State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Earth Sciences90

  • Chasing Tornadoes: A Close Call with a Deadly Storm

    Chasing Tornadoes: A Close Call with a Deadly Storm

    Tornadoes are rare at any one location, but out of anywhere in the United States, the central Oklahoma area has the greatest risk—and this day would prove no exception.

  • Tides Play a Role in Triggering Undersea Earthquakes

    Tides Play a Role in Triggering Undersea Earthquakes

    Can shifting tides trigger earthquakes? Research done by Maya Tolstoy, a geophysicist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, suggests they do.

  • 400 ppm World, Part 2: Rising Seas Come with Rising CO2

    400 ppm World, Part 2: Rising Seas Come with Rising CO2

    Every indication is that thermal expansion will not dominate rates of sea-level rise in the future. As Earth’s climate marches toward equilibration with present-day CO2 levels, the climate will continue to warm. And this warming threatens the stability of a potentially much, much larger source for sea-level rise — the world’s remaining ice sheets.

  • 400 ppm World, Part 1: Large Changes Still to Come

    400 ppm World, Part 1: Large Changes Still to Come

    Why should society care that CO2 is now as high as 400 ppm? The reasons are multiple, but all trace back to the relationship between CO2 and temperature.

  • Climate in the Peruvian Andes:  From Early Humans to Modern Challenges

    Climate in the Peruvian Andes: From Early Humans to Modern Challenges

    Twice humans have witnessed the wasting of snow and ice from Peru’s tallest volcano, Nevado Coropuna—In the waning of the last ice age, some 12,000 years ago, and today, as industrial carbon dioxide in the air raises temperatures again. As in the past, Coropuna’s retreating glaciers figure prominently in the lives of people below. In…

  • Lamont Scientist Featured in Antarctic Climate Change Documentary

    Lamont Scientist Featured in Antarctic Climate Change Documentary

    Lamont-Doherty scientist Hugh Ducklow is featured in a documentary due out next summer on climate change and the West Antarctic Peninsula. Catch a preview in this newly-released trailer.

  • A Tale of Sea Ice, Algae and the Arctic

    A Tale of Sea Ice, Algae and the Arctic

    I returned to New York on Monday, but Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory scientists Andy Juhl and Craig Aumack remain working in Barrow, Alaska for another week. They’ll continue to collect data and samples in a race against deteriorating Arctic sea ice conditions as the onset of summer causes the ice to thin and break up.

  • Science, Creativity and Isopods

    Science, Creativity and Isopods

    It’s near midnight and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory researchers Andy Juhl and Craig Aumack, and Arizona State’s Kyle Kinzler are gathered around a table in their lab at the Barrow Arctic Research Consortium discussing the best way to catch an isopod.

  • Ctene Sensations of the Arctic Ocean

    Ctene Sensations of the Arctic Ocean

    One of the goals of Andy Juhl’s and Craig Aumack’s Arctic research is to determine the role of ice algae as a source of nutrition for food webs existing in the water column and at the bottom of the Arctic ocean.

Banner: Climate Week NYC 2025, September 21-28, 2025
  • Chasing Tornadoes: A Close Call with a Deadly Storm

    Chasing Tornadoes: A Close Call with a Deadly Storm

    Tornadoes are rare at any one location, but out of anywhere in the United States, the central Oklahoma area has the greatest risk—and this day would prove no exception.

  • Tides Play a Role in Triggering Undersea Earthquakes

    Tides Play a Role in Triggering Undersea Earthquakes

    Can shifting tides trigger earthquakes? Research done by Maya Tolstoy, a geophysicist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, suggests they do.

  • 400 ppm World, Part 2: Rising Seas Come with Rising CO2

    400 ppm World, Part 2: Rising Seas Come with Rising CO2

    Every indication is that thermal expansion will not dominate rates of sea-level rise in the future. As Earth’s climate marches toward equilibration with present-day CO2 levels, the climate will continue to warm. And this warming threatens the stability of a potentially much, much larger source for sea-level rise — the world’s remaining ice sheets.

  • 400 ppm World, Part 1: Large Changes Still to Come

    400 ppm World, Part 1: Large Changes Still to Come

    Why should society care that CO2 is now as high as 400 ppm? The reasons are multiple, but all trace back to the relationship between CO2 and temperature.

  • Climate in the Peruvian Andes:  From Early Humans to Modern Challenges

    Climate in the Peruvian Andes: From Early Humans to Modern Challenges

    Twice humans have witnessed the wasting of snow and ice from Peru’s tallest volcano, Nevado Coropuna—In the waning of the last ice age, some 12,000 years ago, and today, as industrial carbon dioxide in the air raises temperatures again. As in the past, Coropuna’s retreating glaciers figure prominently in the lives of people below. In…

  • Lamont Scientist Featured in Antarctic Climate Change Documentary

    Lamont Scientist Featured in Antarctic Climate Change Documentary

    Lamont-Doherty scientist Hugh Ducklow is featured in a documentary due out next summer on climate change and the West Antarctic Peninsula. Catch a preview in this newly-released trailer.

  • A Tale of Sea Ice, Algae and the Arctic

    A Tale of Sea Ice, Algae and the Arctic

    I returned to New York on Monday, but Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory scientists Andy Juhl and Craig Aumack remain working in Barrow, Alaska for another week. They’ll continue to collect data and samples in a race against deteriorating Arctic sea ice conditions as the onset of summer causes the ice to thin and break up.

  • Science, Creativity and Isopods

    Science, Creativity and Isopods

    It’s near midnight and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory researchers Andy Juhl and Craig Aumack, and Arizona State’s Kyle Kinzler are gathered around a table in their lab at the Barrow Arctic Research Consortium discussing the best way to catch an isopod.

  • Ctene Sensations of the Arctic Ocean

    Ctene Sensations of the Arctic Ocean

    One of the goals of Andy Juhl’s and Craig Aumack’s Arctic research is to determine the role of ice algae as a source of nutrition for food webs existing in the water column and at the bottom of the Arctic ocean.