On Tuesday the German national team defied several historical precedents in the course of their world cup semi-final with Brazil. Like a tropical cyclone that intersects with an upper atmospheric instability, the conditions aligned for an extreme, and to many, devastating, event. Could this have been expected? Of course in retrospect we have proof that… Read more »
In order to celebrate all those who have contributed to the CSAG blog over the past few years, and to pay homage to the most interesting, entertaining and thought provoking blog posts, the Joe Blogs Award for the CSAG blog of the year has been established. It may be a little overdue but this morning… Read more »
“A lost world of giants, 60 million years old… Ruled by a reptile of unbelievable size, it sounds like fantasy, but it’s not. This world was once here… Dominated by the most terrifying predator… This is Titanoboa.” As climate scientists, we are always very excited to deepen our knowledge of future climate. But… Read more »
The other day I was invited by a friend to fill out a prediction bracket for the upcoming World Cup for a pool he had organised. In many ways relating a one off sport tournament to the analysis of climate systems is a bit of stretch. However, while doing so I noticed that there were… Read more »
We (the CSAG “seniors”) were having one of those informal lunch discussions (lounging around tables in the courtyard, surreptitiously eyeing each other’s food, talking a mixture of philosophy, fun, and frivolity). The topic morphed to the role of climate scientist’s activism in the public sphere. The subsequent vigorous debate suggests it was a sensitive point… Read more »
A new article, titled “The role of regional climate projections in managing complex socio-ecological systems”, has been published in the journal Regional Environmental Change. Written with colleagues at CSAG, namely Kate Sutherland, Chris Jack and Bruce Hewitson, the paper explores the difficulties and intricacies of using regional downscaled model climate projections to inform adaptation decisions…. Read more »
The evidence is mounting that an environmental catastrophe will unfold on the eastern slopes of Devil’s Peak. The soil and water in the area appear to have become contaminated with a potentially very dangerous substance (Substance X), although significant uncertainty still exists regarding the distribution of the substance and its concentration, as well as the… Read more »
Two Fellowships in Climate Change Projections and Scenarios 16 April 2014 Two Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (PDRF) in Climate Change Projections and Scenarios have been established at the University of Cape Town. The first PDR Fellow will be part of the ASSAR (Adaptation at Scale in Semi-Arid Regions) project, and is expected to undertake advanced research… Read more »
25 years of sustained research and the IPCC continues to state with ever increasing confidence that climate change is here and here to stay. The worry now (if at all you are worried) is not on whether climate change is occurring but rather on how to mitigate and/or adapt. If you live in a low… Read more »