Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory166
-

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…
-
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…
-

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…
-

Cruising up the Brahmaputra
Rejoining the ship, we sailed up the Padma and Jamuna (Brahmaputra) Rivers. Hurrying to our primary area with the help of pilots, we finally collected good seismic data.
-

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
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
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
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)
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…

By studying thousands of buildings and analyzing their electricity use, Columbia Climate School Dean Alexis Abramson has been able to uncover ways to significantly cut energy consumption and emissions. Watch the Video: “Engineering a Cooler Future Through Smarter Buildings“
