The snake thermometer

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  “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 »

Forecasting goals

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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 »

Personal complicity and responsibility

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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 »

The role of regional climate projections in managing complex socio-ecological systems

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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 »

Worth the risk?

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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 exciting new postdoctoral opportunities at CSAG

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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 »

Meeting the challenges of climate change in Botswana

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Scientists from CSAG recently travelled to Botswana to facilitate a training workshop with climate change adaptation experts from Indigo Development & Change and One World. Organised by USAID, through the Resilience in the Limpopo Basin Project (RESILIM), and the Southern Africa Regional Environmental Program (SAREP), the workshop aimed to improve the climate change knowledge and… Read more »

The recent slow-down in global warming: Why is it happening? Has global warming stopped?

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The recent slowdown in global warming is becoming a hot topic among climate scientists, skeptics of human caused global warming and policy makers. Recent analyses indicate that the rate of warming in observed global temperatures has not been as high in the last decade as it was in the previous two decades. Following this, climate… Read more »