State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Earth Sciences78

  • What Do Wildfires Have to Do with Climate Change?

    What Do Wildfires Have to Do with Climate Change?

    “Climate change has been making the fire season in the United States longer and on average more intense,” said John Holdren, President Obama’s science advisor. And, wildfires are not only intensified by climate change, they also exacerbate it.

  • Orogenous Zones: How Rock Flows

    Orogenous Zones: How Rock Flows

    The architects of Columbia’s modern Northwest Tower, at the corner of Broadway and 120th Street, made good use of some beautiful stones. In their polished and swirling surfaces, they tell a story of the clash of continents and the processes by which mountains are made.

  • Chemical silence

    Chemical silence

    What if you couldn’t smell smoke? Or detect flirty signs from a bloke? Imagine the cost Of faculties lost, Of signals that deafness would cloak …

  • A Scientist Who Traveled the World to Study the Forest, and the Trees

    Gordon Jacoby, 1934-2014

  • Seeing Red: The Great Oxygenation Event

    Seeing Red: The Great Oxygenation Event

    In Part 4 of the Columbia Geology Tour, David Walker of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory explores the source of the red sandstone of Russell Hall at the Columbia Teachers College on 120th Street.

  • Lamont-Doherty Director Awarded National Medal of Science

    Lamont-Doherty Director Awarded National Medal of Science

    Sean Solomon, director of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and a geophysicist who has spent much of his career studying Earth’s neighboring planets as well as the Earth itself, will receive the National Medal of Science.

  • The Art and Science of Climate Change

    The Art and Science of Climate Change

    This fall, the photographs of Sebastião Salgado provide the springboard for an ambitious program of panel discussions, lectures and film screenings addressing the urgent issue of climate change, at the International Center of Photography in New York City.

  • Photo Essay: Sculpting Tropical Peaks

    Photo Essay: Sculpting Tropical Peaks

    Max Cunningham, a graduate student at Lamont-Doherty, traveled to Costa Rica’s Mount Chirripó this past summer to test the idea that mountain glaciers carved the summit we see today. He and his colleagues hope to eventually pin down when Chirripó’s high-elevation valleys eroded into their current form. Check out a recap of their 2014 field…

  • At the Corner of Mudd Hall, the Secret of Blue Quartz

    At the Corner of Mudd Hall, the Secret of Blue Quartz

    How did big crystals of blue quartz get locked into the pink granite of Mudd Hall? David Walker of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory continues his Columbia Geology Tour.

Photo of the Earth from space with the text "Lamont at AGU25" on top.

AGU25, the premier Earth and space science conference, takes place December 15-19, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. This year’s theme—Where Science Connects Us—puts in focus how science depends on connection, from the lab to the field to the ballot box. Once again, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia Climate School scientists, experts, students, and educators are playing an active role, sharing our research and helping shape the future of our planet. #AGU25 Learn More

  • What Do Wildfires Have to Do with Climate Change?

    What Do Wildfires Have to Do with Climate Change?

    “Climate change has been making the fire season in the United States longer and on average more intense,” said John Holdren, President Obama’s science advisor. And, wildfires are not only intensified by climate change, they also exacerbate it.

  • Orogenous Zones: How Rock Flows

    Orogenous Zones: How Rock Flows

    The architects of Columbia’s modern Northwest Tower, at the corner of Broadway and 120th Street, made good use of some beautiful stones. In their polished and swirling surfaces, they tell a story of the clash of continents and the processes by which mountains are made.

  • Chemical silence

    Chemical silence

    What if you couldn’t smell smoke? Or detect flirty signs from a bloke? Imagine the cost Of faculties lost, Of signals that deafness would cloak …

  • A Scientist Who Traveled the World to Study the Forest, and the Trees

    Gordon Jacoby, 1934-2014

  • Seeing Red: The Great Oxygenation Event

    Seeing Red: The Great Oxygenation Event

    In Part 4 of the Columbia Geology Tour, David Walker of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory explores the source of the red sandstone of Russell Hall at the Columbia Teachers College on 120th Street.

  • Lamont-Doherty Director Awarded National Medal of Science

    Lamont-Doherty Director Awarded National Medal of Science

    Sean Solomon, director of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and a geophysicist who has spent much of his career studying Earth’s neighboring planets as well as the Earth itself, will receive the National Medal of Science.

  • The Art and Science of Climate Change

    The Art and Science of Climate Change

    This fall, the photographs of Sebastião Salgado provide the springboard for an ambitious program of panel discussions, lectures and film screenings addressing the urgent issue of climate change, at the International Center of Photography in New York City.

  • Photo Essay: Sculpting Tropical Peaks

    Photo Essay: Sculpting Tropical Peaks

    Max Cunningham, a graduate student at Lamont-Doherty, traveled to Costa Rica’s Mount Chirripó this past summer to test the idea that mountain glaciers carved the summit we see today. He and his colleagues hope to eventually pin down when Chirripó’s high-elevation valleys eroded into their current form. Check out a recap of their 2014 field…

  • At the Corner of Mudd Hall, the Secret of Blue Quartz

    At the Corner of Mudd Hall, the Secret of Blue Quartz

    How did big crystals of blue quartz get locked into the pink granite of Mudd Hall? David Walker of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory continues his Columbia Geology Tour.