climate-babel competence

All kinds of statistical analysis and modelling, the handling of (very) big climate datasets and visualisation of multi-dimensional data. Survey analysis. Trainings in statistics, analysis of climate data and related software. Writing, reporting, supporting, consulting, compiling.

CV

1977 — Born in Bonn, Germany

1999 to 2004 — Studies of Geophysics

2004 to 2007 — PhD at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Imact Research (PIK)

2008 to 2014 — PostDoc and Senior Scientist at ETH Zurich

Since 2014 — Independent consultant on climate research and data analysis

2015 (1st half) — Climate advisor at Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, Berne/Zurich

2015/06 until 2017/09 — Coordinator of the PACC program at University of Zurich

2017 to 2019 — Senior Advisor Climate Change Adaptation at CARITAS Switzerland, Lucerne

Since 2019/12 — Programm Director Tajikistan at CARITAS Switzerland, Lucerne

Boris Orlowsky is a founding member of climate-babel. He studied geophysics at the Free University of Berlin and obtained his PhD from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the University of Hamburg. For his thesis he developed statistical methods  for regional climate simulations which are now underlying several regional climate impact studies. After his PhD he continued at ETH Zurich, supported by a grant from the German Science Foundation (DFG). At ETH he worked as a PostDoc and later as a Senior Scientist on statistical analyses of extreme climate events (e.g. droughts or heat waves) and their socio-economic consequences. He is a contributing author of the Special Report on Extreme Events by the IPCC, published in March 2012. After several months as a climate advisor for Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation he coordinated the scientific backing of the Program for Adaptation to Climate Change (PACC) in the Peruvian Andes at University of Zurich. Since 2017 he holds different positions at CARITAS Switzerland, Lucerne.

Selected publications

Climate Corridors for Strategic Adaptation Planning
Orlowsky B. et al. (2017) International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management in press

Bioenergy Production and Sustainable Development: Science Base for Policy-Making Remains Limited
Robledo-Abad, C., et al., Orlowsky, B., et al. (2016) GCB Bioenergy doi:10.1111/gcbb.12338.

Todayʼs virtual water consumption and trade under future water scarcity
Orlowsky B. et al. (2014)  Environmental Research Letters, 9, 074007

Short Communication: On the spatial representativeness of temporal dynamics at European weather stations
Orlowsky B. and Seneviratne S.I. (2014) International Journal of Climatology DOI: 10.1002/joc.3903

Elusive drought: uncertainty in observed trends and short- and long-term CMIP5 projections.
Orlowsky B. and Seneviratne S.I. (2013) Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss. 9 , 13773-13803

Global changes in extreme events : Regional and seasonal dimension
Orlowsky B. and Seneviratne S.I. (2012) Climatic Change 110, 669-696

Statistical analyses of land-atmosphere feedbacks and their possible pitfalls.
Orlowsky B., Seneviratne S.I. (2010) Journal of Climate 23 (14) 3918-3932

Future climates from bias-bootstrapped weather analogues: an application to the Yangtze river basin.
Orlowsky B., Bothe O., Fraedrich K., Gerstengarbe F.-W., Zhu X. (2010) Journal of Climate 23 (13), 3509-3524

Up-scaling European surface temperatures to North-Atlantic circulation pattern statistics.
Orlowsky B., Fraedrich, K. (2009) International Journal of Climatology 29, 839-849

A resampling scheme for regional climate simulations and its performance compared to a dynamical RCM.
Orlowsky B., Gerstengarbe, F.-W., Werner, P.C. (2008) Theoretical and Applied Climatology 92, 209-223