RESEARCH INTERESTS
I am interested in understanding more about the physical processes involved in the climate of extreme weather events such as heat waves, wind storms and extreme precipitation and their impacts on society.
My current research is concentrated on understanding the complex interaction between the occurence of tropical cyclones and their economic impacts in a reinsurance environment. This work has bought a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between the risk of a meteorological hazard and the risk of loss.
During my postdoc I was investigating the predictability of European winter wind storms. This project involves the use of dynamical seasonal climate forecasts as a surrogate climate to improve our understanding of the risk of these events and their associated reinsurance losses.
During my PhD I concentrated on understanding more about heat wave events, by improving the quality of daily maximum temperature measurements from across Europe, understanding the large scale influences on these events and their predictability using statistical models. I also have an interest in the change in atmospheric circulation patterns and the characteristics of cyclones and their possible change due to the enhanced greenhouse effect. See this page near real time tracking of North Atlantic and European mid-latitude cyclones.
Earlier work at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology included the homogenisation of Australian annual temperature data and the calculation of extreme temperature and precipitation indices. During this time I also gained experience in using seasonal climate forecast models.