climate science40
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Year Without a Summer? Not this Time.
You may have heard about the Year Without the Summer, 1816, when severe climate anomalies linked to the eruption of Indonesia’s Mt Tambora provoked widespread famine, the westward expansion of the United States, the invention of the bicycle, and Frankenstein. So epic, so influential: Tales of the dramatic climate impacts of that fateful year got…
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Creating More Useful Forecasts
Seasonal forecasts can be effective tools for agricultural planners, water resources managers and other decision makers. For example, after torrential rains and floods wreaked havoc in the West African nation of Ghana in 2007, displacing some 400,000 people there, the regional office of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies started using…
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El Niño Begins to Dissipate
Though weak El Niño conditions still exist, it appears that the climatic phenomenon that developed over the course of last summer has finally begun to dissipate. As reported earlier, El Niño is the name given to sustained sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies greater than 0.5°C across the central tropical Pacific Ocean. It is the warm…
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Wally Broecker: 50 Years of Climate Science Innovation
Since arriving at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in 1952, for a college summer internship, Wally Broecker has come up with some of the most important ideas in modern climate science. He was one of the first researchers to recognize the potential for human-influenced climate change, and to testify before Congress about its dangers. He helped pioneer…
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Studying the Impacts of Climate on High-Altitude Ecosystems
Columbia University researchers Laia Andreu Hayles and Daniel Ruiz Carrascal traveled to Colombia last month to investigate the impact of climate on high-altitude ecosystems in the Andes. Supported by the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Climate Center, Andreu and Ruiz are exploring the potential of several high-altitude tree species to reveal information about past climate variability and…
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Looking Back on Winter: Part I
The arrival of spring in temperate climates means more hours of daylight, showers and flowers. Despite the general mood improvement from the dark days of winter, we should not be quick to forget the controversies surrounding this past season. Winter 2010, deemed by media outlets as Snowmaggedon and Snowpocalypse, was the snowiest season on record…
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State of the Planet 2010: Join the Global Conversation
What is the current state of the planet? How do we move forward on a global climate deal? On March 25, The Earth Institute, Columbia University; The Economist; and Ericsson will bring together some of the world’s most influential thinkers to propose innovative solutions to these and other critical questions at our biennial State of…
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Urbanization, Deforestation, Reforestation
2009 was noted as the first year that more people lived in urban spaces than in rural areas. The hope that a majority urban population would slow the clearing of tropical forests — our most effective carbon sinks — seems, however, to have been misplaced. The idea was simple: if more people moved into forested…
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Is there hope from Copenhagen?
Can we find positives from the United Nations Summit on climate change? Even President Obama admits that disappointment is justified, although the Commander in Chief claims a non-binding accord was better than a complete collapse of the negotiations. Jeffrey Sachs, fearless leader of the Earth Institute, adamantly opposed such victory proclamation from the President, for…
The first Earth Day in 1970 ignited a movement to stop polluting our planet. This Earth Month, join us in our commitment to realizing a just and sustainable future for our planet. Visit our Earth Day website for ideas, resources, and inspiration.