Background
Ward joined the IRI in April of 2000 from the University of Oklahoma, where he was principal investigator for a range of climate research topics. Ward also has extensive experience in operational forecast products and systems from his previous tenure with centres in Europe.
Research Interests
Ward focuses on the important link between forecast products and user applications. In this role, he works in the field with collaborators to better understand requirements, and also with the forecast research and production team at the IRI, to ensure the feedback users provide becomes incorporated, whenever possible, into improved forecast developments.
Published Papers and Books
Mutai, C.C., M.N. Ward and A.W. Colman (1998): Prediction of East Africa
Short Rains Rooted in Evidence for Widespread SST-forced Variability During
October-December. Int. J. Climatol., 18, 975-997.
Navarra, A., M.N. Ward and N.A. Rayner (1998): A Stochastic Model of SST for
Climate Simulation Experiments. Climate Dynamics, 14, 473-487.
Moron, V., A. Navarra, M.N. Ward and E. Roeckner (1998): Skill and
reproducibility of seasonal rainfall patterns over tropical land areas in
GCM simulations with prescribed SST. Climate Dynamics, 14, 83-100.
Ward, M.N. (1998): Diagnosis and short-lead time prediction of summer
rainfall in tropical North Africa and interannual and multi-decadal
timescales. J. Climate, 11, 3167-3191.
Navarra, A., M.N. Ward and K. Miyakoda (1999): Tropical-wide teleconnections
and oscillation: Part I, Teleconnection indices and Type I / Type II states.
Quarterly Journal of Royal Meteorological Society,125, 2904-2936.
Miyakoda, K., A. Navarra and M.N. Ward (1999): Tropical-wide teleconnections
and oscillation: Part II, The ENSO-monsoon system. Quarterly Journal of
Royal Meteorological Society, 125, 2937-2963.
Delitala, A.M.S., D. Cesari, P.A. Chessa and M.N. Ward (2000): Precipitation
fluctuations over Sardinia (Italy) during the 1940-1992 rainy seasons, and
its relation to large-scale climate patterns. Int J Climatol.
Feddersen, H., A. Navarra and M.N. Ward, (1999): A statistical correction
approach for dynamical seasonal predictions. J. Climate, 12, 1974-1989.
Mutai, C.C. and M.N. Ward, (2000): East African Rainfall and the Tropical
Circulation/Convection at Interannual and Intraseasonal Timescales.
J.Climate, 13, 3915-3939.
Ndiaye, O., Le Hesran, J-Y., Etard, J-F., Diallo, A.. Simodon, F., Ward,
M.N., Robert, V. (2001),� Variations climatiques et mortalit� attribu�e au
paludisme dans la zone de Niakhar, S�n�gal, de 1984 � 1996. Cahiers Sant�,
11: 25-33.
Gong, X., A.G. Barnston and M.N. Ward, (2003): The effect of spatial aggregation on the skill of seasonal precipitation forecasts. J. Climate, 14, 3059-3071.
Representing the IRI around the World
CLIVAR Variability of the African Climate System Panel Meeting, Nairobi, Kenya, 28-31 January, 2001
Course on Climate Variability and Extreme Events in Central America, San Jose, Costa Rica, 11-12 February, 2001
Planning Meeting for workshop on climate prediction and agriculture in the Mediterranean, Zaragoza, Spain, 2-4 April, 2001
ISDR WG1 Climate and Disasters Meeting, Geneva Switzerland, 10-11 April, 2001
GLOBEC Focus 1 Working Group Meeting, Lima, Peru, 27-28 May, 2001
Small Pelagic Fish and Climate Change Workshop, Lima Peru, 29 May - 1 June, 2001
US CLIVAR Atlantic Meeting, Boulder, CO, 12-14 June, 2001
Global Change Open Science Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 10-13 July, 2001
