Anderson, Weston

Bio

I’m a climate scientist studying the dynamics of climate variability and and change, vegetation-land-atmosphere interactions, and agriculture. I conduct interdisciplinary research using remote sensing, model simulations, and statistical records. 

My research focuses on three main themes: (1) How to understand the interactions between the land, atmosphere, and vegetation in a changing climate, (2) how to use the physical characteristics of the climate system to  anticipate and adapt to climate shocks, and (3) identifying sustainable, climate resilient agricultural practices

I am currently working on projects relating to compiling global datasets on land cover and food production, understanding how climate change is increasing the co-occurring heat and moisture stress in ways that damage vegetation, and using the dynamics of the El Niño Southern Oscillation to predict crop failures for the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET).

For more information on my research see my Google Scholar

Degrees

  • Earth and Environmental Science, Columbia University, 2014-2018 - PhD

  • Geography and Environmental Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, 2007-2012 - BS/MSE

Areas of Interest

  • Land-atmosphere-vegetation interactions
  • Climate variability
  • Climate change
  • Agriculture
  • Drought
  • The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)

Faculty – Climate and Society Master's program, Columbia University
Dynamics of Climate Variability and Change (Fall 2020): co-taught with Dr. Alessandra Giannini
Threats to Urban Food Security (Spring 2021): reading seminar, co-taught with Dr. Cascade Tuholske

Guest Lecturer – Harvard University
Climate variability, change, and food systems (2025)

Guest Lecturer – Washington State University
How does the climate system work? (2021)

Guest Lecturer – Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Introduction to Global and Population Health (2019, 2020,2021)
 

Course Materials

Below are course descriptions for courses that I have taught, including the course objectives and course syllabus

GR5400 - Dynamics of Climate Variability & Climate Change (Climate and Society Master's Program, Columbia University)

This course provides an understanding of the physical workings of the climate system, and it underpins the goals of the rest of the C+S program. Building on that, students learn through lectures, readings, discussions and exercises, how to interpret climate information like forecasts and observational maps. We cover the physical and methodological basis of forecasts – from weather to climate change – as well as their uncertainties. Students are encouraged to critically assess the suitability of different types of climate information to answer questions of societal interest in discussion and within a group project. Given that climate variability acts on a number of time and space scales, which may be further influenced by man-made climate change, we also address how these aspects of the climate are realized, forecast, interpreted. Solid understanding of the physical system and appropriate usage of climate-related terminology will be emphasized throughout the course.

2020 Course Syllabus

Skills Developed:

Physical understanding of the climate system
Forecast interpretation
Climate literacy
Initial basis to determine suitability of information to society
Communication of scientific material

Outreach

Climate-based creative writing prompt

Below is an artists' rendition of a tidally-locked planet. This was used for a graduate level climate dynamics course and as a prompt for K-6 students in an after-school writing program. For college-level students, the artists rendition can be combined with the first-principles understanding and the climate simulations of Merlis and Schnider (2010) in an activity in which students are provided the constraints of negligible rotation and the location of insolation maximum, then based on first-principles students work in groups to describe the main climate-features of such a planet before coming back together as a class to discuss their solutions and those of Merlis and Schnider. For the writing prompt, students were asked to consider how the environment of this planet differs from our own and write about characters that would inhabit such a planet. The idea is to develop a place-based character study that also opened up discussion of our own climate.

Artist rendition of a tidally-locked planet

Weston Anderson's research program has focused on three main themes: 

  • Societally relevant ocean and atmosphere dynamics
  • Land-atmosphere-vegetation interactions in a changing climate
  • Identifying sustainable, climate resilient agricultural practices

 

Societally relevant ocean and atmosphere dynamics

I have developed a research practice that is interdisciplinary, publicly engaged, and action-oriented. Understanding the dynamics of climate hazards and their drivers is a necessary first step towards building societies that are sustainable and resilient. My research program has advanced our understanding of societally relevant dynamics, used that information to build operational tools, and used those tools to brief the National Security Council and the Council of Economic Affairs. 

My research program has demonstrated how atmosphere and ocean dynamics lead to correlated risks between continents and across seasons. As part of this work, I have co-produced and regularly provide operational crop yield forecast system with regional scientists and food security experts at the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). 

