Research Scientist
Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis (CCCma)
Environment and Climate Change Canada
Examining global climate change and variability with Earth System Models and observations — from the Southern Ocean to Arctic sea ice to the global carbon cycle. Coordinating development of the Canadian Earth System Model (CanESM), Canada's CMIP contribution and high resolution Canadian focused climate projections.
I am a Research Scientist at the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis (CCCma), Environment and Climate Change Canada, based in Victoria, British Columbia.
Using Earth System Models and observations to advance understanding of the climate system and to deliver useful climate information to stakeholders
Initiatives, models, and collaborations
Within CCCma I coordinate a team of over 40 scientists in the development and application of the Canadian Earth System Model (CanESM). We are currently finalizing CanESM6 - a major advance towards a high resolution capable ESM. I'm the CCCma Science lead for the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 7 (CMIP7). I coordinated the finalization of CanESM5 and its contribution to CMIP6, and led the first open source release of CanESM and its implementation as a portable, collaborative tool.
I'm a founder and ECCC representative on the steering committee of the Collaborative Platform for CanESM (CP4C) - an initiative to foster collaboration in the development and application of the Canadian Earth System Model between CCCma and the broader external climate research community. CP4C enables researchers to use CanESM on external to ECCC high performance computers, and in particular on the Digital Research Alliance of Canada platforms. CP4C has over 50 members at universities across Canada, has enabled external-to-ECCC research with CanESM for the first time, and has made novel science contributions, including to the Regional Aerosol Model Intercomparison Project (RAMIP).
The Southern Ocean Freshwater Input from Antarctica (SOFIA) Initiative is an international scientific collaboration designed to understand the effects of Antarctic meltwater on the Southern Ocean and global climate system. I co-led the creation of SOFIA through the Southern Ocean Regional Panel (SORP). SOFIA is a recognized CLIVAR task team and a registered CMIP7 Community MIP.
The Canadian Three Oceans Downscaling System (CanTODS) is designed as a collaborative open framework to consistently downscale climate across Canada's surrounding oceans. I coordinated the CanTODS 2021 workshop, bringing together researchers from ECCC, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and academia. I led the funding proposal for CanTODS under the Canadian Focused Predictions and Projections theme of Canada's National Adaptation Strategy (NAS), and I play an active role in CanTODS development and science leadership within CCCma.
Full list on Google Scholar | ORCID
Swart, N. C., Cole, J. N. S., Kharin, V. V., Lazare, M., Scinocca, J. F., Gillett, N. P., Anstey, J., Arora, V., Christian, J. R., Hanna, S., Jiao, Y., Lee, W. G., Majaess, F., Saenko, O. A., Seiler, C., Seinen, C., Shao, A., Sigmond, M., Solheim, L., von Salzen, K., Yang, D., and Winter, B.: The Canadian Earth System Model version 5 (CanESM5.0.3), Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 4823–4873, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4823-2019, 2019.
Swart, N. C., Martin, T., Beadling, R., Chen, J.-J., Danek, C., England, M. H., Farneti, R., Griffies, S. M., Hattermann, T., Hauck, J., Haumann, F. A., Jüling, A., Li, Q., Marshall, J., Muilwijk, M., Pauling, A. G., Purich, A., Smith, I. J., and Thomas, M.: The Southern Ocean Freshwater Input from Antarctica (SOFIA) Initiative: scientific objectives and experimental design, Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 7289–7309, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-7289-2023, 2023.
Swart, N.C., Gille, S.T., Fyfe, J.C. & Gillett, N. Drivers of Southern Ocean warming and freshening. Nature Geosci 11, 836–841 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0226-1
Swart, N.C., J.C. Fyfe, E. Hawkins, J.E. Kay and A. Jahn (2015), Influence of internal variability on Arctic sea-ice trends, Nature Clim. Change, 5, 86. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2483
Swart, N.C., J.C. Fyfe, N.P. Gillett and G.J. Marshall (2015), Comparing trends in the Southern Annular Mode and the surface westerly jet, J. Clim., 28, 8840–8859. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0334.1
Swart, N.C. and Fyfe, J.C. (2012) Global climate model wind bias influences ocean carbon uptake and storage, Nature Clim. Change, 2, 47–52, doi:10.1038/NCLIMATE1289.
Swart, N.C. and Fyfe, J.C. (2012) Observed and simulated changes in the Southern Hemisphere surface westerly wind-stress, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L16711, doi:10.1029/2012GL052810.
Swart, N.C. and Weaver, A.J. (2012) The Alberta oil-sands and climate, Nature Clim. Change, 2, 134–136, doi:10.1038/nclimate1421.
ORCID