State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

climate25

  • Water Is Streaming Across Antarctica

    Water Is Streaming Across Antarctica

    In the first such continent-wide survey, scientists have found extensive drainages of meltwater flowing over parts of Antarctica’s ice during the brief summer. Many of the newly mapped drainages are not new, but the fact they exist at all is significant; they appear to proliferate with small upswings in temperature, so warming projected for this…

  • Scientists Say They Now Know Why Antarctic Meltwater Stays Below Ocean Surface

    Scientists Say They Now Know Why Antarctic Meltwater Stays Below Ocean Surface

    Up to now, it has been a mystery why much of the fresh water resulting from the melting of Antarctic ice shelves ends up in the depths instead of floating above saltier, denser ocean waters. Scientists working along one major ice shelf believe they have found the answer.

  • Tracking the Undoing of Climate-Change Measures

    Tracking the Undoing of Climate-Change Measures

    The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law is launching a new tool to identify and explain the efforts taken by the incoming administration to scale back or wholly eliminate federal climate change mitigation and adaptation measures.

  • Green Sahara’s Ancient Rainfall Regime Revealed

    Green Sahara’s Ancient Rainfall Regime Revealed

    Rainfall patterns in the Sahara during the six-thousand-year “Green Sahara” period have been revealed by analyzing marine sediments, according to new research.

  • James Hansen Honored for Pioneering Work in Climate Change Modeling

    James Hansen Honored for Pioneering Work in Climate Change Modeling

    James Hansen, director of the Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions at the Earth Institute and former director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, is being honored with the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Climate Change.

  • Earth Institute Spring 2017 Internships

    This spring, The Earth Institute is offering students opportunities to work as interns within various departments and research centers at the institute. All full-time Columbia and Barnard students are eligible to apply.

  • Photo Essay: Where the Trees Meet the Tundra

    Photo Essay: Where the Trees Meet the Tundra

    Due to warming climate and increasing human exploitation, far northern forests and the tundra beyond are undergoing rapid changes. In northern Alaska, scientists from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and other institutions are studying the responses of trees at the very edge of their range.

  • Where Trees Meet Tundra, Decoding Signals of Climate Change

    Where Trees Meet Tundra, Decoding Signals of Climate Change

    In northern Alaska’s Brooks Range, the earth as most of us know it comes to an end. The northern tree line-a boundary that circles all of earth’s northern landmasses for more than 8,300 miles, and forms the planet’s biggest ecological transition zone–runs through here. Scientists from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory are studying how climate…

  • Building Consensus on Climate and Sustainability Policy

    The New York Times reported on a new international agreement that will phase out hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, a chemical that is used in refrigerators and air conditioners that is a powerful greenhouse gas. The irony is that HFCs were developed to replace chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, chemicals that caused a hole in our atmosphere’s ozone layer…

Composite banner with modern building at night and portrait of Dean Alexis Abramson that reads "Science for the Planet"

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

  • Water Is Streaming Across Antarctica

    Water Is Streaming Across Antarctica

    In the first such continent-wide survey, scientists have found extensive drainages of meltwater flowing over parts of Antarctica’s ice during the brief summer. Many of the newly mapped drainages are not new, but the fact they exist at all is significant; they appear to proliferate with small upswings in temperature, so warming projected for this…

  • Scientists Say They Now Know Why Antarctic Meltwater Stays Below Ocean Surface

    Scientists Say They Now Know Why Antarctic Meltwater Stays Below Ocean Surface

    Up to now, it has been a mystery why much of the fresh water resulting from the melting of Antarctic ice shelves ends up in the depths instead of floating above saltier, denser ocean waters. Scientists working along one major ice shelf believe they have found the answer.

  • Tracking the Undoing of Climate-Change Measures

    Tracking the Undoing of Climate-Change Measures

    The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law is launching a new tool to identify and explain the efforts taken by the incoming administration to scale back or wholly eliminate federal climate change mitigation and adaptation measures.

  • Green Sahara’s Ancient Rainfall Regime Revealed

    Green Sahara’s Ancient Rainfall Regime Revealed

    Rainfall patterns in the Sahara during the six-thousand-year “Green Sahara” period have been revealed by analyzing marine sediments, according to new research.

  • James Hansen Honored for Pioneering Work in Climate Change Modeling

    James Hansen Honored for Pioneering Work in Climate Change Modeling

    James Hansen, director of the Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions at the Earth Institute and former director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, is being honored with the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Climate Change.

  • Earth Institute Spring 2017 Internships

    This spring, The Earth Institute is offering students opportunities to work as interns within various departments and research centers at the institute. All full-time Columbia and Barnard students are eligible to apply.

  • Photo Essay: Where the Trees Meet the Tundra

    Photo Essay: Where the Trees Meet the Tundra

    Due to warming climate and increasing human exploitation, far northern forests and the tundra beyond are undergoing rapid changes. In northern Alaska, scientists from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and other institutions are studying the responses of trees at the very edge of their range.

  • Where Trees Meet Tundra, Decoding Signals of Climate Change

    Where Trees Meet Tundra, Decoding Signals of Climate Change

    In northern Alaska’s Brooks Range, the earth as most of us know it comes to an end. The northern tree line-a boundary that circles all of earth’s northern landmasses for more than 8,300 miles, and forms the planet’s biggest ecological transition zone–runs through here. Scientists from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory are studying how climate…

  • Building Consensus on Climate and Sustainability Policy

    The New York Times reported on a new international agreement that will phase out hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, a chemical that is used in refrigerators and air conditioners that is a powerful greenhouse gas. The irony is that HFCs were developed to replace chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, chemicals that caused a hole in our atmosphere’s ozone layer…