State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Earth Sciences97

  • Jamuna River

    Jamuna River

    The last part of our river work was on the Jamuna River, as the Brahmaputra is called south of where if diverges from its former course. It shifted up to 100 km to this course about 200 years ago. We visited Sirajganj where an embankment protects the city from the migrating river and Aricha near…

  • Brahmaputra chars

    Brahmaputra chars

    We traveled to the Brahmaputra River, one of the most active on the planet, to continue our fieldwork. We visited two places while working our way downstream and saw the rapid changes in the river bank and chars (islands). At one ghat (dock) the river had eroded a mile of the coast while in the…

  • Sampling The Ganges

    Sampling The Ganges

    For the final part of my journey, we will be visiting numerous sites, mainly on the main rivers of Bangladesh. The samples and field data will ground truth and calibrate satellite data improving our analyses. We first stopped at an area that had converted from shrimp farming to rice, then spent two days on the…

  • Extreme Weather Adds Up to Troubling Future

    Extreme Weather Adds Up to Troubling Future

    Extreme weather and climate-related events already have cost the United States billions of dollars. A recent symposium focused on what we know about the causes and how changing climate affects agriculture, water supplies, wildlife and our economy.

  • Unplanned Time in Dhaka

    Unplanned Time in Dhaka

    Due to the speed at which the two Scotts were able to repair the compaction meter, I found myself with two extra days in Dhaka. Besides numerous quickly planned meetings, I got to see the celebration of the arrival of Bengali Spring and the growing protest movement against the light sentence for Islamists convicted of…

  • Resistivity in Comilla

    Resistivity in Comilla

    I headed east to Comilla for 4 days to train 6 Dhaka University students and graduates to use the resistivity imaging system we bought for the project. The system will send electric currents into the ground to map the distribution of sand and muds. The 1000s of measurements will create a catscan-like image of the…

  • Latest Korea Nuke Test Dwarfed Previous Ones

    Seismic Waves Show Steady Progress to Bigger Bomb, Say Scientists

  • Wrapping up in Sylhet

    Wrapping up in Sylhet

    Able to drive again, we wrapped up the last few days of the conclave with more outcrop geology, drilling wells through the sediments, 3D filming and a barbeque. The conclave turned to be an extremely successful means of getting us excited due to the tremendous cross-fertilization that occurred.

  • Hartal!

    Hartal!

    A two day general strike disrupted our field plans, but Bangladeshis are adept at adapting to any change. We walked the local outcrops one day and hired a small pickup truck the next and managed to accomplish our goals despite the political turmoil.

Overhead view of Columbia campus with text Columbia Climate School Class Day 2026: Congratulations Graduates

Congratulations to our Columbia Climate School Class of 2026 and all of our 2026 Columbia University graduates! Learn more about our May 15 Climate School Class Day celebration. 💙 #Columbia2026 #ColumbiaClimate2026

  • Jamuna River

    Jamuna River

    The last part of our river work was on the Jamuna River, as the Brahmaputra is called south of where if diverges from its former course. It shifted up to 100 km to this course about 200 years ago. We visited Sirajganj where an embankment protects the city from the migrating river and Aricha near…

  • Brahmaputra chars

    Brahmaputra chars

    We traveled to the Brahmaputra River, one of the most active on the planet, to continue our fieldwork. We visited two places while working our way downstream and saw the rapid changes in the river bank and chars (islands). At one ghat (dock) the river had eroded a mile of the coast while in the…

  • Sampling The Ganges

    Sampling The Ganges

    For the final part of my journey, we will be visiting numerous sites, mainly on the main rivers of Bangladesh. The samples and field data will ground truth and calibrate satellite data improving our analyses. We first stopped at an area that had converted from shrimp farming to rice, then spent two days on the…

  • Extreme Weather Adds Up to Troubling Future

    Extreme Weather Adds Up to Troubling Future

    Extreme weather and climate-related events already have cost the United States billions of dollars. A recent symposium focused on what we know about the causes and how changing climate affects agriculture, water supplies, wildlife and our economy.

  • Unplanned Time in Dhaka

    Unplanned Time in Dhaka

    Due to the speed at which the two Scotts were able to repair the compaction meter, I found myself with two extra days in Dhaka. Besides numerous quickly planned meetings, I got to see the celebration of the arrival of Bengali Spring and the growing protest movement against the light sentence for Islamists convicted of…

  • Resistivity in Comilla

    Resistivity in Comilla

    I headed east to Comilla for 4 days to train 6 Dhaka University students and graduates to use the resistivity imaging system we bought for the project. The system will send electric currents into the ground to map the distribution of sand and muds. The 1000s of measurements will create a catscan-like image of the…

  • Latest Korea Nuke Test Dwarfed Previous Ones

    Seismic Waves Show Steady Progress to Bigger Bomb, Say Scientists

  • Wrapping up in Sylhet

    Wrapping up in Sylhet

    Able to drive again, we wrapped up the last few days of the conclave with more outcrop geology, drilling wells through the sediments, 3D filming and a barbeque. The conclave turned to be an extremely successful means of getting us excited due to the tremendous cross-fertilization that occurred.

  • Hartal!

    Hartal!

    A two day general strike disrupted our field plans, but Bangladeshis are adept at adapting to any change. We walked the local outcrops one day and hired a small pickup truck the next and managed to accomplish our goals despite the political turmoil.