Qamar-Uz-Zaman Chaudhry is a Pakistani climate scientist. He is a researcher in the fields of

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...

hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is call ...

and

seismology Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...

and has written over 50 articles in the fields of

, atmospheric sciences,

plate tectonics Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large ...

and earthquakes. He is the lead author of Pakistan's first National Climate Change policy. He served as the

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

of the

World Meteorological Organisation The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics. The WMO originated from the Internat ...

Early life

He was born in

Sargodha Sargodha (Punjabi and ur, ) is a city and capital of Sargodha Division, located in Punjab province, Pakistan. It is Pakistan's 12th largest city by population and one of the fastest-growing cities of the country. Sargodha is also known as t ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. Chaudhry received his early education from

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

. Later, he attended Government College University where he received his B.Sc in

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

with honors and M.Sc. in

from the

Quaid-i-Azam University Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad ( ur, ; commonly referred to as QAU), founded as University of Islamabad, is a ranked 1 public research university in Islamabad, Pakistan. Founded as the University of Islamabad in 1967, it was initially dedi ...

. He received his

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from University of the Philippines Los Baños.

Career

He joined Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) in 1971 and became Director General in 1996. During his tenure as head of PMD, he took several initiatives to modernize PMD to improve its services for the general public and climate-sensitive socioeconomic sectors of Pakistan. His initiatives included starting numerical weather prediction (NWP) system in Pakistan and establishing the following: National Drought Monitoring and Early Warning Centre, Research and Development Division, Flash Flood Warning System for the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, National Tsunami Early Warning System, Tropical Cyclones Warning Center, and the Pollen Monitoring System. He started the publication of the Pakistan ''Journal of Meteorology'' to promote research in meteorology, climate sciences and allied disciplines. His contributions were involved in the disastrous

2005 Kashmir earthquake The 2005 Kashmir earthquake occurred at on 8 October in Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir. It was centred near the city of Muzaffarabad, and also affected nearby Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and some areas of Indian-administered Jammu an ...

, which killed hundreds. He set up

and

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

warning research centers in the Kashmir region and elsewhere. Chaudhry published articles in national and international science journals. His articles spanned

extreme weather Extreme weather or extreme climate events includes unexpected, unusual, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Often, extreme events are based on a loca ...

, forecast, hydrological and high impact weather systems technology, agricultural meteorology,

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

, climatic changes and natural disasters. He served as Permanent Representative of Pakistan with WMO and as Secretary of the WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclone for the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. In 2009, he served as

Asia Region. He is working as an International Climate Change Specialist with the

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field offic ...

and UNEP DTU (a partnership between the

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on th ...

and the

Technical University of Denmark The Technical University of Denmark ( da, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's fir ...

), and Senior Policy Advisor to the

International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is a regional intergovernmental learning and knowledge sharing centre serving the eight regional member countries (RMCs) of thHindu Kush Himalaya(HKH) region - Afghanistan, Ban ...

.Former DG Met Dr. Qamar uz Zaman joins CDKN Asia and LEAD Pakistan
He retired on 13 September 2010. His leadership and contributions led him to be Pakistan's father of modern meteorology.

Recognition

* SAARC Best Young Scientist Research Award (1993) *

Pride of Performance The Pride of Performance ( ur, ), officially known as Presidential Pride of Performance, is an award bestowed by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to recognize people with "notable achievements in the field of art, science, literature, sports, an ...

award from the President of Pakistan (1999) * Pakistan’s 3rd highest National Civil Award “Sitara-i-Imtiaz” (2011)

References

External links

*
Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaudhry, Qamar-Uz-Zaman Pakistani meteorologists Pakistani scientists People from Sargodha Government College University, Lahore alumni Quaid-i-Azam University alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of the Philippines Los Baños alumni