Conveners
Earth Science: I
- Nicolette Chang (CSIR)
Earth Science: II
- Marius Potgieter (North-West University)
Earth Science: III
- Mary-Jane Bopape (South African Weather Service)
Dr
Mary-Jane Bopape
(South African Weather Service)
04/12/2017, 13:30
Earth Systems Modelling
Invited talk (plenary/keynote)
The South African Weather Service (SAWS) is the national weather forecast and climate prediction agency and only atmospheric alerting authority in South Africa. The SAWS runs numerical models to simulate weather and climate over a variety of time scales, ranging from very short-range (0-12 hours) to multi-decadal timescales in what is termed a “seamless forecasting system” for the successful...
Mr
Jan Vermeulen
(South African Weather Service)
04/12/2017, 14:00
Earth Systems Modelling
Talk
South African and world rainfall records are compared and new 5-minute, 10-minute, 15-minute and a possible yearly records for SA is reported.
42.4 mm, 70.8 and 76.0 mm were recorded by an Automatic Weather Station (AWS) at Levubu in Limpopo for 5, 10 and 15 minutes respectively from a thunderstorm 26 February 2016. A rainfall of 4299 mm was recorded for the year 2000 at Matiwa in Limpopo...
Mr
Sifiso Mbatha
(South African Weather Service)
04/12/2017, 14:15
Earth Systems Modelling
Talk
Mrs
patience tlangelani mulovhedzi
(scientist)
04/12/2017, 14:30
Earth Systems Modelling
Talk
The South African Weather Service (SAWS) is the mandated national meteorological service tasked with providing timely and accurate scientific data in the field of meteorology to the broader South African community, through a combination of both public and commercial services. It is, therefore, of great importance that the SAWS issues weather forecasts of high quality and value. SAWS...
Mr
Innocent Mbokodo
(South African Weather Service)
04/12/2017, 14:45
Earth Systems Modelling
Talk
Heatwaves in the future warmer climate of South Africa
Dr
Nicolette Chang
(CSIR)
05/12/2017, 11:00
Earth Systems Modelling
Invited talk (plenary/keynote)
Modelling the earth system is a balance between available computing power and model complexity, particularly as an earth system model comprises of multiple individual, interacting numerical models each representing different system components such as the atmosphere, land and ocean. In addition, these models are run for very long periods to simulate hundreds of years of earth/climate evolution....
Dr
Thulwaneng Mashifane
(South African Environmental Observation Network)
05/12/2017, 11:30
Earth Systems Modelling
Talk
Mr
Precious Mongwe
(CSIR NRE)
05/12/2017, 11:50
Earth Systems Modelling
Talk
The Southern Ocean forms a key component of the global carbon cycle. Recent studies, however, show that CMIP5 Earth System Models (ESM) disagree on the representation of the seasonal cycle of the CO2 flux (FCO2) and compare poorly to observations in the Southern Ocean. This model-observations bias has important implications on the ability of ESMs to predict century scale CO2 sink and related...
Mr
Mthetho Sovara
(CHPC/UCT/CSIR)
05/12/2017, 12:05
Earth Systems Modelling
Talk
This study investigates the low-frequency variability of the Indian Ocean based on Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) model outputs, observed and reanalysis datasets, and CSIR ocean models. While the existence of semi-annual and annual signals is well known the presence of decadal to multi-decadal signals is less understood. In the South African context, the variability of the...
Mr
Ridick Roland TAKONG
(University of Cape Town)
05/12/2017, 12:20
Earth Systems Modelling
Talk
Understanding rainfall variability under weak synoptic forcing is crucial for improving weather forecast and climate projections with Numerical Weather and climate models. Rainfall variability under strong synoptic-scale forcing is dictated by large scale features whereas under weak synoptic-scale forcing, it is dictated by local-scale features. However, most of these local scale features...
Prof.
Marius Potgieter
(North-West University)
05/12/2017, 13:30
Astrophysics and Space Physics
Invited talk (plenary/keynote)
A three-dimensional (3D), time-dependent numerical model for the solar modulation of astroparticles (cosmic rays) is constructed based on solving the relevant transport equation applicable to the heliosphere which is the electrodynamic influence sphere of the Sun. The model is using the Stochastic Differential Equation (SDE) approach which provides numerical advantages. The model is designed...
Prof.
Francois Engelbrecht
(CSIR)
05/12/2017, 14:00
Earth Systems Modelling
Talk
Global Climate Models (GCMs) have become the main tools to project future climate change. GCMs that are capable of also simulating the global carbon cycle are referred to as Earth System Models (ESMs). Currently, about 30 GCMs exist globally, but only one of these (developed by the CSIRO in Australia) had its origin in the southern hemisphere. Moreover, Africa is the only continent for which...
Mr
Floyd Khosa
(CSIR)
05/12/2017, 14:20
Earth Systems Modelling
Talk
This study evaluates the performance of the coupled CCAM-CABLE model estimates of soil moisture against in-situ measurements from the Skukuza flux tower and ESA CCI satellite observations both at a point and regional scale. In situ measurements are used to evaluate the accuracy of the soil moisture products at a point (location of the flux tower) through the use of conventional statistical...
Mr
Katlego Moloto
(NWU)
05/12/2017, 14:40
Astrophysics and Space Physics
Talk
The transport of cosmic-rays highly energetic charged particles originating from astrophysical sources, in the heliosphere, the region dominated by plasma of solar origin, can be modelled using the Parker transport equation (TPE). We solve this equation using a 3D time-dependent stochastic numerical solver, taking into account the various processes that modulate the intensities of these cosmic...
