Events

Past Event

LDEO Earth Science Colloquium with Dr. Weston Anderson

February 7, 2025
3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
America/New_York
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, 61 Route 9W, Palisades, NY 10964 Monell Auditorium

Special Lamont75 Earth Science Colloquium, where eminent alumni and former staff showcase their research and reflect on what makes LDEO special presents:

Understanding and predicting crop yield shocks in a changing climate

with Dr. Weston Anderson, Assistant Research Professor, University of Maryland.

Extreme climate events have become more frequent due to climate change, exposing crops to a greater frequency and intensity of abiotic stress. However, we currently lack rigorous observationally-based estimates of the extent to which such increased stress has affected global crop production. This presentation will first focus on defining a framework to rigorously attribute changes in historical crop production to climate change. We demonstrate that climate change has reduced the mean and increased the variance of crop production over the historical record. We attribute the observed changes primarily to changes in extreme temperatures during the crop growing season, with the largest impacts occurring during drought years as a result of compound heat and moisture stress. In the second portion of the presentation we address how and where crop yield shocks can be anticipated prior to planting. Such forecasts are needed due to the considerable logistical challenges of anticipatory action and disaster response programs. By leveraging recent advances in climate forecasting, we demonstrate that global preseason crop yield forecasts are not only possible but are skillful over considerable portions of cropland. Taken together, our results demonstrate that while climate change is already exacerbating crop yield shocks, more can be done to anticipate and prevent such shocks.

 

Host: Dr. Richard Seager, Palisades Geophysical Institute/Lamont Research Professor, LDEO.
 

The Earth Science Colloquium Series, sponsored by Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia University Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DEES), provides a lively forum for discussing a wide variety of topics within the Earth sciences and related fields. Colloquia are attended by the full range of scientific and technical staff at LDEO. Colloquium attendance is required of all pre-orals DEES graduate students. The Colloquium Series supports the Lamont Seminar Diversity Initiative

Contact Information

Dr. Cornelia Class