State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Irrigation

  • Irrigation in High Mountain Asia is Creating Unexpected Glacier Growth

    Irrigation in High Mountain Asia is Creating Unexpected Glacier Growth

    Irrigated agricultural plains in regions of High Mountain Asia are driving increased snowfall accumulation, protecting glaciers from temperature rises.

  • Geocharts: Water Challenges Around the World

    Geocharts: Water Challenges Around the World

    View four interactive maps that give an overview of some of the water challenges different parts of the world currently face.

  • Daniel Hillel, Originator of High-Efficiency Irrigation, to Receive World Food Prize

    Daniel Hillel, Originator of High-Efficiency Irrigation, to Receive World Food Prize

    Daniel Hillel, an adjunct senior scientist at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, has been awarded the World Food Prize for his work in conceiving and promoting water-saving methods that have increased crop production on arid lands in 30 countries.

  • The Middle East Dries Up—Another Case Study in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus

    The Middle East Dries Up—Another Case Study in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus

    As seductive as it is, depleting non-renewable aquifers to grow food is fundamentally unsustainable for the long term, as Saudi Arabia and other nations are finding out. According to a recent article by Lester Brown, in the 1970s the world’s largest oil producer realized it could use oil-drilling technology to tap deep underwater aquifers and—amazingly,…

  • Water Sensors – Saving Water in Irrigation

    One of the largest uses of fresh water withdrawals in the United States is for irrigation. The USGS estimates that 60% of the worlds fresh water withdrawals is for irrigation purposes, which calculates to 137,000 million gallons per day used for irrigation purposes.  Some of this water is for irrigation of crops, while other of…

  • Low-cost water management in Ethiopia

    Water capture and storage for irrigation has been an ongoing theme of research in Columbia’s earth and environmental engineering department, but Professor Upmanu Lall has recently taken things a step further. With funding from the Pulitzer family, Lall challenged a group of students in his senior engineering course to design a low-cost system of water…

Colorful banner image over Earth with text "Open House Discover Science, October 19, 2024, 10am to 4pm

Join us on Saturday, October 19, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Open House! Celebrate 75 years of science with us at our beautiful Palisades, NY campus. The event is free and open to everyone, with a suggested $5 donation. Learn More and RSVP

  • Irrigation in High Mountain Asia is Creating Unexpected Glacier Growth

    Irrigation in High Mountain Asia is Creating Unexpected Glacier Growth

    Irrigated agricultural plains in regions of High Mountain Asia are driving increased snowfall accumulation, protecting glaciers from temperature rises.

  • Geocharts: Water Challenges Around the World

    Geocharts: Water Challenges Around the World

    View four interactive maps that give an overview of some of the water challenges different parts of the world currently face.

  • Daniel Hillel, Originator of High-Efficiency Irrigation, to Receive World Food Prize

    Daniel Hillel, Originator of High-Efficiency Irrigation, to Receive World Food Prize

    Daniel Hillel, an adjunct senior scientist at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, has been awarded the World Food Prize for his work in conceiving and promoting water-saving methods that have increased crop production on arid lands in 30 countries.

  • The Middle East Dries Up—Another Case Study in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus

    The Middle East Dries Up—Another Case Study in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus

    As seductive as it is, depleting non-renewable aquifers to grow food is fundamentally unsustainable for the long term, as Saudi Arabia and other nations are finding out. According to a recent article by Lester Brown, in the 1970s the world’s largest oil producer realized it could use oil-drilling technology to tap deep underwater aquifers and—amazingly,…

  • Water Sensors – Saving Water in Irrigation

    One of the largest uses of fresh water withdrawals in the United States is for irrigation. The USGS estimates that 60% of the worlds fresh water withdrawals is for irrigation purposes, which calculates to 137,000 million gallons per day used for irrigation purposes.  Some of this water is for irrigation of crops, while other of…

  • Low-cost water management in Ethiopia

    Water capture and storage for irrigation has been an ongoing theme of research in Columbia’s earth and environmental engineering department, but Professor Upmanu Lall has recently taken things a step further. With funding from the Pulitzer family, Lall challenged a group of students in his senior engineering course to design a low-cost system of water…