Natural Disasters59
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Joining the Kokilmoni
After a great field season last winter, we had an extraordinary opportunity this fall, a research cruise on the Bangladeshi rivers collecting geophysical data. We are using the same technique that Lamont uses on its ship, the R/V Marcus Langseth, but a mini version. The basic idea is to use sound waves from bursts of…
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Insuring Against Drought
Research economist Dan Osgood discusses index insurance and how it is helping some poor rural communities reduce hardships caused by drought in East Africa.
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Track the Number of People in Irene’s Path
As Hurricane Irene barrels up the East Coast, the number of people affected is rising. Based on calculations at 2 pm on Saturday, more than 47 million people were within 100 miles of the storm track; and nearly 69 million within 200 miles, according to Columbia’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network(CIESIN). Visit CIESIN’s…
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A Famine Foretold
Climate and food security expert Jim Hansen lays out the root causes of food insecurity in East Africa.
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Remote Sensing Critical for Monitoring Drought
Remote sensing scientist Pietro Ceccato talks about how satellite information is being used to monitor conditions in East Africa.
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Climate Underpinnings of East Africa Drought
Watch a video interview of climate scientist Brad Lyon on the conditions leading up to the ongoing drought in East Africa. He says there’s a chance of La Niña forming later in the year, which could have devastating consequences for a region already plagued by widespread famine.
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Undersea Clues to Haiti’s Earthquake History
For all of its violent destruction, the earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010, hardly scratched the surface of the island. But scientists now say they have found some of the best clues to understanding the quake under water.
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The Year of Drought and Flood
It seems that this year the world is experiencing a crisis of both too little water and too much. And while these crises often occur simultaneously in different regions, they also happen in the same places as short, fierce bursts of rain punctuate long dry spells.
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Collecting Data Offshore Alaska, But Just Barely
One of the core objectives of our project is to image the part of the plate tectonic boundary that locks up and then ruptures to produce great earthquakes. To examine deep parts of the interface between the Pacific plate and the North American plate in the Aleutian subduction zone, we need to go as close…
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“
