State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Earth Sciences116

  • Time and Technology and the Really Down Deep

    Time and Technology and the Really Down Deep

    Two years before Google Earth was launched, Bill Ryan and Suzanne Carbotte, oceanographers at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, began a project to transform the way we look at the ocean. They started collecting reams of data that had been gathered by scientists sailing on research vessels all over the world since the 1980s, one ship…

  • New Google Ocean Maps Dive Deep

    Up Close and Personal With Landscapes of the Abyss

  • Switchyard Project: A Very Successful Year

    Switchyard Project: A Very Successful Year

    The 2011 field season has been a very very successful year, in fact the most successful one we have ever had. The weather has been great, the equipment proved to be mostly reliable, the people have been great and the samples are plenty.

  • Science Education with Trees and Canoes

    Science Education with Trees and Canoes

    Students from New York City, Singapore and the Netherlands test their skills this weekend in the woods and on the water near Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in the International Student and Teacher Exchange Program.

  • A Focus on the Thinning Northwest Greenland Glaciers

    A Focus on the Thinning Northwest Greenland Glaciers

    Blog by Hakim Abdi, LDEO Satellite measures showing thinning ice on the Northwest Greenland glaciers prompted Operation IceBridge to include annual flights over this region. The area runs along the Baffin Bay coast, which is often covered in fog and low lying clouds forcing delays and reschedules. With the end of our season in sight…

  • The Confounding Economics of Natural Disaster Shocks

    Something seems to be amiss with the way standard economics views the outcomes of natural disasters.  This post i placed in OECD Insights and in Earth Magazine discusses some of the puzzles posed by the interaction between extreme events and different societies.

  • Measuring Gravity From a Moving Aircraft Requires a ‘Gravi-God’!

    Measuring Gravity From a Moving Aircraft Requires a ‘Gravi-God’!

    From: Joël Dubé, Engineer/Geophysicist at Sander Geophysics, OIB P-3 Gravity Team One of the instruments used in Operation IceBridge (OIB) is an airborne gravimeter operated through a collaboration between Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and Sander Geophysics of Ottawa, Canada.  People from other instrument teams have been heard to call it a gravity…

  • Switchyard Project: Melting Ice, a Fresher Arctic

    Switchyard Project: Melting Ice, a Fresher Arctic

    The freshwater content of the Arctic Ocean is increasing as the Earth’s climate warms. Chemical analysis indicates that the source is both melting ice and the Pacific Ocean.

  • Witnessing time – from 445 million year old rocks exposed in the Fjords to ~4 thousand year old small ice caps

    Witnessing time – from 445 million year old rocks exposed in the Fjords to ~4 thousand year old small ice caps

    By Hakim Abdi, LDEO. My first flight on the P3 and the scenery was nothing short of breathtaking. The science mission involved flights in the north over the Steensby glacier that passes through Sherard Osbron Fjord, and Ryder glacier constrained by the Victoria Fjord. In northeast Greenland we overflew the Hagen glacier and the Flade…

Earth Month Graphic Collage: "Our Power, Our Planet - April 2025"

The first Earth Day in 1970 ignited a movement to stop polluting our planet. This Earth Month, join us in our commitment to realizing a just and sustainable future for our planet. Visit our Earth Day website for ideas, resources, and inspiration.

  • Time and Technology and the Really Down Deep

    Time and Technology and the Really Down Deep

    Two years before Google Earth was launched, Bill Ryan and Suzanne Carbotte, oceanographers at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, began a project to transform the way we look at the ocean. They started collecting reams of data that had been gathered by scientists sailing on research vessels all over the world since the 1980s, one ship…

  • New Google Ocean Maps Dive Deep

    Up Close and Personal With Landscapes of the Abyss

  • Switchyard Project: A Very Successful Year

    Switchyard Project: A Very Successful Year

    The 2011 field season has been a very very successful year, in fact the most successful one we have ever had. The weather has been great, the equipment proved to be mostly reliable, the people have been great and the samples are plenty.

  • Science Education with Trees and Canoes

    Science Education with Trees and Canoes

    Students from New York City, Singapore and the Netherlands test their skills this weekend in the woods and on the water near Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in the International Student and Teacher Exchange Program.

  • A Focus on the Thinning Northwest Greenland Glaciers

    A Focus on the Thinning Northwest Greenland Glaciers

    Blog by Hakim Abdi, LDEO Satellite measures showing thinning ice on the Northwest Greenland glaciers prompted Operation IceBridge to include annual flights over this region. The area runs along the Baffin Bay coast, which is often covered in fog and low lying clouds forcing delays and reschedules. With the end of our season in sight…

  • The Confounding Economics of Natural Disaster Shocks

    Something seems to be amiss with the way standard economics views the outcomes of natural disasters.  This post i placed in OECD Insights and in Earth Magazine discusses some of the puzzles posed by the interaction between extreme events and different societies.

  • Measuring Gravity From a Moving Aircraft Requires a ‘Gravi-God’!

    Measuring Gravity From a Moving Aircraft Requires a ‘Gravi-God’!

    From: Joël Dubé, Engineer/Geophysicist at Sander Geophysics, OIB P-3 Gravity Team One of the instruments used in Operation IceBridge (OIB) is an airborne gravimeter operated through a collaboration between Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University and Sander Geophysics of Ottawa, Canada.  People from other instrument teams have been heard to call it a gravity…

  • Switchyard Project: Melting Ice, a Fresher Arctic

    Switchyard Project: Melting Ice, a Fresher Arctic

    The freshwater content of the Arctic Ocean is increasing as the Earth’s climate warms. Chemical analysis indicates that the source is both melting ice and the Pacific Ocean.

  • Witnessing time – from 445 million year old rocks exposed in the Fjords to ~4 thousand year old small ice caps

    Witnessing time – from 445 million year old rocks exposed in the Fjords to ~4 thousand year old small ice caps

    By Hakim Abdi, LDEO. My first flight on the P3 and the scenery was nothing short of breathtaking. The science mission involved flights in the north over the Steensby glacier that passes through Sherard Osbron Fjord, and Ryder glacier constrained by the Victoria Fjord. In northeast Greenland we overflew the Hagen glacier and the Flade…