Tadesse Terefe Zeleke

Tadesse Terefe ZELEKE is an Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science and Meteorology with expertise in climate modeling, weather prediction, and climate risk assessment. He completed his PhD as a sandwich student under Prof. Filipo Giorgi at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Italy, focusing on climate hazards and modeling, their causes, and their impacts on different economic sectors, including agriculture and health. 

His work applies advanced climate models, including GCMs, WRF, CPT, and RegCM5, for high-resolution weather prediction, downscaling of CMIP products, and advanced statistical forecasting methods such as CPT and PyCPT. These tools support assessments of climate variability and change and their impacts on agriculture, including crops, livestock, water availability, and sustainability. 

He has contributed extensively to climate information services and modeling across East Africa, including Ethiopia, South Sudan, Djibouti, and Eritrea. He established postgraduate programs in atmospheric physics at Bahir Dar University and Addis Ababa University and has supervised more than 12 PhD candidates and numerous MSc students. He has also published over 80 scientific papers covering climate variability, hazards such as droughts and floods, climate projections, sensitivity experiments, and climate modeling. 

He has participated in multiple international and thematic research projects, developed training materials for stakeholders, and continues to advance applied climate science in the region. His current research focuses on climate related risk profiling for agricultural productivity and health impacts in southern Ethiopia, with expansion across East Africa.  

In partnership with the Ethiopian Meteorological Institute, he is leading efforts to enhance multi-scale climate prediction using available approaches. He also serves as a Lead Author for the IPCC Seventh Assessment Report (AR7), Working Group II, Chapter 7 on Africa, effective July 2025.