Dr. John Fyfe

Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis

Biography

• Dr. John Fyfe is a Research Scientist with the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis of Environment Canada, located at the University of Victoria where he is an Adjunct Professor. He is an internationally recognized researcher into climate variability and climate change and was a Lead Author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report. He was a contributing author of the Arctic Climate Impacts Assessment, the Canadian Arctic Contaminants Assessment, and is a recent appointee to the British Columbia Premier's Climate Action Team. He received his PhD in Meteorology from McGill University.
• Profile on Environment Canada Website

Research Interests

• Links to recent publications can be found below under "Publications"
• Analysis of climate variability and change in observations and models
• Analyses leading to the understanding of atmospheric jet variability

Education

• 1982, B.Sc. Mathematics, University of Regina, Canada.
• 1987, Ph.D. Meteorology, McGill University, Canada.
• 1987-89, Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton University, USA

Awards

• Recipient of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society President's Prize for the year 2009 for "substantive contributions to our understanding of climate variability and change, especially as expressed in the polar regions".
• Co-recipient of the Environment Canada Citation of Excellence for Teamwork, Partnering and Collaboration for the year 2008 in "recognition of outstanding dedication and internationally recognized contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change".
• Co-recipient of the University of Victoria Craigdarroch Award for Societal Contributions for the year 2007.

Presentations (since 2007)

2010

• Can Climate Models be Trusted? University of Victoria, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Victoria, BC, Canada. January 27, 2010.

2009

• Global Climate Change and Ocean Dynamics
  University of British Columbia, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Vancouver, BC, Canada. November 26, 2009.
• Annular Variability and Change
  Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic 43rd Congress, Halifax, NS, Canada. June 4, 2009.
• Global Climate Change
  Oak Bay High, Oak Bay, BC, Canada. April 29, 2009.
• The Role of the Arctic in the Global Climate System
  The Aspen Commission on Arctic Climate Change, Monte Carlo, Monaco, April 17, 2009.
• Global Climate Change
  Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington, USA. February 4, 2009.
• The Human Influence on the Global Ocean
  Whitman College, Walla Walla. Washington, USA. February 3, 2009.
• The What, Where and Why of Global Climate Change
  Conference on Climate Change and Disasters, Douglas Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. January 30, 2009.
• The Impact of a Human Induced Shift in North Pacific Circulation on North American Surface Climate
  Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. January 29, 2009.
• Impacts of Global Climate Change on the Pacific Northwest
  Bunting Coady Architects, Vancouver, BC, Canada. January 22, 2009.

2008

• Global Climate Change and Our Shifting Patterns of Planetary Circulation
  School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada. December 2, 2008.
• Global Climate Change
  Saskatchewan Crown Counsel Association, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. October 9, 2008.
• Climate Model Evaluation and Application
  55th Eastern Pacific Ocean Conference, Fallen Leaf Lake, California, USA. October 23-26, 2008.
• Global Climate Change
  Delta School District, Delta, British Columbia, Canada. August 27, 2008.
• The Future Of Climate Change Science
  Cafe Scientifique, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. May 27, 2008.
• Anthropogenic Speed-up of Oceanic Planetary Waves
  International Symposium on the Effects of Climate Change on the World's Oceans, Gijon, Spain, May 19, 2008.
• Negative Feedback of Southern Hemisphere Winds on Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide
  International Symposium on the Effects of Climate Change on the World's Oceans, Gijon, Spain, May 20, 2008.
• Global Climate Change
  Postdoctoral Association Symposium, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. April 25, 2008.
• Various Panel Discussions
  Aspen Environment Forum (co-sponsored by the Aspen Institute and National Geographic Magazine), Aspen, Colorado, USA. March 26 - 28, 2008.
• Global Climate Change
  North Cowichan Forum on Climate Change, North Cowichan, BC, Canada. March 13, 2008.
• The Science of Climate Change
  Columbia Institute Symposium on Climate Change for Education, Vancouver, BC, Canada. January 24, 2008.

