Senior/Principal Researcher - Climatologist at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

About the Job:

The CSIR has a vacancy for a Senior/Principal Researcher: Climatologist in the Climate and Air Quality Modelling research group within the Smart Places Cluster. The incumbent will be responsible for dynamical and statistical analysis of the regional and global climate model simulations performed by the group, for both present-day and future climate, with the purpose of enhancing the understanding of African circulation dynamics. The incumbent will also be responsible for a research focus on the improvement in climate change projection systems and the downscaling of both seasonal forecasts and climate change projections, towards generating tailor-made prediction/projection products that benefit end-users. The evaluation of model forecast skill (seasonal time scale) and the reliability of projections of future climate change will be key components of the incumbent’s work. This position is based in Pretoria.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead the research group’s development of improved seasonal forecast and decadal-predictability systems;
• Develop and apply dynamical and statistical downscaling procedures of seasonal forecasts and climate simulations to obtain predictands such as streamflow and crop yield;
• Study the dynamics of Southern African inter-annual and decadal variability under present-day and future forcings;
• Act as the interface between climate modelling specialists and application modellers within the CSIR and other institutions;
• Lead proposal writing in the fields of climate change and climate variability in the active pursuit of CSIR contract research;
• Mentor and formally supervise the post-graduate research of candidate-researchers and researchers within the research group.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A Doctoral degree in meteorology/climatology or related field with at least five years’ experience in the analysis of four-dimensional climate model simulations and observed/reanalysis data sets;
• Must also have at least five years’ in the calculation of climate statistics and statistical model verification;
•  Knowledge of clustering techniques based on methods such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Self-Organising Maps (SOMs) will be a particular advantage;
• Experience in the use of process-based models and statistical approaches for regional downscaling of climate simulations and seasonal forecasts to predictands such as crop yield and streamflow;
• Experience in scientific programming (preferably Fortran, C, Python or R) and data manipulation and visualisation (e.g. in GrADS and GIS environments);
• Working knowledge of Linux operating systems;
• A recent and extensive publication record in the fields of southern African climate variability, climate change, seasonal forecasting and related downscaling techniques;
• Demonstrable skills in the communication of climate science to the general public, stakeholders and policy makers;
• Demonstrable experience and success in attracting R&D funding and the successful management of research projects;
• Good interpersonal skills and the ability to work closely with others in a research group;
• Demonstrable experience of participation and preferably leading of client projects in climate science and areas of application.