Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory165
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Probing an Oceanic Plate
Everything that we understand about the rhythms of the Earth’s surface – the slow growth of mountain chains, the creeping expansion of the ocean basins, the abrupt upheaval of a major earthquake, the explosive eruption of a volcano – is viewed through the context of plate tectonics. This simple yet highly successful model for describing…
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Confessions from a Former Coniferphile
The first time I felt truly fanatical about coniferous trees was while walking among the great eastern white pine trees in the Adirondack State Park as an undergraduate research assistant and student.
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PhD. Ode to a Tree
“I was deeply saddened by the loss of one of our most beautiful trees on campus during the last storm. It had perfect symmetry and such a beautiful color display late in the fall,” wrote geochemist Martin Stute, after a highly unusual heavy October snow felled a 22-year-old Bradford pear at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, where he…
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Winter Extremes: So Last Year?
What are the odds that this winter will be as snowy as the last two? Climate scientist Jason Smerdon and tree-ring scientist Rosanne D’Arrigo are working on an answer, looking at the long-term history of two important weather patterns—the North Atlantic Oscillation and La Niña state in the tropical Pacific—that similar to last year could…
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Monitoring Antarctica’s Changing Glaciers – No Longer Like ‘Watching Paint Dry’
By Kirsty Tinto & Mike Wolovick As little as a few decades ago you could ask a scientist what it was like to monitor the changing ice in Antarctica and the response might have been “Like watching paint dry” — seemingly no change, with no big surprises and not too exciting. Well times have changed.…
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Scientific Publisher to Provide Easy Access to Study Data
Modern society is awash in data. By one estimate, as much information today is created in 48 hours as was produced in the last 30,000 years. The challenge now is making all those megabytes public. This month, Elsevier, publisher of The Lancet and Cell, announced that it would establish reciprocal linking between its geochemistry journals…
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Imagining the Hudson before Humans
Pollution is just one way that humans have transformed the Hudson River. A small way, it turns out. We have altered the Hudson’s shape, the speed of its flow and the mix of plants and trees along its banks. In a new book, Environmental History of the Hudson River, two Lamont-Doherty scientists who contributed chapters—Frank…
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New Salt Map of Seas Gives Scientists Taste of Discoveries Ahead
After less than a month in operation, a new NASA satellite has produced the first map showing how saltiness varies across the surface of the world’s oceans. Salt influences how seawater and heat move around the globe and also tells oceanographers how much rain and evaporation is happening at the surface. Until now, salt measurements…
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Jumping Ship
As we finally reached our prime target area, it was time for me to leave the ship and return home. Despite initial struggles on navigating the Brahmaputra River, we have worked together with the ship’s crew and pilots for a successful method. And now as I leave with many new friends, the best data is…
AGU25, the premier Earth and space science conference, takes place December 15-19, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. This year’s theme—Where Science Connects Us—puts in focus how science depends on connection, from the lab to the field to the ballot box. Once again, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia Climate School scientists, experts, students, and educators are playing an active role, sharing our research and helping shape the future of our planet. #AGU25 Learn More