2007

• Global Climate Change
  Claremont Seconday School, Victoria, BC, Canada. December 13, 2007.
• Global Climate Change
  Air and Waste Management Association, Victoria, BC, Canada. November 27, 2007.
• Climate Change Research
  Occupational Health Safety and Environment Office, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada. November 13, 2007.
• The Science of Climate Change
  Business for Social Responsibility Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA, USA. October 25, 2007.
• The Human Cause and Global Consequence of Southern Ocean Warming
  Joint SCAR-CliC-IASC-ICPM Sponsored Workshop on Recent High Latitude Climate Change, Seattle, WA, USA. October 23, 2007.
• The Science of Climate Change
  Oak Bay Emergency Program, Oak Bay, BC, Canada. October 9, 2007.
• The Global Impacts of Climate Change
  Nike Corporation, Portland, OR, USA. July 17, 2007.
• The Science of Climate Change
  Annual meeting of provincial and territorial ministers of agriculture. Whistler, BC, Canada. June 27, 2007.
• Climate Change: Past, Present and Future
  Resource Development and Northern Transportation Conference. Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. May 29, 2007.
• The Science of Climate Change
  Fourth International Colloquium on International Law and Climate Change, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. May 21, 2007.
• The Science and Regional Impacts of Climate Change
  BC Ministry of the Environment, Nanoose, BC, Canada. May 7, 2007.
• Human Induced Change in Winter Cyclone Frequency and Intensity
  European Geophysical Union Assembly, Vienna, Austria. April 20, 2007.
• The Human Cause and Global Consequence of Southern Ocean Warming
  European Geophysical Union Assembly, Vienna, Austria. April 18, 2007.
• Climate Change: Past, Present and Future
  City of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada. April 10, 2007.
• Climate Change: Past, Present and Future
  Nike Corporation, Portland, OR, USA. April 5, 2007.
• Human Influence on the Global Ocean
  University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. March 30, 2007.
• Climate Change: Past, Present and Future
  District of Saanich, Saanich, BC, Canada. March 28, 2007.
• Human Influence on the Global Ocean
  Institute of Ocean Sciences, Sydney, BC, Canada. February 20, 2007.

Publications

Journal Articles (since 1999)

2009

• Monahan, A.H. and J.C. Fyfe, 2009: How generic are dipolar jet EOFs? Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, 66, 541-551, doi:10.1175/2008JAS2814.1.
• Monahan, A.H, J.C. Fyfe, M. Ambaum, D. B. Stephenson and G.R. North, 2009: Empirical Orthogonal Functions: The medium is the message, Journal of Climate, 22, 6501-6514.
• P. Spence, J.C. Fyfe, A. Montenegro and A.J. Weaver, 2009: On the Southern Ocean response to poleward intensifying winds: Coarse versus eddy-permitting simulations, submitted to the Journal of Climate.
• X. Yang, J.C. Fyfe and Gregory M. Flato, 2009: On the role of atmospheric energy transport in recent Arctic warming, submitted to Geophysical Research Letters.

2008

• J.C. Fyfe, 2008: Human induced shift in North Pacific circulation impacting North American surface climate, submitted to Nature.
• Monahan, A.H. and J.C. Fyfe, 2008: On Annular Modes and Zonal Jets, Journal of Climate, 21, 1964-1979.
• Zickfeld, K., J.C. Fyfe, M. Eby and A.J. Weaver, 2008: Comment on "Saturation of the Southern Ocean CO₂ Sink Due to Recent Climate Change", Science, 319.

2007

• Fyfe, J.C. and O.A. Saenko 2007: Anthropogenic speed-up of oceanic planetary waves, Geophysical Research Letters, 34, L10706, doi:10.1029/2007GL029859.
• Fyfe, J.C., O.A. Saenko, K. Zickfeld, M. Eby and A. Weaver, 2007: The role of poleward intensifying winds on Southern Ocean warming, Journal of Climate, 20, 5391-5400.
• Zickfeld, K., J.C. Fyfe, O.A. Saenko, M. Eby and A.J. Weaver, 2007: Response of the global carbon cycle to human-induced changes in the Southern Hemisphere winds, Geophysical Research Letters, 34, L12712, doi:10.1029/2006GL028797.
• Monahan, A.H. and J.C. Fyfe, 2007: Comments on "The shortcomings of using Nonlinear Principal Component Analysis in identifying circulation regimes.", Journal of Climate , 20, 375-377.
• Teng. Q., J.C. Fyfe and A.H. Monahan, 2007: Northern Hemisphere circulation regimes: Observed, simulated and predicted. Climate Dynamics, 28, 867-879.

2006

• Fyfe, J.C., 2006: Southern Ocean Warming Due to Human Influence, Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L19701, doi:10.1029/2006GL027247.
• Fyfe, J.C. and O.A. Saenko, 2006: Simulated changes in the extratropical Southern Hemisphere winds and currents, Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L06701, doi:10.1029/2005GL025332.
• Monahan, A.H. and J.C. Fyfe, 2006: On the Nature of Zonal Jet EOFs, Journal of Climate , 19, 6409-6424.
• Lambert, S. and J.C. Fyfe, 2006: Changes in winter cyclone frequencies and strengths simulated in enhanced greenhouse gas experiments: Results from the models participating in the IPCC diagnostic exersize. Climate Dynamics, 26, 713-728, DOI 10.1007/s00382-006-0110-3.

