In this episode, we discuss the unique hazards that the Caribbean faces and how this is changing and increasing its vulnerability to climate change.
- Meteorological and climatological challenges affecting Caribbean islands
- Importance of monitoring, forecasting and coordination, and good climate information in understanding and responding to extreme weather events
- Stakeholder adaptation and interdisciplinary collaboration for disaster risk management
Our guest Dr Arlene Laing is the Coordinating Director of the Caribbean Meteorological Organization (CMO) Headquarters Unit and the Permanent Representative of the British Caribbean Territories with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). She is well-known in several areas of meteorological research, such as tropical meteorology, thunderstorm systems, flash floods and mitigation, and satellite meteorology. She is the author of several publications, including Introduction to Tropical Meteorology, as well as a co-author of the award-winning Meteorology of Tropical West Africa: The Forecasters’ Handbook. Prior to joining CMO, she was a Scientific Analyst at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth System Research Laboratory. Earlier, she has worked as a forecaster in Jamaica and as a scientist at the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research. She has also held various academic positions, among which were Assistant Professor at the University of South Florida and Adjunct Professor of North Carolina State University.
Our interviewer Dr Denyse Dookie is a postdoctoral Research Officer at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her work focuses on the mobilization and uptake of climate information for decision-making, such as for disaster risk reduction or climate adaptation. Since she’s from Trinidad and Tobago, a lot of her work has naturally focused on Caribbean small island developing states, but she also does comparative research in other islands and the UK. She has a PhD in Sustainable Development from Columbia University, and post graduate degrees from Columbia University, the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam in The Hague, and the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago.
Episode notes and references:
- Climate Adaptation Summit: Invest in early warnings and early action
- Caribbean rolls out multi-hazard preparations for hurricane season
- NOAA – North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)
- 12 Questions with Arlene Laing, the creator of the first Jamaican Website on the Internet
Music by Ritesh Prasanna
Podcast website: https://atmospherictales.com