Earth Sciences Archives - State of the Planet

A New 66 Million-Year History of Carbon Dioxide Offers Little Comfort for Today

Scientists have produced a new curve of how atmospheric carbon dioxide affects climate. It makes clear that its effects can be long lasting.

by |December 7, 2023

Paving the Way for Backpack Climate Science: North Cascades Glacier Climate Project Turns 40

Forty years after Mauri Pelto began studying the glaciers in northern Washington, much has changed about the glaciers, the project and the people involved.

by |December 7, 2023

American Geophysical Union 2023: Key Research From the Columbia Climate School

A guide to notable research to be presented at the world’s largest gathering of earth and space scientists.

by |December 6, 2023

She’s on a Mission to Plumb the Secrets of New York’s Disappearing Wetlands

Botanist and climate scientist Dorothy Peteet has been in the business digging deep into bogs, marshes and fens for more than 40 years, revealing natural and human histories going back thousands of years, and their role in changing climate. A final frontier: the obscure remains of New York City’s once widespread coastal wetlands.

by |November 16, 2023

Learning How Trees Can Help Unlock Secrets of Our Climate Future

A new cataloging system will help better preserve, track and share thousands of tree ring samples from around the globe.

by Olivia Colton and Tyler Zorn |November 10, 2023

In Massive Project, Scientists to Probe Deposits Beneath West Antarctic Ice Sheet

Drilling into sub-ice deposits left behind during times when the Earth was warmer than today should provide insights into how a massive ice sheet will react to human-induced climate change.

by |November 8, 2023

World Temperatures Will Blow Past Paris Goals This Decade, Asserts New Study

James Hansen warned the world in the 1980s that global warming was coming. Now, he is warning that it is barreling down even faster than expected.

by |November 3, 2023

Study Identifies Jet-Stream Pattern That Locks in Extreme Winter Cold, Wet Spells

Recently, scientists connected giant waves in the global jet stream to hot, dry spells gripping widely separated parts of the planet at the same time. Now they have done the same for winter weather.

by |October 4, 2023

An Archive of the Stars Is Born

NASA has designated a group at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory with preserving and making easily accessible data from all the extraterrestrial material curated by the agency.

by |October 2, 2023

Study Reveals Long-Distance Levers Behind U.S. Southwest Drought—and a Dry Future

The U.S. Southwest has suffered a historic drought over the past two decades. A new study elucidates the drivers, and says conditions will never return to those of the relatively wet 20th century.

by |September 26, 2023