2005

• Fyfe, J.C. and D. Lorenz, 2005: Characterizing midlatitude jet variability: Lessons from a simple GCM. Journal of Climate, 18, 3400-3404.
• Fyfe, J.C. and O.A. Saenko, 2005: Human-induced change in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Journal of Climate, 18: 3068-3073.
• Stone, D.A. and J.C. Fyfe, 2005: The effect of ocean mixing parameterization on the enhanced CO₂ response of the Southern Hemisphere midlatitude jet. Geophysical Research Letters, 32, doi:10.1029/2004GL022007.
• Saenko, O.A., J.C. Fyfe and M.H. England, 2005: On the response of the oceanic wind-driven circulation to atmospheric CO₂ increase. Climate Dynamics, 25: 415-426.
• Macdonald, R.W., T. Harner and J.C. Fyfe, 2005: Recent climate change in the Arctic and its impact on contaminant pathways and interpretation of temporal trends. The Science of the Total Environment, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2004.12.059.

2004

• Teng, Q., A.H. Monahan and J.C. Fyfe, 2004: Effects of time-averaging on climate regimes. Geophysical Research Letters, 31, doi: 10.1029/2004GL020840.

2003

• Fyfe, J.C., 2003: Extratropical Southern Hemisphere cyclones: Harbingers of climate change? Journal of Climate, 16, 2802-2805.
• Fyfe, J.C., 2003: Separating extratropical zonal wind variability and mean change. Journal Climate, 16, 863-874.
• Monahan, A.H. J.C. Fyfe and L. Pandolfo, 2003: The vertical structure of wintertime climate regimes of the northern hemisphere extra tropical circulation. Journal of Climate, 16, 2005-2021.

2002

• Bitz, C.M., J.C. Fyfe and G.M. Flato, 2002: Sea ice response to wind forcing from AMIP models. J. Climate, 15, 522-536.

2001

• Chaffey, J. and J.C. Fyfe, 2001: Arctic polar vortex variability in the Canadian middle atmosphere model. Atmosphere-Oceans, 39, 457-469.
• Monahan, A., L. Pandolfo and J.C. Fyfe, 2001: The preferred structure of variability of the Northern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation. Geophysical Research Letters, 28, 1019-1022.

2000

• Monahan, A., J.C. Fyfe and G. Flato, 2000: A regime view of Northern Hemisphere atmospheric variability and change under global warming. Geophysical Research Letters, 27, 1139-1142.

1999

• Fyfe, J.C., G. Boer and G. Flato, 1999: The Arctic and Antarctic oscillations and their projected changes under global warming. Geophysical Research Letters, 26, 1601-1604.
• Fyfe, J.C., 1999: Climate simulations of African easterly waves. Journal of Climate, 12, 1747-1769.
• Fyfe, J.C. and G.M. Flato, 1999: Enhanced climate change and its detection over the Rocky Mountains. Journal of Climate, 12, 230-243.
• Wang, X. and J.C. Fyfe, 1999: Onset of edge wave breaking in an idealized model of the polar stratospheric vortex. J. Atmos. Sci., 57, 956-966.

Miscellaneous Reports (since 1999)

• Randall, D.A., R.A., Wood, S. Bony, R. Colman, T. Fichefet, J. Fyfe, V. Kattsov, A. Pitman, J. Shulkla, J. Srinivasan, R.J. Stouffer, A. Sumi and K.E. Taylor, 2007: Climate Models and Their Evaluation. In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S., S. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.
• McBean, G.A., G. Alekseev, D. Chen, E. Forland, J.C. Fyfe, P.Y. Groisman, R. King, H. Melling, R. Vose and P. H. Whitfield, 2005: 2. Arctic Climate: Past and Present. In Arctic Climate Impact Assessment. Cambridge University Press, 21-60.
• MacDonald R., T. Harner, J.C. Fyfe, 2003: D.1 The interaction of climate change within contaminant pathways to and within the Canadian Arctic. In the Canadian Arctic Contaminant Assessment Report II.
• Macdonald, R.W., T. Harner, J.C. Fyfe, H. Loeng and T. Weingartner, 2003. AMAP Assessment, 2002. The influence of global change on contaminant pathways to, within, and from the Arctic. Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), Oslo, Norway, xii + 65 pp.