Adrian McDonald
PhD
Climate Scientist
University of Canterbury
Adrian is a climate scientist with a research background in climate-system processes, satellite remote sensing, surface observations, and climate model evaluation. His work focuses on understanding how the atmosphere behaves in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean regions, with particular focus on storm dynamics and processes that control extreme precipitation. He is also an experienced field researcher, with involvement in 20 Antarctic deployments and 7 Southern Ocean voyages.
In the Antarctic Science Platform, Adrian will expand on his experience of cyclone tracking and extreme precipitation attribution, to identify the atmospheric features (cyclones, atmospheric rivers and frontal regions) which control extreme snowfall now and in the future. This work is important because it helps improve understanding of how extreme precipitation events drive hydrological variability in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, informing estimates of ice-sheet meltwater input, runoff, freshwater fluxes to the ocean, and the broader impacts on sea level and Southern Ocean circulation.