Dr Michele Warburton - Hydrologist - PDP Program

Michele joined the SAEON Grasslands node in July 2016 after 10 years as a lecturer in the Hydrology department at University of KwaZulu-Natal as a PDP Postdoc focussing on the interactions between climate, land and water. Although there has been significant improvement in understanding the interactions of and impacts of climate and land use change on hydrological responses, there remains a significant degree of uncertainty. Given this uncertainty there is an imperative to improve our understanding of hydrological processes, of water distribution and movement within catchments and the effect of changes in the drivers of the hydrological system, with particular consideration given to hydrologically sensitive catchments. My research focus is on using long term observation, monitoring and detection to improve process understanding, and process representation in hydrological models, as well as application of hydrological models, to allow for advances in the understanding of the complex interactions between land use change, climate change and water resources.