Position :Senior Lecturer
Telephone : 035 902 6623
Email : MdokaM(at)unizulu.ac.za
Office : C 9
Biography:
Marshall L. Mdoka joined the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies in January 2017. Marshall is a Climatologist who is also a professionally qualified United Nations World Meteorological Organization (UN-WMO) Class1 Meteorologist. Marshall’s research interests are in the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. He teaches 3rd Year Physical Geography modules of 4GES341 – Weather, Climate Variability and Prediction and 4GES 322 – Environmental Fieldwork and Research, Honours’ module of 4GES502 Applied Climatology and Post-Grad Supervision
Research Interests
Marshall’s research interests’ in the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences fall mainly within the following aspects:
- Climate variability and climate change: Study of climate events and trends; past, present and future. Investigate potential impacts of climate change and climate variability as well as seek to identify appropriate strategies for coping, adaptation and mitigation.
- Regional climate modeling, monitoring and prediction: Regional Climate modeling using various RCMs over the southern Africa e.g. simulation of soil moisture-atmosphere interactions over SADC. Investigation into improvement of seasonal climate prediction for the region.
- GIS and Remote Sensing: Spatial analysis of data. Applications in physical geography, environmental management (EM), agrometeorology and hydrology.
- Environmental Management: Appreciate societal aspects and impacts of climate variability and environmental change such as renewable energy, air and water quality. Green, EIA and other sustainability concepts.
- Hydrometeorology: Investigate and analyse the interactions of the components of the hydrological cycle such as precipitation, soil moisture, and evapotranspiration with extreme events. Coupling of RCMs and hydrological models.
Qualifications:
BSc(Hons) App. Physics (NUST, Zimbabwe), PostGrad.Dip Meteorology (Australia); MSc and PhD (UCT).
Research interests:
Land use analysis, remote sensing and geographic information system. He is currently working on forest health and vitality using remote sensing. There is a number of Third year and Honours students who are working under his supervision.
Research Databases / Publications
Selected Publications
- Mark Tadross, Igor Oliveira, Marshall Mdoka, Fiona Tummon, Genito Maure, Neil MacKellar, Babatunde Abiodun, Nana Browne, Olivier Crespo, Sepo Hachigonta, and Bruce Hewitson, 2010: Project “The role of antecedent conditions in determining rainfall characteristics during early part of the rainfall season”: Modeling of the effects of soil moisture, vegetation and aerosols in early season rainfall. Water Research Commission K5/1681/1/10. pp63.
- Tadross M., Suarez P., Lotsch A., Hachigonta S., Mdoka M., Unganai L., Lucio F., Kamdonyo D., Muchinda M., 2009: Growing-season rainfall and scenarios of future change in southeast Africa: implications for cultivating maize. Climate Research DOI: 10.3354/cr00821.
Tadross M., Suarez P., Lotsch A., Hachigonta S., Mdoka M., Unganai L., Lucio F., Kamdonyo D., Muchinda M., 2007: Changes in growing-season rainfall characteristics and downscaled scenarios of change over southern Africa: implications for growing maize. IPCC regional Expert Meeting on Regional Impacts, Adaptation, Vulnerability, and Mitigation, Nadi, Fiji, June 20-22, 2007. p 193-204.
Tadross M., Suarez P., Lotsch A., Hachigonta S., Mdoka M., Unganai L., Lucio F., 2007: Changes in daily rainfall characteristics affecting agriculture: Observations and projections for Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia; Institutions for Climate Change Adaptation Sub-Component, World Bank, Washington DC, 2007, Issue pp 3.
Hewitson B.C., Tadross, M.A., Sarr A., Jain S., Mdoka M., Jack C., McKellar N., Walawege R., Intsiful J., Gutowski W.J.Jr., Crane R., Stendel M., 2005: The development of regional climate change scenarios for sub-sahara Africa. Assessment of Impacts and Adaptation to Climate Change project AF07, Final Report.
New, M., Bruce Hewitson, David B. Stephenson, Alois Tsiga, Andries Kruger, Atanasio Manhique, Bernard Gomez, Caio A. S. Coelho, Dorcas Ntiki Masisi, Elina Kululanga, Ernest Mbambalala, Francis Adesina, Hemed Saleh, Joseph Kanyanga, Juliana Adosi, Lebohang Bulane, Lubega Fortunata, Marshall L. Mdoka and Robert Lajoie, 2005: Evidence of trends in daily climate extremes over Southern and West Africa, Journal of Geophysical Research 111, D14102, doi: 10.1029/2005jd006289.
Tadross, M.A., Mdoka M., Hewitson B.C., 2005: Climate trends and implications for maize production in southern Africa. Climate Research.
Hewitson B., Reason C., Tennant W., Tadross M., Jack C., Mackellar N., Lennard C., Walawege R., Mdoka M., 2004: Dynamical modelling of present and future climate, Water Research Commission of South Africa. 1154/1/04. pp101.