State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

earth science2

  • Photo Essay: On an Island, a Lost Part of the World Is Found

    Photo Essay: On an Island, a Lost Part of the World Is Found

    On the volcanic Indian Ocean island of Anjouan, scientists are investigating a rock that apparently formed on a far-off continent.

  • Realizing a Revolution in Earth Science

    Realizing a Revolution in Earth Science

    The Real-Time Earth initiative is upgrading the technological capabilities of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and transforming the way its scientists study our planet.

  • Trump’s Budget will Harm the Planet and the Economy

    Trump’s Budget will Harm the Planet and the Economy

    Trump’s proposed budget includes an effort to shrink funding for university-based science research and the national labs run by the Department of Energy. Research on fundamental earth systems science is also cut as is funding for state environmental agencies and national environmental emergency response.

  • The Science of Carbon Dioxide and Climate

    The Science of Carbon Dioxide and Climate

    The vast majority of scientists around the world agree that our climate is changing at a faster rate than ever recorded in human history because of our use of fuels such as coal and oil, so-called fossil fuels. The conclusion rests on basic physics known since the early 1800s, when physical scientists first recognized that…

  • Drought and Fire Activity: What’s Climate Change Got to Do with It?

    Drought and Fire Activity: What’s Climate Change Got to Do with It?

    Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory scientist Park Williams, recipient of a Center for Climate and Life Fellowship, is investigating the influence of climate change on droughts and wildfires.

  • 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.

  • Lamont-Doherty Strategic Plan

    Lamont-Doherty Strategic Plan

    Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory has been a leader in the study of our planet since its founding 65 years ago. Today, Observatory scientists continue the institution’s long tradition of addressing important questions in the Earth and planetary sciences. 

  • Soon-to-End Mercury Mission May Hold Clues to Earth’s Evolution

    Soon-to-End Mercury Mission May Hold Clues to Earth’s Evolution

    NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft has been orbiting Mercury for the last four years, giving scientists an unprecedented look at our solar system’s innermost planet. But now the craft’s fuel supply is exhausted; inexorably drawn in by Mercury’s gravity, it is scheduled to crash in April. Sean Solomon, director of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, has been…

  • Seismic Stomp

    Seismic Stomp

    Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory graduate student Natalie Accardo recently returned from Tanzania and Malawi, where she installed seismic instruments in both countries alongside Lamont seismologists Donna Shillington and Jim Gaherty. Natalie produced this video, which shows the scientists and their Tanzanian colleagues conducting a “stomp test” at one of their sites in the Tanzanian village of…

  • Photo Essay: On an Island, a Lost Part of the World Is Found

    Photo Essay: On an Island, a Lost Part of the World Is Found

    On the volcanic Indian Ocean island of Anjouan, scientists are investigating a rock that apparently formed on a far-off continent.

  • Realizing a Revolution in Earth Science

    Realizing a Revolution in Earth Science

    The Real-Time Earth initiative is upgrading the technological capabilities of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and transforming the way its scientists study our planet.

  • Trump’s Budget will Harm the Planet and the Economy

    Trump’s Budget will Harm the Planet and the Economy

    Trump’s proposed budget includes an effort to shrink funding for university-based science research and the national labs run by the Department of Energy. Research on fundamental earth systems science is also cut as is funding for state environmental agencies and national environmental emergency response.

  • The Science of Carbon Dioxide and Climate

    The Science of Carbon Dioxide and Climate

    The vast majority of scientists around the world agree that our climate is changing at a faster rate than ever recorded in human history because of our use of fuels such as coal and oil, so-called fossil fuels. The conclusion rests on basic physics known since the early 1800s, when physical scientists first recognized that…

  • Drought and Fire Activity: What’s Climate Change Got to Do with It?

    Drought and Fire Activity: What’s Climate Change Got to Do with It?

    Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory scientist Park Williams, recipient of a Center for Climate and Life Fellowship, is investigating the influence of climate change on droughts and wildfires.

  • 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.

  • Lamont-Doherty Strategic Plan

    Lamont-Doherty Strategic Plan

    Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory has been a leader in the study of our planet since its founding 65 years ago. Today, Observatory scientists continue the institution’s long tradition of addressing important questions in the Earth and planetary sciences. 

  • Soon-to-End Mercury Mission May Hold Clues to Earth’s Evolution

    Soon-to-End Mercury Mission May Hold Clues to Earth’s Evolution

    NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft has been orbiting Mercury for the last four years, giving scientists an unprecedented look at our solar system’s innermost planet. But now the craft’s fuel supply is exhausted; inexorably drawn in by Mercury’s gravity, it is scheduled to crash in April. Sean Solomon, director of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, has been…

  • Seismic Stomp

    Seismic Stomp

    Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory graduate student Natalie Accardo recently returned from Tanzania and Malawi, where she installed seismic instruments in both countries alongside Lamont seismologists Donna Shillington and Jim Gaherty. Natalie produced this video, which shows the scientists and their Tanzanian colleagues conducting a “stomp test” at one of their sites in the Tanzanian village of…