Professor Emeritus
Focus Areas
- Focus Area 1: Earth System Science
- Focus Area 5: Catastrophes, Conservation, and Conflict
- Focus Area 6: Sustainability & Global Environmental Change
Areas of Specialization
- Hydrology
- Climatology
- Quantitative Methods
Educational Background
- PhD in Geography, McMaster University, 1982
- M.A. in Geography, McMaster University, 1976
- B.S. in Geography, London School of Economics, 1975
Recent Graduate Students
- Caroline Huguenin
- Akhil Kshirsagar
- Holli Capps
- Michael Dillen
- Carly Muir
- Dr. Johanna Engstrom
- Dr. David Keellings
In My Own Words
Dr. Peter Waylen is a physical geographer specializing in hydrology, particularly the analysis of spatial variations in the statistics describing interannual and interseasonal variability of hydrometeorological variables. He has published papers on flood and drought frequency, thunder and hail occurrences, cold spells and freezes, and annual and seasonal precipitation totals, in Geographic (e.g. Canadian Geographer, Professional Geographer, Transactions I.B.G.) and related disciplinary journals, in both hydrology (e.g. Water Resources Research, J. of Hydrology) and climatology (e.g. Int. J. of Climatology, J. of Climate, J. of Climate and Applied Meteorology). The research involves a combination of climatology, hydrology and the application of statistical theory, the results of which are applied over regions of interest. Recent research funded by NSF, NOAA and the Inter-American Institute investigated the influence of El Niño – Southern Oscillation and other macro-climatic indicators on precipitation and stream flow in Central and South America, and Thailand/Cambodia. Dr. Waylen is also a member of, the consortium of faculty at Florida universities interested in the effects of El Niño, the University of Florida’s Center for Latin American Studies, the Land Use Environmental Change Institute, the Inter-disciplinary Program in Hydrosciences and the School of Natural Environment. He is a Professional Hydrologist, certified by the American Institute of Hydrology.
Recent Publications
Capps Herron, H., Waylen, P., & Owusu, K. (2023). Spatial and temporal variability in the characteristics of extreme daily rainfalls in Ghana. Natural Hazards, 117(1), 655-680.
Huguenin, C. N., Serafin, K. A., & Waylen, P. R. (2023). A spatio-temporal analysis of the role of climatic drivers influencing extreme precipitation events in a Costa Rican basin. Weather and Climate Extremes, 42, 100602.
Waylen, P., Annear, C., & Bunting, E. (2019). Interannual hydroclimatic variability of the Lake Mweru basin, Zambia. Water, 11(9), 1801.
Hernández Ayala, J. J., Keellings, D., Waylen, P. R., & Matyas, C. J. (2017). Extreme floods and their relationship with tropical cyclones in Puerto Rico. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 62(13), 2103-2119.
Gaughan, A. E., Staub, C. G., Hoell, A., Weaver, A., & Waylen, P. R. (2016). Inter-and Intra-annual precipitation variability and associated relationships to ENSO and the IOD in southern Africa. International Journal of Climatology, 36(4).
Southworth, J., Zhu, L., Bunting, E., Ryan, S. J., Herrero, H., Waylen, P. R., & Hill, M. J. (2016). Changes in vegetation persistence across global savanna landscapes, 1982–2010. Journal of Land Use Science, 11(1), 7-32.