 

Sustainable, climate resilient agricultural systems

Two of the most pressing threats to biodiversity are unsustainable agricultural practices and climate change. Agriculture is the single largest driver of habitat loss and fragmentation globally. My research has focused on developing the methods and data needed to understand the combination of these stresses for human and natural systems I am currently the Data Curator for the largest database of subnational crop production data in the world: the Crop Domain of the FEWS NET Data Warehouse (https://fdw.fews.net/en/). My research in this area uses the FEWS NET observational database to evaluate trends in cropland extensification and the mechanisms by which crop diversity leads to greater climate resilience. 

 

Land-atmosphere-vegetation interactions in a changing climate

Understanding how climate change is affecting plant productivity at the landscape scale requires understanding the ways that vegetation regulates and responds to fluxes of water and energy between the land and atmosphere. Climate change may affect the year-to-year variance of plant productivity due to its influence on precipitation, atmospheric water demand, maximum temperatures, or land-atmosphere coupling. But identifying which pathway is dominant - and whether any have emerged already - remains a challenge. To address this problem in the context of agriculture, I am leading a research project with funding from the UN FAO to identify where and how climate change is affecting the frequency of crop stress. 

 


Selected publications

* denotes joint first co-authorship 

** denotes advisee

 

*Lee, D., *Anderson, W., Chen, X., Davenport, F., Shukla, S., Sahajpal, R., Budde, M., Rowland, J., Verdin, J., You, L. and Ahouangbenon, M., (2025). HarvestStat Africa–harmonized subnational crop statistics for sub-Saharan Africa. Scientific Data, 12(1), p.690.

Anderson, W., Shukla, S., Verdin, J., Hoell, A., Justice, C., Barker, B., Slinski, K., Lenssen, N., Lou, J., Cook, B.I. and McNally, A., (2024). Preseason maize and wheat yield forecasts for early warning of crop failure. Nature Communications, 15(1), p.7262.

Lesk, C., Anderson, W., Rigden, A., Coast, O., Jägermeyr, J., McDermid, S., Davis, K.F. andKonar, M., (2022). Compound heat and moisture extreme impacts on global crop yields under climate change. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 3(12), pp.872-889.

Anderson, W., Taylor, C., McDermid, S., Ilboudo-Nébié, E., Seager, R., Schlenker, W., Cottier, F., de Sherbinin, A., Mendeloff, D. and Markey, K., (2021). Violent conflict exacerbated drought-related food insecurity between 2009 and 2019 in sub-Saharan Africa. Nature Food, 2(8), pp.603-615.

Anderson, W., Seager, R., Baethgen, W., Cane, M, and You, L. (2019): Synchronous crop failures and climate-forced yield variability. Science Advances, 5 (7), eaaw1976.

 


In the media

Weston Anderson's work has been featured in publications that include The Washington Post and EOS, and has been quoted as an expert in the field of climate, agriculture, and food security in The Guardian, The Atlantic, and NBC News, among others. To contact for comments, please email weston [at] umd.edu

 

Throughout my career I have tried to support and improve Universities and professional organizations to make them more representative and equitable. At the IRI at Columbia University, I served as chair of the Mentoring Working Group for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. There I developed a program to institute peer mentors for all incoming staff and to establish a program of group mentoring networks. The program was modeled on evaluations of similar programs in the medical sciences that demonstrated the importance of having multiple mentors both for staff retention.

While at the University of Maryland, I have served on the Promotions and Appointments Committee at the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center and currently serve on the Graduate Committee in the Department of Geographical Sciences. Currently I provide scientific leadership as a member of the US CLIVAR Predictability, Predictions, and Applications Interface Panel, where I have convened panels that focus on the importance of co-production, data sovereignty, the dynamics of terrestrial hydroclimate, and wildfire risks in a changing climate

Reviewer: Science, Science Advances, Nature Climate Change, Nature Communications, Nature Food, Nature Sustainability, Journal of Climate, Environmental Research Letters, Geophysical Research Letters, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Earth System Dynamics, PLOS Climate, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, International Journal of Climatology, AGU Advances, Earth’s Future, Earth System Dynamics, PNAS Nexus

US CLIVAR Panel Member - 2023 - 2026
Predictability, Predictions, and Applications Interface Panel

Associate Editor - 2022 - present
Earth Interactions

Voting member, Graduate Committee - 2025 – present
Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland

Committee for Promotions and Appointments - 2023 - 2026
ESSIC, University of Maryland

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Action Committee - 2020 - 2021
IRI, Columbia University

Seminar organizer - 2018 - 2021
IRI, Columbia University

Graduate Student Committee - 2016 -2018
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Graduate Student Advisory Council Representative, - 2015 - 2016
Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences