Hamish Prince

PhD Topic: Observations of Polar Spectral Deficits and Global Energy Transport

MS Topic: A Climatology of New Zealand Atmospheric Rivers (2020)

BS Major: Physical Geography and GIS (2018)

Through my research I aim to further understanding of the transport and exchange of energy and water through the Earth system. I ground my work heavily in observations using novel satellite platforms paired with modelling resources to quantify global scale energetic and mass fluxes through the atmosphere and radiative exchanges with the planetary system. The overarching theme of my work is to link fundamental planetary energy and moisture flows to impactful, observed weather, particularly midlatitude and polar precipitation and to develop insight into how these change in a warming climate.

Research

• Polar Climates and Cryosphere Change
• Atmospheric Rivers
• Exoplanet Atmospheric Circulation

• Socioeconomic Impacts: An ongoing research theme through all my work is to quantify the human impact of these various aspects of atmospheric science. Techniques involve attributing historical impacts (i.e. flooding, insurance claims, or physical damage) to the weather events that caused them and identifying the key meteorological variables responsible (with a focus on midlatitude precipitation). This work aims to improve the calculation of cost/risk of these events based on meteorological data, investigate the potential for impact based forecasting/mitigation, and explore how socioeconomic impacts may change in a warming climate.

Scientific Communication

I have a keen interest in novel scientific communication and data visualization.Why graph data when it can be listened to?

An interpretation of the ‘Millennial-scale pulsebeat of glaciation in the Southern Alps of New Zealand’ (Strand et al., 2019).

[VIDEO] Heinrich-Pukaki Backbeat

Awards

• Fulbright Science and Innovation PhD Graduate Award – New Zealand (2020-2023)
• Best Student Presentation in Southern Hemisphere Meteorology and Oceanography – 13^th International Conference on Southern Hemisphere Meteorology and Oceanography (ISCHMO) (2022)
• Best Masters’ Thesis in New Zealand – New Zealand Geographical Society (2020)
• Voted Best Overall Presentation and Best Student Presentation – New Zealand Hydrological Society Conference (2019 and 2020)
• Best Student Presentation – New Zealand Snow and Ice Research Group (IGS) (2019)

Employment and Training

• University of California, San Diego – Scripps Institution of Oceanography
  Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes – Researcher (2020-2021)
• NASA, JPL, Center for Climate Sciences
  Summer School on Satellite Observations and Climate Models – (Aug 2021)

Teaching

Teaching assistant the University of Otago, New Zealand (2018-2021)

• Geospatial Science – SURV102
  Fundamentals in math, physics, and programming
• Intro to GIS – SURV208
  Spatial data, cartography and data management
• Field Research Techniques – GEOG290
  AWS operation, climate data analysis
• Geomorphology – GEOG395
  Geophysical field techniques
• Climatology – GEOG392
  Climate physics and boundary layer climatology
• Climate Change: Present and Future – GEOG388
  Principles of meteorology with reference to climate change