Kevin Anchukaitis

About

Kevin Anchukaitis is a professor of Earth Systems Geography, specializing in dendrochronology, climate science, paleoclimatology, and earth systems geography. His research focuses on the reconstruction and analysis of climate variability and change over the Common Era, examining the interaction between past environments and human society. He employs a variety of techniques including dendroclimatology, climate field reconstruction, spatiotemporal data analysis, stable and radiogenic isotopes, proxy systems, numerical modeling, and the integration of paleoenvironmental data with Earth System Modeling to develop and interpret evidence for past, present, and future climate and environmental dynamics across different temporal and spatial scales, from local to global and interannual to millennial. Anchukaitis holds joint or affiliate appointments in the Department of Geosciences, the Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Global Change, and Latin American Studies. He is the Director of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research in the College of Science, where students work on projects related to climate and environmental variability and change. His research projects include paleoenvironmental reconstruction, studying variability in drought, temperature, and ocean-atmosphere circulation, and integrating earth system models and data to better understand climate system mechanisms and future changes. His work also encompasses coupled human and natural systems, particularly in Asia and the…

Research topics

• Climatology
• Geology
• Environmental science
• Physical geography
• Oceanography
• Geography
• Ecology
• Paleontology
• Archaeology

Selected publications

• Twenty‐First Century Drought Projections in the CMIP6 Forcing Scenarios

  Earth s Future · 2020 · 1013 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Abstract There is strong evidence that climate change will increase drought risk and severity, but these conclusions depend on the regions, seasons, and drought metrics being considered. We analyze changes in drought across the hydrologic cycle (precipitation, soil moisture, and runoff) in projections from Phase Six of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6). The multimodel ensemble shows robust drying in the mean state across many regions and metrics by the end of the 21st century, ev…

  DOI

• Megadroughts in the Common Era and the Anthropocene

  Nature Reviews Earth & Environment · 2022 · 171 citations

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The 852/3 CE Mount Churchill eruption: examining the potential climatic and societal impacts and the timing of the Medieval Climate Anomaly in the North Atlantic region

  Climate of the past · 2022 · 32 citations

  Abstract. The 852/3 CE eruption of Mount Churchill, Alaska, was one of the largest first-millennium volcanic events, with a magnitude of 6.7 (VEI 6) and a tephra volume of 39.4–61.9 km3 (95 % confidence). The spatial extent of the ash fallout from this event is considerable and the cryptotephra (White River Ash east; WRAe) extends as far as Finland and Poland. Proximal ecosystem and societal disturbances have been linked with this eruption; however, wider eruption impacts on climate and society…

  PublisherDOI

• Last-millennium volcanic forcing and climate response using SO ₂ emissions

  Climate of the past · 2025-01-27 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract. Climate variability in the last millennium (past 1000 years) is dominated by the effects of large-magnitude volcanic eruptions; however, a long-standing mismatch exists between model-simulated and tree-ring-derived surface cooling. Accounting for the self-limiting effects of large sulfur dioxide (SO2) injections and the limitations in tree-ring records, such as lagged responses due to biological memory, reconciles some of the discrepancy, but uncertainties remain, particularly for the…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Tree-ring evidence of the elusive 1959 summer cold event in northwestern North America

  Arctic Antarctic and Alpine Research · 2025-02-12 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Tree-ring records in northwestern North America suggest that the year 1959 was anomalously cold relative to the last several centuries. Here, we investigate the spatial characteristics, specific timing, and magnitude of the 1959 cold event through analyzing a multiparameter tree-ring network, including two wood anatomical records, and climate reanalysis data. By assessing the sensitivity of tree-ring data to a climate extreme during the instrumental era, we can better understand the capacity of…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: Reconstructing Droughts in the Tropical Americas Using Tree-Ring Analysis

  NSF · $289k · 2013–2016

• Collaborative Research: P2C2--Past and Future Drought Variability in the Mediterranean Basin

  NSF · $68k · 2013–2015

• P2C2: Spatiotemporal Variability in Western United States Snowpack During the Common Era

  NSF · $397k · 2018–2024

Frequent coauthors

• Edward R. Cook

  Columbia University

  114 shared

• Rob Wilson

  University of St Andrews

  99 shared

• Laia Andreu‐Hayles

  Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

  98 shared

• Benjamin I. Cook

  Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

  97 shared

• Rosanne D’Arrigo

  Columbia University

  96 shared

• Nicole Davi

  William Paterson University

  72 shared

• Michael N. Evans

  71 shared

• Julien Emile‐Geay

  University of Southern California

  54 shared

Education

• PhD, Geosciences

  University of Arizona

  2007

Similar researchers at University of Arizona

• Jennifer Masonh-79
• Greg Barron-Gaffordh-47
• Andrea K. Gerlakh-38