Pacific, Climate & Environment Profile Series: Dr Maxime Colin
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As AFRAN celebrates 10 years of connecting researchers, innovators and institutions across France, Australia and the Pacific, our Pacific, Climate & Environment Profile Series continues to showcase the people whose work is advancing knowledge and strengthening international collaboration.
Today, we are pleased to feature Dr Maxime Colin, a physicist and climate scientist whose research explores one of the most complex and fascinating components of the Earth's climate system: the tropical atmosphere. From clouds and rainfall to monsoon dynamics, his work helps improve our understanding of the processes that shape weather and climate across the Pacific and beyond.
Following the clouds
Maxime's scientific journey has taken him across several continents while remaining firmly connected to the Pacific.
After completing a joint France–Australia PhD on the formation of tropical clouds and rainfall, he spent two years teaching at the Université de la Polynésie française in Tahiti. Today, as a postdoctoral researcher at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research in Germany, he continues to spend part of each year in Australia while collaborating with colleagues in Tahiti, Taiwan and across the region.These experiences have given him a unique perspective on the diversity of tropical climates and the importance of international collaboration in understanding them.
Understanding the tropical atmosphere
Although climate change provides an important context for his work, Maxime's primary objective is to understand how the tropical atmosphere functions today.
His research initially focused on the formation of tropical clouds—particularly the towering cumulonimbus clouds responsible for heavy rainfall. Over time, his interests have expanded to include broader atmospheric processes, such as the movement of air masses, monsoon systems and the mechanisms that influence when and how monsoons begin. He is also involved in research on humid heatwaves in Polynesia, in collaboration with partners in Tahiti.
By better understanding these interconnected processes, scientists can improve the models used to describe tropical weather and climate.
From science to preparedness
For Maxime, improving our knowledge of atmospheric dynamics is far more than a scientific exercise.
Weather forecasts have become increasingly accurate, yet rainfall remains one of the most difficult variables to predict. Understanding why storms form, why some regions experience extreme rainfall and why monsoons sometimes arrive later than expected can ultimately contribute to better anticipation of hazardous weather events.
Over longer timescales, improved climate projections can also help governments and communities make informed decisions about land use, infrastructure, resource management and adaptation strategies in a changing climate.
As Maxime puts it:
"If we better understand what happens in the atmosphere, we can improve our ability to forecast and prepare."
The value of international collaboration
Maxime's connection with AFRAN began during his PhD, through events bringing together the French scientific and diplomatic communities in Australia.
Over the years, AFRAN has provided opportunities to build relationships with researchers across the wider France–Australia community, reinforcing the importance of international networks in supporting scientific careers and fostering new collaborations.
His story also reflects the increasingly global nature of climate science. Understanding atmospheric processes requires observations from multiple regions, expertise from different disciplines and partnerships that extend well beyond national borders.
As AFRAN enters its second decade, researchers like Maxime remind us that international collaboration is essential for tackling the complex scientific questions that underpin our understanding of climate—and for ensuring that this knowledge ultimately benefits the communities most exposed to environmental change.
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