State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory157

  • Excursion to Dhaka

    Excursion to Dhaka

    Finishing up in the muddy rivers of NE Bangladesh, we headed downstream to switch to the mighty Brahmaputra River system. However, on the way down I had to jump ship to go into traffic-clogged Dhaka for some meetings before rejoining her on the Padma, the name of the combined Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers.

  • To Meghalaya and back

    To Meghalaya and back

    From our return to Jamalganj, we headed east searching for a river to carry us up to the Indian border across the Dauki Fault. Along the way, we celebrated Steve Goodbred’s birthday. However, even the biggest of the rivers proved too shallow for our boat. We switched to the

  • Return to Jamalganj

    Return to Jamalganj

    We have been sailing along collecting data, but so far the data quality is poor due to shallow gas in the sediments.  We thought we might have some problems with gas, but the problem is more widespread than we expected.  We are now out of the inland summer lake where we met the boat and…

  • Climate Scientist Studies Ancient Shorelines

    Climate Scientist Studies Ancient Shorelines

    The seas are rising, as they have during past periods of warming in earth’s history. Estimates of how high they will go in the next few thousand years range from five meters, putting greater Miami underwater, to 40 meters, wiping most of Florida off the map. “The range of estimates is huge to the point…

  • Exploring an Unknown Arctic Seabottom (No Ice Included)

    Exploring an Unknown Arctic Seabottom (No Ice Included)

    Readers can follow a New York Times blog from the arctic as the U.S. flagship vessel for charting geology under the seabed sails the Chukchi Sea, north of Alaska and Siberia. By sending sound pulses to the seabed and reading the echoes, scientists conducting the Chukchi Edges project aboard the Marcus G. Langseth hope to understand the structure and history of…

  • Joining the Kokilmoni

    Joining the Kokilmoni

    After a great field season last winter, we had an extraordinary opportunity this fall, a research cruise on the Bangladeshi rivers collecting geophysical data. We are using the same technique that Lamont uses on its ship, the R/V Marcus Langseth, but a mini version.  The basic idea is to use sound waves from bursts of…

  • A Sea Change, Deep Under Antarctic Waters

    A Sea Change, Deep Under Antarctic Waters

    The frigid seabottom off Antarctica holds a surprising riot of life: colorful carpets of sponges, starfish, sea cucumbers and many other soft, bottom-dwelling animals, shown on images from robotic submarines. Now, it appears that many such communities could fast disappear, due to warming climate. Scientists sailing on an icebreaker last year have just published a study showing that gigantic…

  • Drilling for Carbon-Storing Rocks in Suburban New York

    Drilling for Carbon-Storing Rocks in Suburban New York

    Under the shopping malls and highways of suburbia, there might one day be a partial fix for global warming. Since August, engineers have been drilling just west of the Tappan Zee Bridge to collect samples of rock from the Newark Basin, an ancient rock formation stretching beneath New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. As they…

  • Humans Shaped Stone Axes 1.8 Million Years Ago, Study Says

    Evidence Pushes Advanced Tool-Making Methods Back in Time

  • Excursion to Dhaka

    Excursion to Dhaka

    Finishing up in the muddy rivers of NE Bangladesh, we headed downstream to switch to the mighty Brahmaputra River system. However, on the way down I had to jump ship to go into traffic-clogged Dhaka for some meetings before rejoining her on the Padma, the name of the combined Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers.

  • To Meghalaya and back

    To Meghalaya and back

    From our return to Jamalganj, we headed east searching for a river to carry us up to the Indian border across the Dauki Fault. Along the way, we celebrated Steve Goodbred’s birthday. However, even the biggest of the rivers proved too shallow for our boat. We switched to the

  • Return to Jamalganj

    Return to Jamalganj

    We have been sailing along collecting data, but so far the data quality is poor due to shallow gas in the sediments.  We thought we might have some problems with gas, but the problem is more widespread than we expected.  We are now out of the inland summer lake where we met the boat and…

  • Climate Scientist Studies Ancient Shorelines

    Climate Scientist Studies Ancient Shorelines

    The seas are rising, as they have during past periods of warming in earth’s history. Estimates of how high they will go in the next few thousand years range from five meters, putting greater Miami underwater, to 40 meters, wiping most of Florida off the map. “The range of estimates is huge to the point…

  • Exploring an Unknown Arctic Seabottom (No Ice Included)

    Exploring an Unknown Arctic Seabottom (No Ice Included)

    Readers can follow a New York Times blog from the arctic as the U.S. flagship vessel for charting geology under the seabed sails the Chukchi Sea, north of Alaska and Siberia. By sending sound pulses to the seabed and reading the echoes, scientists conducting the Chukchi Edges project aboard the Marcus G. Langseth hope to understand the structure and history of…

  • Joining the Kokilmoni

    Joining the Kokilmoni

    After a great field season last winter, we had an extraordinary opportunity this fall, a research cruise on the Bangladeshi rivers collecting geophysical data. We are using the same technique that Lamont uses on its ship, the R/V Marcus Langseth, but a mini version.  The basic idea is to use sound waves from bursts of…

  • A Sea Change, Deep Under Antarctic Waters

    A Sea Change, Deep Under Antarctic Waters

    The frigid seabottom off Antarctica holds a surprising riot of life: colorful carpets of sponges, starfish, sea cucumbers and many other soft, bottom-dwelling animals, shown on images from robotic submarines. Now, it appears that many such communities could fast disappear, due to warming climate. Scientists sailing on an icebreaker last year have just published a study showing that gigantic…

  • Drilling for Carbon-Storing Rocks in Suburban New York

    Drilling for Carbon-Storing Rocks in Suburban New York

    Under the shopping malls and highways of suburbia, there might one day be a partial fix for global warming. Since August, engineers have been drilling just west of the Tappan Zee Bridge to collect samples of rock from the Newark Basin, an ancient rock formation stretching beneath New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. As they…

  • Humans Shaped Stone Axes 1.8 Million Years Ago, Study Says

    Evidence Pushes Advanced Tool-Making Methods Back in Time