Dr Sam Dean

Biography

Dr Sam Dean is one of New Zealand’s leading experts on climate change science. He has led efforts to identify the contribution of human-induced warming to intensifying current New Zealand weather extremes, including droughts and floods. Other research has improved our fundamental understanding of how the atmosphere responds to climate change, how this affects flooding in New Zealand, as well as our understanding of sea ice and its influence on Southern Hemisphere climate.

Sam has been at the forefront of developing future climate change projections specifically for New Zealand. These projections are actively used by numerous research institutes, government departments and local government councils to better understand, or plan for, the impacts of climate change. He has consistently contributed to the technical development of climate models including advancing the quality of sea ice models. He played a key role in the design and establishment of the Deep South National Science Challenge. In recent years a focus has been on adaptation solutions to expected climate change impacts, including New Zealand’s first national climate change risk assessment.

Sam has been a frequent public speaker on climate change and is one of NIWA’s primary spokesmen for climate information, especially through all forms of national and local media.