State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Lake Vostok

  • At the Bottom of the Bottom of the World

    At the Bottom of the Bottom of the World

    As we in North America emerge from a remarkably mild winter, the brief and sunny summer in the world’s deep south is drawing to a rapid close. Antarctica’s days are becoming shorter, and come the vernal equinox the South Pole will enter into its yearly hibernation—six months of dusk and night. Researchers from Columbia University…

  • Scientists Drill 2 Miles Down to Ancient Lake Vostok

    Scientists Drill 2 Miles Down to Ancient Lake Vostok

    Russian scientists this week finished penetrating more than two miles through the Antarctic ice sheet to Lake Vostok, a huge freshwater lake that has been buried under the ice for millions of years. But they won’t know what they’ve found until next year.

  • Two New Lakes Found Beneath Antarctic Ice Sheet

    Ancient water bodies may contain ecosystems adapted to life beneath more than two miles of ice

Columbia Climate School Giving Day on October 28, 2026, featuring students and renewable energy imagery

October 28, 2026 is Columbia Giving Day! Your gift to Columbia Climate School helps advance interdisciplinary research, educate the next generation of leaders, and transform bold ideas into real-world solutions for climate, Earth, and society.

  • At the Bottom of the Bottom of the World

    At the Bottom of the Bottom of the World

    As we in North America emerge from a remarkably mild winter, the brief and sunny summer in the world’s deep south is drawing to a rapid close. Antarctica’s days are becoming shorter, and come the vernal equinox the South Pole will enter into its yearly hibernation—six months of dusk and night. Researchers from Columbia University…

  • Scientists Drill 2 Miles Down to Ancient Lake Vostok

    Scientists Drill 2 Miles Down to Ancient Lake Vostok

    Russian scientists this week finished penetrating more than two miles through the Antarctic ice sheet to Lake Vostok, a huge freshwater lake that has been buried under the ice for millions of years. But they won’t know what they’ve found until next year.

  • Two New Lakes Found Beneath Antarctic Ice Sheet

    Ancient water bodies may contain ecosystems adapted to life beneath more than two miles of ice