David Arfon Jones is a senior climatologist at the Australian

Bureau of Meteorology The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or BoM) is an executive agency of the Australian Government responsible for providing weather services to Australia and surrounding areas. It was established in 1906 under the Meteorology Act, and brought together ...

. He initially studied mathematics and chemistry at university but changed to atmospheric studies. Jones obtained his PhD in Earth Science from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

, Australia in 1995. He subsequently completed the

postgraduate diploma A postgraduate diploma (PgD, PgDip, PGDip, PG Dip., PGD, Dipl. PG, PDE) is a postgraduate qualification awarded after a university degree, which supplements the original degree and awards them with a graduate diploma. Countries that award pos ...

weather forecasting Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia and formally since the 19th cent ...

in 1995 at the Bureau of Meteorology. In 1995 Jones commenced work in the Climate Analysis Section of the Australian National Climate Centre, focusing on the automation of climate monitoring using objective analysis techniques. Subsequently he moved to the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre in 1997 undertaking research on the variability and change of Australia's climate. Jones became the supervisor of Climate Analysis at the Bureau of Meteorology in 2002. In this role he has promoted the automation of analysis, monitoring and forecasting products and the introduction of a range of innovative climate monitoring activities, with a focus on encouraging the interpretation of

climate variability Climate variability includes all the variations in the climate that last longer than individual weather events, whereas the term climate change only refers to those variations that persist for a longer period of time, typically decades or more ...

in the context of a rapidly changing climate. Owing to the continued misrepresentation of climate change in the Australian media Jones has written a number of public pieces correcting or explaining climate change including in

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...

,Our hot, dry future
/ref> and in articles for the

Australian Science Media Centre The Australian Science Media Centre (AusSMC) is an independent, not-for-profit service for the news media, giving journalists direct access to evidence-based science and expertise. The Centre's aim is to better inform public debate on the major ...

. In 2006 Jones was awarded the

National Australia Day Council The National Australia Day Council (NADC) is a non-profit social enterprise owned by the Australian Government and is the national coordinating body for the Australian of the Year awards and Australia Day. It was established in 1979 and inc ...

Achievement Medallion.

References

External links

Australian Climate Change and Variability
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, David A. Australian meteorologists Living people Australian climatologists Year of birth missing (living people)