climate matters35
-
Lonnie Thompson’s 7,000 Meters of Ice
I’ve been meaning to blog about Lonnie Thompson’s visit to Lamont last week; I suppose it’s the frigid temperatures here in New York that have kept melting tropical glaciers on my own back burner. For those who don’t know, Lonnie Thompson runs the Ice Core Paleoclimatology Research Group at the Ohio State’s Byrd Polar Research…
-
A Quick Guide to Obama’s Climate Picks, Part 1
There’s been a lot of buzz lately (for example, here and here) about President-Elect Obama’s picks for key science and environment positions, many of who are advocates for a robust response to climate change. Who are these people and what will each of them be responsible for in the new administration? In part one of…
-
Around the world: Canada, Part II
First off, I apologize for the inexcusably long time between posts. From now on I hope to post at least once a week (still not good enough, I know). This is Part II of our look at the climate change reduction efforts (or lack thereof) of Canada, our fascinating yet sometimes forgotten neighbor to the…
-
Arctic Sea Ice Retreat: When Will the Arctic Ocean be Ice-Free During Summer?
Researchers have long recognized the Arctic as a region that shows early and amplified signals of anthropogenically-driven global climate change (e.g., IPCC 2001; Technical Basis, p. 807). Among the most dramatic and most widely watched changes in this region each summer is the retreat of the Arctic sea ice extent. Since it first became possible…
-
Wally Broecker wins prestigious BBVA Foundation award for Climate Research
Earlier today it was announced that Wallace S. Broecker, Newberry Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, has received the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Climate Change Research. In announcing the award, the jury cited Wally for his seminal research on ocean chemistry and for pioneering the development of Earth System…
-
Columbia Climate Center Launches its Website
This blog, Climate Matters @ Columbia, is brought to you by the Columbia Climate Center, created in 2007 by the Earth Institute, Columbia University. The mission of the Columbia Climate Center is to integrate climate related research throughout Columbia University and to build upon it to address the challenges of understanding, predicting, adapting to, and…
-
Obama’s Stimulus Plan and Climate Change
By George Deodatis Although not officially announced yet, it is almost certain that the eagerly anticipated stimulus plan of Obama’s new administration will include hundreds of billions of dollars in a wide range of civil infrastructure works, as commented by Anne Polansky’s
-
Prescriptive science?
This is just a short post to draw your attention to John Tierney’s New York Times column on John Holdren’s appointment as Obama’s science advisor. Tierney contends that: “Dr. Holdren is certainly entitled to his views, but what concerns me is his tendency to conflate the science of climate change with prescriptions to cut greenhouse…
-
Cooler, 2008 Still Ranks in the Top 10
A paper released last week by the World Meteorological Organization reports that the preliminary global mean temperature for 2008 is 14.3°C (57.7° F). This is significantly below 2007’s 14.7°C (58.5°F), and – as Time magazine reports – the coolest year since the turn of the century. Sadly, our half-hearted efforts at carbon offsetting cannot take…