State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Goddard Institute for Space Studies3

  • 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…

  • Study: NASA Sites Vulnerable to Climate Change

    Study: NASA Sites Vulnerable to Climate Change

    NASA has been at the forefront of climate science, launching satellites that take the pulse of Earth’s land, oceans and atmospheric systems. But the agency is increasingly vulnerable itself to the effects of a changing climate.

  • Gavin Schmidt Named Director of Goddard Institute for Space Studies

    Gavin Schmidt Named Director of Goddard Institute for Space Studies

    NASA has named Gavin A. Schmidt to head its Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), an affiliate of Columbia University’s Earth Institute. Currently serving as deputy director, Schmidt takes over from long-time director James E. Hansen, who retired last year to open a separate climate science and advocacy center at the Earth Institute.

  • 2013 Ranks in Top 10 Warmest Years

    2013 Ranks in Top 10 Warmest Years

    Last year was one of the warmest on record, according to analyses of global temperature data by NASA and NOAA. Both federal agencies placed 2013 among the top 10 warmest years since records began in 1880, continuing a longer-term trend of global warming.

  • NASA’s Jim Hansen to Retire

    James E. Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) and an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, has announced he will retire as director of GISS this week to devote more time to his campaign to cut global carbon emissions. “Jim Hansen is a one of the true giants of climate…

  • Making Sense of Climate’s Impact on Food Security

    Making Sense of Climate’s Impact on Food Security

    From warmer temperatures to natural disasters such as flooding and drought, changing patterns of climate are having billion-dollar impacts on our food-growing systems. But scientists are struggling to find ways to measure and predict what may happen in the future—and to translate that into policies to help feed a bulging world population.

  • New Public Outreach Prize Goes to Earth Institute Climatologist

    New Public Outreach Prize Goes to Earth Institute Climatologist

    A major new international prize for public communication on climate-change issues has been awarded to Gavin Schmidt of the Earth Institute-affiliated NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The $25,000 Climate Communications Prize was announced today by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the world’s largest organization of earth and space scientists. Schmidt, an influential climate modeler who has authored more than…

  • Carbon Dioxide Already in Danger Zone, Warns Study

    Revised Theory Says Levels in Air Must Decline, Not Just Stabilize

  • New Study Finds World Temperatures Approaching Ancient Levels

    A new study led by James Hansen of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, a part of The Earth Institute, finds that the world’s temperature is reaching a level that has not been seen in thousands of years. The study was published in the September 26, 2006 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy…

  • 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…

  • Study: NASA Sites Vulnerable to Climate Change

    Study: NASA Sites Vulnerable to Climate Change

    NASA has been at the forefront of climate science, launching satellites that take the pulse of Earth’s land, oceans and atmospheric systems. But the agency is increasingly vulnerable itself to the effects of a changing climate.

  • Gavin Schmidt Named Director of Goddard Institute for Space Studies

    Gavin Schmidt Named Director of Goddard Institute for Space Studies

    NASA has named Gavin A. Schmidt to head its Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), an affiliate of Columbia University’s Earth Institute. Currently serving as deputy director, Schmidt takes over from long-time director James E. Hansen, who retired last year to open a separate climate science and advocacy center at the Earth Institute.

  • 2013 Ranks in Top 10 Warmest Years

    2013 Ranks in Top 10 Warmest Years

    Last year was one of the warmest on record, according to analyses of global temperature data by NASA and NOAA. Both federal agencies placed 2013 among the top 10 warmest years since records began in 1880, continuing a longer-term trend of global warming.

  • NASA’s Jim Hansen to Retire

    James E. Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) and an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, has announced he will retire as director of GISS this week to devote more time to his campaign to cut global carbon emissions. “Jim Hansen is a one of the true giants of climate…

  • Making Sense of Climate’s Impact on Food Security

    Making Sense of Climate’s Impact on Food Security

    From warmer temperatures to natural disasters such as flooding and drought, changing patterns of climate are having billion-dollar impacts on our food-growing systems. But scientists are struggling to find ways to measure and predict what may happen in the future—and to translate that into policies to help feed a bulging world population.

  • New Public Outreach Prize Goes to Earth Institute Climatologist

    New Public Outreach Prize Goes to Earth Institute Climatologist

    A major new international prize for public communication on climate-change issues has been awarded to Gavin Schmidt of the Earth Institute-affiliated NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The $25,000 Climate Communications Prize was announced today by the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the world’s largest organization of earth and space scientists. Schmidt, an influential climate modeler who has authored more than…

  • Carbon Dioxide Already in Danger Zone, Warns Study

    Revised Theory Says Levels in Air Must Decline, Not Just Stabilize

  • New Study Finds World Temperatures Approaching Ancient Levels

    A new study led by James Hansen of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, a part of The Earth Institute, finds that the world’s temperature is reaching a level that has not been seen in thousands of years. The study was published in the September 26, 2006 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy…