather with you"......Crowded House    

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