The CCRM Team
Dr Richard Washington
DPhil, University of Oxford
University Lecturer in Climate Science, Oxford University Centre for the Environment and Fellow of Keble College, Oxford
Richard’s expertise is in climate variability and climate prediction. Extremes associated with climate change are likely to come about from climate variability superimposed on the changing climate system. Understanding variability is therefore crucial. Richard has a strong regional perspective on climate, especially the tropical and subtropical climates of the world. He has years of experience in evaluating how well climate models perform in key regions of the world.
Research Interests and Expertise
Thematic Areas:
- Causes and predictability of climate variability
- Relationship between climate change and climate variability
- Evaluating climate models: how well do they perform?
- Rainfall variability and change
- Role of aerosols in the climate system
World Regions of Interest:
- Africa (Sahara, West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa and southern Africa)
- Global Tropics
- Indian and Pacific Ocean basins
Examples of Research/Consultancy Topics
- In 2004 the government, through a joint DEFRA and DFID initiative, commissioned Richard to prepare a report on African climate. The report was co-authored with a dozen other scientists in the UK and drew on 40 experts worldwide and fed into the ongoing G8 initiative through the Commission for Africa. The work followed on from numerous consultancies with DFID.
- Richard was a contributing author to the chapter on the IPCC Third Assessment and is a contributing author to the observed climate chapter and a reviewer of the chapter of the Fourth Assessment. He has run several UN World Meteorological Organisation WMO CLIPS (Climate Information and Prediction Services) workshops on seasonal climate prediction in Nairobi, Kenya, Niamey, Niger and Doha, Qatar.
- He has led the development of the CLIVAR Africa Climate Atlas.
- He has been a member of the World Climate Research Program CLIVAR Africa panel (VACS) for the last three years. VACS serves as the scientific steering group for African climate science. Richard is a co-PI on the BodEx field experiment to the Bodele Depression in Chad (the dustiest place on Earth), the subject of a recent article in Nature.
Selected Recent Publications
- Engelstaedter S and Washington R (2007). Atmospheric controls on the annual cycle of North African dust, Journal of Geophysical Research, Atmospheres.
- Washington R and Preston A (2006). Extreme wet years in southern Africa: the role of the Indian Ocean, Journal of Geophysical Research, Atmospheres Vol 111 D15104 doi:10.1029/2005JD006724.
- Washington R, Harrison M, Conway D, Black E, Challinor A, Grimes D, Jones R, Morse A, Kay G, Todd M (2004). African Climate Report, DFID/Defra.
- Todd MC and Washington R (2004). Climate variability in central equatorial Africa: Influence from the Atlantic sector, Geophysical Research Letters 31 (23): Art. No. L23202.
- Efthymiadis D, New M, Washington R (2005). On the reconstruction of seasonal oceanic precipitation in the presatellite era, Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres 110 (D6): Art. No. D06103.
- Ziervogel G, Bithell M, Washington R et al. (2005) Agent-based social simulation: a method for assessing the impact of seasonal climate forecast applications among smallholder farmers. Agricultural Systems 83 (1): 1-26.
- Todd MC, Washington R (2004). Climate variability in central equatorial Africa: Influence from the Atlantic sector, Geophysical Research Letters 31 (23): Art. No. L23202.
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