Formal Professional Biography
Christopher J. Anderson specializes in research that uncovers mechanisms of climate variability and climate change and connects the consequences of those mechanisms to societal activities. The hallmarks of his work are technical proficiency, creative problem solving, and leadership. These characteristics were evident early in his career by the time he was first published as a lead author less than a year removed from having completed a Master of Science degree (Agricultural Meteorology major, 1997).
From 1997 to 2001, Christopher was employed as a support scientist at Iowa State University where he developed a technical skill set rich in modeling tools including weather forecast and analysis models (MM5, WRF) as well as stochastic and statistical models (regression, neural networks, monte carlo simulation, hierarchical models). He contributed to and lead-authored peer-reviewed publications on the subjects of regional climate analysis and regional climate model evaluation and development. Among the findings of his research are that (1) regional climate models produce realistic precipitation processes in the central United States that are absent in global reanalyses, (2) strong low-level jets of the United States High Plains are misrepresented in the NCEP-DOE AMIP-II Reanalysis because the underlying global model relies too greatly on the geostrophic wind, and (3) reports of F2 and greater tornadoes within eastern and northern Missouri through Tennesse into Mississippi/Alabama/Georgia are more frequent during La Nina.
Christopher focused on Doctoral studies between 2001 and 2004 (Agricultural Meteorology, major; Statistics, minor). His thesis described an alternative method for simulating the effects of convection in regional climate models that when tested in the central United States showed the ability to more realistically simulate the effects of propagating mesoscale convective systems. He continued to work at Iowa State University in a technical lead position as the technical coordinator for the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Project. His work in this position established the simulation domain and data set standards for the project.
In 2005, Christopher was hired by the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University to be the lead mesoscale modeler in the Global Systems Division Forecast Applications Branch at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Earth System Research Laboratory. He was the point of contact for all numerical weather forecast demonstration projects within the Forecast Applications Branch. His accomplishments include (1) building and maintaining a multi-model ensemble of mesoscale models for real-time forecasts in support of the Hydrometeorological Testbed, and (2) developing a new working group centered on applications of regional climate models.
Christopher returned to Iowa State University in 2008 as a staff scientist to fill the position of Assistant Director of the Climate Science Initiative. His work is involved in identifying mechanisms of climate change in the Midwest and linking climate change information to decision tools such as those used by policy makers, engineering designers, insurers, and energy producers.
Informal Professional Biography: Why I became a research meteorologist
I have heard it said that folks become interested in weather research either after having experienced a dramatic weather event that captures the imagination or after realizing career opportunities are relatively plentiful as a research meteorologist. My career is defined a bit by both.
I became fascinated with tornadoes as a junior high kid. I can't recall how I became fascinated with tornadoes, but I think it had to do with their rarity (I lived in southwest Minnesota where only one or two strong tornadoes occurs every ten years.), their severity, and the mystery surrounding how they form. I can recall having three experiences during this time in which a tornado was in close proximity. An article during my high school years in Discover that featured the tornado research of Howard Bluestein at Oklahoma University, who chases tornadoes in order to observe them with radar, provided the inspiration to consider a career path somehow related to severe weather.
I attended Saint Cloud State University where I completed a Bachelor of Science with a major in Meteorology in 1994. I received excellent training in synoptic meteorology from Bob and better-than-I-had-realized education in dynamic meteorology from Greg Nastrom and in atmospheric physics from Alan Anderson. A class called Environmental Meteorology stands out in my memory as well. In it I learned that clear writing is important even in meteorology, and it introduced me to climate change science.
The most influential experience of my undergraduate career was my participation in a Research Experience for Undergraduates program hosted by Oklahoma University in which I worked at the National Severe Storms Laboratory where I was mentored by John Cortinas and Harold Brooks. I've worked exclusively in weather and climate research since that experience.
A number of career defining moments occurred during my graduate work that was completed in two chunks of time spent in the Agricultural Meteorology program at Iowa State University. The flexibility of this program aligned with my philosophy of education. I took classes and worked on research projects in subject areas ranging meteorology, soils, biophysics, engineering, and statistics. I learned a broad range of analysis and modeling tools, how to communicate in multi-disciplinary environments, and when analogies can be made that allow models in one discipline to be carried into another. I have used this education to study a number of questions, such as
How have tornado reports been altered by changes in population?
How are heavy precipitation systems in the Midwest affected by El Nino?
How can ensemble forecasts be used to provide probabilistic predictions of rainfall?
How has the climate changed the risk of flooding and severe weather in the Midwest?
Simultaneously I became a publishing scientist, and this led to a transformative experience. One review in which the paper was required to have major revision because "the results were available to anyone with access to the back of an envelope" made me acutely aware that scientific work can be a creative process in which new information can be generated about unanswered and seemingly unanswerable questions. This realization resonated with one of the original driving forces behind my interest in weather, namely the mysteriousness of tornadoes. My perspective of what I wanted to get out of my career transformed from one in which I sought to learn about things and provide instruction to one in which I wanted to learn how to do things in order to figure out things unexplained. Since then, my approach is to use an interplay between identifying a mysterious observation and developing an approach to systematically produce a quantitative, tangible description of it.
The subject of my career has narrowed to climate science. My work is both theoretical and applied. One of my more theoretical studies stems from the simple question:
What might have happened the past 30-50 years if greenhouse gases had not been increasing since the late 1800s?
It is theoretical in that it is impossible to make a real-world measurement to address the question, so that it is necessary to rely on models with idealized and unobserved, though reasonable, inputs. Someone might ask: So what if we know what might have happened? How does that relate to day-to-day life? I'm not sure it relates to day-to-day life. It is a theoretical question. The value of asking it is that it provides some perspective on the magnitude of the change we have caused which helps us to understand to what extent our societal responses to climate change (changes in insurance policies, for example) are of our own doing. In a sense, it is a study that builds self-awareness, like how a toddler first realizes the ability of parental manipulation by dropping food from the table over and over and over again.
In contrast, the applied work that I do makes use of large amounts of real-world data. For example, I like to examine how the design criteria of engineered structures such as bridges, levies, reservoirs, and wind farms might need to be adapted in order to be consistent with the expected loads and stresses placed on the structures by changing climate conditions over the next 30-50 years.
My position as a scientist housed at a university provides me with the flexibility to pursue both avenues of research. I enjoy the freedom this position provides to work with a wide range of clients that face complicated, unexplained (and sometimes malformed) questions in need of clarification from scientific guidance.