Climate Systems

Following devastating floods in 2020, five successive failed rainy seasons caused drought which exposed millions of people to acute food shortages in East Africa. The field project, MASIKA, is the first of its kind and aims to understand the atmospheric processes operating at the start the rainy season. 

The Kalahari is warming at over twice the global rate, with climate projections indicating a gradual drying of the Kalahari, leading to more intense droughts. These trends present a profound threat to communities who have lived there for millennia and to the unique desert ecosystems. Over Christmas and New Year, a team of researchers from SoGE and University of Cape Town travelled to the Kalahari to retrieve some of the first detailed atmospheric observations from inside the Kalahari Desert in a bid to understand these troublesome climate trends.

School of Geography Alumna Lucy Temple and Rose Aldridge’s award-winning short film, 'On the Brink', documents the dramatic effects of climate change on small glaciers in the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland, aiming to connect viewers emotionally with the growing fragilities of the alpine environment.