James Arthur Renwick CRSNZ is a New Zealand weather and climate researcher. He is professor of physical geography at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

, specialising in large-scale climate variations. He was awarded the 2018 New Zealand Prime Minister's Science Prize for Communication by

Jacinda Ardern Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the member of ...

Career

He started his career as a weather forecaster at the New Zealand

Met Service Meteorological Service of New Zealand Limited (MetService - Te Ratonga Tirorangi) is the national meteorological service of New Zealand. MetService was established as a state-owned enterprise in 1992. It employs about 300 staff, and its headq ...

(1978–1991). From there he moved to seasonal prediction and climate change studies at

National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research or NIWA ( mi, Taihoro Nukurangi), is a Crown Research Institute of New Zealand. Established in 1992, NIWA conducts research across a broad range of disciplines in the environmental scien ...

(1992–2002), and then to his present teaching and research role at

. His interests include Southern Hemisphere climate variability (such as the

El Niño El Niño (; ; ) is the warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and is associated with a band of warm ocean water that develops in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific (approximately between the International Date L ...

La Niña La Niña (; ) is an oceanic and atmospheric phenomenon that is the colder counterpart of as part of the broader El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate pattern. The name ''La Niña'' originates from Spanish for "the girl", by an ...

cycle and the mid-latitude westerly winds) and the impacts of climate variability and change on New Zealand. He also works in climate-

sea ice Sea ice arises as seawater freezes. Because ice is less dense than water, it floats on the ocean's surface (as does fresh water ice, which has an even lower density). Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth's surface and about 12% of the world's oce ...

interaction. Renwick was a Lead Author for the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change caused by human activities. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) a ...

(IPCC) Fourth and Fifth Assessment Reports, as well as a Co-ordinating Lead Author for the IPCC's

Sixth Assessment Report The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the sixth in a series of reports which assess scientific, technical, and socio-economic information concerning climate change. Thre ...

. He was President of the

New Zealand Association of Scientists The New Zealand Association of Scientists is an independent association for scientists in New Zealand. It was founded in 1941 as the New Zealand Association of Scientific Workers, and renamed in 1954Gregory, G., 2013. Not to be forgotten: New Ze ...

2009–2011.

Science communication

He is a well-known science communicator in New Zealand. The citation for his 2018 Prime Minister's Science Prize for Communication stated that he "communicates with warmth, humour and positivity, while always being clear about the seriousness of the issue". He communicates climate science in the context of art through an initiative called Track Zero.

Awards

* Prime Minister's Science Communication Prize winner, 2018 * Recipient,

Edward Kidson Edward Kidson (12 March 1882 – 12 June 1939) was a New Zealand meteorologist and scientific administrator. Early life and education Kidson was born in Bilston, Staffordshire, England, on 12 March 1882. his family moved to Nelson, New Zea ...

Medal, Meteorological Society of N.Z., 2005 * Companion of the Royal Society of New Zealand

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Renwick, James New Zealand climatologists University of Washington alumni Victoria University of Wellington alumni University of Canterbury alumni Victoria University of Wellington faculty Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Science communicators Companions of the Royal Society of New Zealand