Earth Sciences128
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Columbia Engineers an Impact on Water Sustainability
The most recent issue of the Columbia Engineering Magazine profiles many of the Columbia University Engineering faculty who are addressing the issues of sustainability in the water, climate and energy fields. Several of Columbia Water Center’s researchers and collaborators were featured. Here are some teasers that demonstrate the depth and breadth of the talent at…
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The New York DEP: A New Kind of Modeling Agency
Last Friday, Don Pierson of the NY DEP gave a lecture at the Columbia Water Center as part of our Fall Seminar Series. The talk, entitled “A Project to Evaluate the Effects of Climate Change on the NYC Drinking Water Supply,” detailed the process behind current DEP efforts to model the possible effects of climate…
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Can We Have Our Water and Drink It, Too? Exploring the Water Quality-Quantity Nexus
Water quantity and quality have generally been considered as separate problems and have usually been treated as such in policy-making and environmental restoration efforts. Increasingly, however, research and experience is beginning to show a strong link between water quantity and quality.
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Measuring Earthquakes in Western New York
Each year, dozens of small, mostly harmless earthquakes quakes rattle the northeastern United States and southern Canada, and one quite active area runs along the shores of lakes Erie and Ontario, in western New York. In order to learn more about what generates these, and the possible threat of something bigger, scientists at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth…
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A Year of Progress Toward a Sustainable Earth
The Earth Institute’s annual donor report is now available in an interactive digital format. We remain committed to finding extraordinary solutions to unprecedented world challenges, and this report highlights some of our innovative projects in research, policy and education, and the partnerships that are helping to support them.
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‘Troubled Waters’ Wreaking Havoc, from Minnesota to Mexico
On October 5th, ‘Troubled Waters’, a documentary produced by the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum, was screened for the first time on the U’s main campus in St. Paul.
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Study Affirms Gulf Oil Spill’s Vastness
First Independent Measure of Well Employs New Imaging Method
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Pricker Bushes, South African Barbeque and New Friends
On Friday, we decided to revisit an area we had already been to. This section covers the contact between the Bushveld rocks (green, colors as seen on the map) and the leptite (purple), granophyre (yellow) and granite (pink) rocks that we are interested in. What the map doesn’t show is topography. Pink granite can be very resistant, meaning it…
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Rock Hunting Before River Closes In
On Tuesday we drove to the Steelpoort River Valley, about a hundred kilometers away. Work on a new dam and road has begun since we were here last, in 2006 and 2007. Once it’s finished, the dam will flood much of our field area, submerging some of the rocks we are studying. It’s a good thing…
By studying thousands of buildings and analyzing their electricity use, Columbia Climate School Dean Alexis Abramson has been able to uncover ways to significantly cut energy consumption and emissions. Watch the Video: “Engineering a Cooler Future Through Smarter Buildings“