State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

climate29

  • Last Sample and Home

    Last Sample and Home

    We finished our work at the river transect. Now we had one more sample to collect. Alamgir had arranged for drillers at this new site, but they were delayed because of a knife fight between two villages over some property.

  • El Niño: Resources for Journalists

    El Niño: Resources for Journalists

    El Niño is earth’s most powerful climate cycle, influencing weather and affecting crops, water supplies and public health globally. What may be the strongest El Niño ever measured is now getting underway, and is already affecting parts of the world.

  • Global Nutrition Report Highlights Role of Climate

    Global Nutrition Report Highlights Role of Climate

    Climate change is complicating global efforts to end malnutrition. Even small and seasonal fluctuations in climate can have big impacts on food availability.

  • The Southern Ocean Is Breathing in Carbon Dioxide at a Healthy Rate

    The Southern Ocean Is Breathing in Carbon Dioxide at a Healthy Rate

    “In the last 10 years, we were afraid that the Southern Ocean was going to quit giving us a break from climate change. This study shows that it’s recovered its ability to take up carbon dioxide, and that’s good news.”

  • Post-Sandy Rebuilding for Resiliency: Lessons From Long Beach, NY

    It is not that people have gotten amnesia and don’t remember the damage of Hurricane Sandy. Some homes are still being rebuilt and some people are still displaced. Moreover, the people who lead the shore towns in Long Island and New Jersey are speaking the language of climate resiliency.

  • Spontaneous Clumping of Tropical Clouds

    Spontaneous Clumping of Tropical Clouds

    If you take a look at nearly any satellite image of clouds in the tropics, you’ll notice that the clouds tend to be organized into clusters. One specific type of cloud organization called “self-aggregation.” Self-aggregation is the tendency of tropical clouds to spontaneously clump together, solely due to interactions between the clouds and the surrounding…

  • Goddard Institute to Aid Search for Life on Distant Worlds

    Goddard Institute to Aid Search for Life on Distant Worlds

    Despite its name, the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies has in recent years concentrated on planet Earth–mainly, its widely used computer models used by scientists around the world to measure and predict the impact of greenhouse gases on climate. This week NASA announced that the Earth Institute-affiliated center will also play a leading role…

  • Photo Essay: Iceland at the Cutting Edge of Climate Change

    Photo Essay: Iceland at the Cutting Edge of Climate Change

    Iceland has a complicated relationship with climate change. As in much of the far north, global warming is already exerting many effects here–arguably both good and bad. Yet the country contributes relatively little to the warming, since most of its energy comes from geothermal and hydro plants, which produce little carbon dioxide. Now, it is…

  • In the Ice

    In the Ice

    Several days ago we reached our main work areas along the margin of East Antarctica. Our expedition is relatively late in the season and the seas around Antarctica are starting to freeze.

Photo of the Earth from space with the text "Lamont at AGU25" on top.

AGU25, the premier Earth and space science conference, takes place December 15-19, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. This year’s theme—Where Science Connects Us—puts in focus how science depends on connection, from the lab to the field to the ballot box. Once again, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia Climate School scientists, experts, students, and educators are playing an active role, sharing our research and helping shape the future of our planet. #AGU25 Learn More

  • Last Sample and Home

    Last Sample and Home

    We finished our work at the river transect. Now we had one more sample to collect. Alamgir had arranged for drillers at this new site, but they were delayed because of a knife fight between two villages over some property.

  • El Niño: Resources for Journalists

    El Niño: Resources for Journalists

    El Niño is earth’s most powerful climate cycle, influencing weather and affecting crops, water supplies and public health globally. What may be the strongest El Niño ever measured is now getting underway, and is already affecting parts of the world.

  • Global Nutrition Report Highlights Role of Climate

    Global Nutrition Report Highlights Role of Climate

    Climate change is complicating global efforts to end malnutrition. Even small and seasonal fluctuations in climate can have big impacts on food availability.

  • The Southern Ocean Is Breathing in Carbon Dioxide at a Healthy Rate

    The Southern Ocean Is Breathing in Carbon Dioxide at a Healthy Rate

    “In the last 10 years, we were afraid that the Southern Ocean was going to quit giving us a break from climate change. This study shows that it’s recovered its ability to take up carbon dioxide, and that’s good news.”

  • Post-Sandy Rebuilding for Resiliency: Lessons From Long Beach, NY

    It is not that people have gotten amnesia and don’t remember the damage of Hurricane Sandy. Some homes are still being rebuilt and some people are still displaced. Moreover, the people who lead the shore towns in Long Island and New Jersey are speaking the language of climate resiliency.

  • Spontaneous Clumping of Tropical Clouds

    Spontaneous Clumping of Tropical Clouds

    If you take a look at nearly any satellite image of clouds in the tropics, you’ll notice that the clouds tend to be organized into clusters. One specific type of cloud organization called “self-aggregation.” Self-aggregation is the tendency of tropical clouds to spontaneously clump together, solely due to interactions between the clouds and the surrounding…

  • Goddard Institute to Aid Search for Life on Distant Worlds

    Goddard Institute to Aid Search for Life on Distant Worlds

    Despite its name, the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies has in recent years concentrated on planet Earth–mainly, its widely used computer models used by scientists around the world to measure and predict the impact of greenhouse gases on climate. This week NASA announced that the Earth Institute-affiliated center will also play a leading role…

  • Photo Essay: Iceland at the Cutting Edge of Climate Change

    Photo Essay: Iceland at the Cutting Edge of Climate Change

    Iceland has a complicated relationship with climate change. As in much of the far north, global warming is already exerting many effects here–arguably both good and bad. Yet the country contributes relatively little to the warming, since most of its energy comes from geothermal and hydro plants, which produce little carbon dioxide. Now, it is…

  • In the Ice

    In the Ice

    Several days ago we reached our main work areas along the margin of East Antarctica. Our expedition is relatively late in the season and the seas around Antarctica are starting to freeze.