Chris Funk

Biography

Chris Funk is the Director of the Climate Hazards Center (CHC) at UC Santa Barbara. He works with an international team of Earth scientists to inform weather and famine-related disaster responses. Chris studies climate and climate change while also developing improved data sets and monitoring/prediction systems. In 2020 Chris and Shrad Shukla published a book on Drought Early Warning and Forecasting. In 2021, Cambridge Press will publish Dr. Funk’s Drought, Flood, Fire: How Climate Change Contributes to Catastrophes. While his research interests are quite diverse, a central theme uniting Chris’ work is developing both the technical/scientific resources and the conceptual frameworks that will help us cope with increasingly dangerous climate and weather extremes.

Chris lives happily with his wife and twins in the mountains behind Santa Barbara, where he enjoys trail running, biking, stone carving, and working on his house.

Research

Chris develops data sets and analyses that help us cope with climate change and extremes.

Selected Publications

Funk, C., Drought, Flood, Fire: How Climate Change Contributes to Recent Catastrophes, Cambridge Press, editor: Matt Lloyd, in press.

Funk C and Shukla S, Drought Early Warning and Forecasting: Theory and Practice (2020) Elsevier Press. ISBN 0128140119, 238 pages. Funk, C., Peterson, P., Peterson, S., Shukla, S., Davenport, F., Michaelsen, J., ... & Rowland, J. (2019). A High-Resolution 1983-2016 T max Climate Data Record Based on Infrared Temperatures and Stations by the Climate Hazard Center. Journal of Climate, 32(17), 5639-5658.

Funk S, et al. (2019) Recognizing the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET): Over 30 Years of Drought Early Warning Science Advances and Partnerships Promoting Global Food Security, Bull. Am. Met .Soc., https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/full/10.1175/BAMS-D-17-0233.1.

Funk C, Harrison L, Shukla S, Pomposi C, Galu G, Korecha D, Husak G, Magadzire T, Davenport F, Hillbruner C, Eilerts G, Zaitchik B and Verdin J (2018) Examining the role of unusually warm Indo-Pacific sea surface temperatures in recent African droughts, Q. J of the R. Meteorological Society. https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3266

Wang S., Yoon JH, Funk C and Gillies R (2017) AGU Monograph-Climate Extremes: Patterns and Mechanisms. Ed. by, published by Wiley Press. July 2017. 400 pages. ISBN: 978-1-119-06784-9

Funk C., Verdin A., Michaelsen J., Peterson P., Pedreros D., Husak G. (2015) A Global Satellite Assisted Precipitation Climatology, Earth System Science Data, Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss. 7, 1-13, doi:10.5194/essdd-7-1-2015.

Funk C., Peterson P., Landsfeld M., Pedreros D., Verdin J., Shukla S., Husak G., Rowland J., Hoell A. and Michaelsen J. (2015) The climate hazards group infrared precipitation with stations - a new environmental record for monitoring extremes, Scientific Data, 22, 150066. http://www.nature.com/articles/sdata201566

Williams P. and C. Funk (2011) A westward extension of the warm pool leads to a westward extension of the Walker circulation, drying eastern Africa, Climate Dynamics, V37.11-12, p. 2417-2435. http://www.springerlink.com/content/u0352236x6n868n2/fulltext.pdf

Funk, C., M.D. Dettinger, J.C. Michaelsen, J.P. Verdin, M.E. Brown, M. Barlow, and A. Hoell (2008) Warming of the Indian Ocean threatens eastern and southern African food security but could be mitigated by agricultural development, Proc. of the Nat. Academy of Sci. 105, 11081-11086.