Dr. Andreas Schlueter

Dr. Andreas Schlueter

Schmidt Science Fellow

Stanford University

Biography

I am a postdoc and Schmidt Science Fellow in the Ermon Lab at Stanford University. I want to help to alleviate global hunger. In my current work, I focus on statistical and machine learning models improving the prediction of crop yields in Africa, which depend on periods of drought or enhanced rainfall.

Before joining Stanford, I completed my PhD in the working group Atmospheric Dynamics at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany, where I worked with mathematicians to describe—at daily, weekly, and intraseasonal timescales—how different types of atmospheric waves create dry and wet periods over Africa, while demonstrating their potential for statistical rainfall forecasting.

Currently, I develop a new tropical crop forecasting model by applying statistical and machine learning methods to satellite and numerical weather data. In my Schmidt Science Fellowship year, I will draw on previous experience and expertise to develop a real-time crop-yield prediction model for Africa. With the Ermon Lab at Stanford, I aim to achieve this via a combination of real-time satellite observations, weather forecasts, and machine learning techniques. Using neural networks, I hope to also build on investigations I have previously led on the influence of variable oceanic modes such as the El-Niño in the Pacific Ocean on crop yields in Tanzania, with the goal of testing whether such models can be used as predictors for crop yield more widely.

I am also part of the Sustain Lab and am excited by the potential of interdisciplinary “computational sustainability”. I hope to contribute to this new field as it aims to address sustainability challenges through computational methods.

Interests

  • Tropical Meteorology
  • Agriculture and Remote Sensing
  • Statistical Forecasting and Machine Learning

Education

  • PhD in Atmospheric Physics, 2019

    Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany

  • MSc in Tropical and International Forestry, 2015

    Georg-August-University Göttingen, Germany

  • BSc in Meteorology, 2012

    Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany

Experience

 
 
 
 
 

Postdoc

Ermon Lab, Stanford University

Sep 2019 – Present Schmidt Science Fellow
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Visiting Scholar

Han Lab, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA

Sep 2014 – Mar 2015 Scholarship by the German National Academic Foundation
 
 
 
 
 

Co-founder and CTO

Flamingoo Foods (formerly Flying Flamingoo)

Jun 2014 – Present Katavi, Tanzania

Responsibilities include:

  • advising on rice plantation and investment strategies based on weather information
  • planning of purchase, transport, storage and sales of food staples
  • managing of personnel, organizing internships for German students
  • maintenance of online accounting system used by rice mill and stores
 
 
 
 
 

Research trip

Musoma, Tanzania

Jun 2014 – Jul 2014 Scholarship by the Foundation fiatpanis
 
 
 
 
 

Research trip

Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam

Oct 2013 – Nov 2013 Scholarship by the German National Academic Foundation
 
 
 
 
 

Student research assistant

WG Bioclimatology, University of Göttingen, Germany

Dec 2012 – Jun 2013
 
 
 
 
 

Research internship

Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation, University of Queensland, Australia

Aug 2011 – Nov 2011 Scholarship by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

Awards & Honors

KIT Doctoral Award 2019

Outstanding student poster award

Nomination for the German Dedication Prize

Fellow of the German National Academic Foundation

Recent Publications

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A Systematic Comparison of Tropical Waves over Northern Africa. Part II: Dynamics and Thermodynamics

This study presents the first systematic comparison of the dynamics and thermodynamics associated with all major tropical wave types causing rainfall modulation over northern tropical Africa: the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO), equatorial Rossby waves (ERs), tropical disturbances (TDs, including African easterly waves), Kelvin waves, mixed Rossby–gravity waves (MRGs), and eastward inertio-gravity waves (EIGs)…

A Systematic Comparison of Tropical Waves over Northern Africa. Part I: Influence on Rainfall

Low-latitude rainfall variability on the daily to intraseasonal time scale is often related to tropical waves, including convectively coupled equatorial waves, the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO), and tropical disturbances (TDs). Despite the importance of rainfall variability for vulnerable societies in tropical Africa, the relative influence of tropical waves for this region is largely unknown. This article presents the first systematic comparison of the impact of six wave types on precipitation over northern tropical Africa…

Skill of Global Raw and Postprocessed Ensemble Predictions of Rainfall over Northern Tropical Africa

Accumulated precipitation forecasts are of high socioeconomic importance for agriculturally dominated societies in northern tropical Africa. In this study, we analyze the performance of nine operational global ensemble prediction systems (EPSs), which are part of the TIGGE dataset, for three regions in northern tropical Africa. […] To assess the full potential of raw ensemble forecasts across spatial scales, we apply state-of-the-art statistical postprocessing methods in form of Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) and Ensemble Model Output Statistics (EMOS)…

A meteorological and chemical overview of the DACCIWA field campaign in West Africa in June–July 2016

In June and July 2016 the Dynamics–Aerosol–Chemistry–Cloud Interactions in West Africa (DACCIWA) project organised a major international field campaign in southern West Africa (SWA) […] The purpose of this paper is to characterise the large-scale setting for the campaign as well as synoptic and mesoscale weather systems affecting the study region in the light of existing conceptual ideas, mainly using objective and subjective identification algorithms based on (re-)analysis and satellite products…

Conference talks and posters

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(2020). Skill of Global Raw and Postprocessed Ensemble Predictions of Rainfall in the Tropics. 100th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting.

(2020). Statistical Forecasts for the Occurrence of Precipitation Outperform Global Models over Northern Tropical Africa. 100th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting.

(2020). A Systematic Comparison of Tropical Waves over Western and Eastern Equatorial Africa. 100th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting.

(2019). A systematic comparison of tropical waves over northern Africa.. 99th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting.

(2019). Skill of Global Raw and Postprocessed Ensemble Predictions in the Tropics. EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts.

(2019). A Systematic Comparison of Tropical Waves over Northern Africa. EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts.

(2018). The Challenge of Classifying Propagating Synoptic Disturbances in the African Tropics – Examples from the DACCIWA Field Campaign. American Meteorological Society, 33rd Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, Ponte Vedra, FL, USA, 16-20 April 2018.

(2018). Modulation of Precipitation over West Africa by Equatorial Waves. American Meteorological Society, 33rd Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, Ponte Vedra, FL, USA, 16-20 April 2018.

Contact

  • aschl@stanford.edu
  • 353 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305
  • Gates Building - Office 229 on Floor 2