State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory185

  • The Work Before the Science

    When I agreed to go on a research cruise to Antarctica, I imagined flying into the charming port town of Punta Arenas, Chile, and boarding the well-equipped research vessel, the Nathanial B. Palmer. It turns out that the town is delightful and the ship impressive, but you don’t just stroll on to a research ship…

  • Scientists Target East Coast Rocks For CO2 Storage

    Power Plants Might Pipe Emissions Under Seabed

  • The Transit Home

    We are in the midst of a four-day transit from our study site on the East Pacific Rise to the Atlantis’ next port of call in Costa Rica. All of the scientists aboard will depart for home from there, while many of the crew will stay on for another leg of the cruise. The transit…

  • Cargo in the Hold

    This will be my last post from land. We’re still setting up to do science, but this is so cool I just had to show it to you. We store entire containers on ships. Containers (like the one you saw in the last post) are the big metal things on the back of trucks, and…

  • Welcome to the LARISSA Cruise!

    Right now, everyone is busy working in port. There is cargo to load, labs to set up, and endless problems to solve. But it will all be worth it once we set sail on January 2nd. Here’s the Research Vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer, otherwise known as the NBP And here’s cargo being moved to one…

  • This Time, A Colder Destination

    My name is Debra Tillinger and I’m a graduate student in ocean and climate physics at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Until now, all of my work has focused on the tropics. My thesis is about the Indonesian Thoroughflow, which transports water from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean via the narrow straits and deep basins…

  • Return to an Ice Shelf Lost

    A team of scientists, technicians and helicopter pilots will sail from Punta Arenas, Chile, for Antarctica on Jan. 2. I’ll be part of that team, collecting data, and serving as co-chief scientist for the cruise. Our home for the next two months will be the ice-breaking research vessel Nathanial B. Palmer. My journey starts with…

  • Christmas at Sea

    As you know yesterday was Christmas, and things are just a little bit different on such a holiday aboard a research vessel. Although the sub was in the water, many of the crew had the day off. As far as I can tell, most of them work around the clock, so such a rest was…

  • But Time Will Not

    Not everything on a research vessel always goes according to plan. Today we awoke to find out that during the night the primary CTD winch failed, leaving about 2000 meters of cable and a large instrument package over the side. Alvin cannot dive when we have a wire in the water, so this situation is…

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  • The Work Before the Science

    When I agreed to go on a research cruise to Antarctica, I imagined flying into the charming port town of Punta Arenas, Chile, and boarding the well-equipped research vessel, the Nathanial B. Palmer. It turns out that the town is delightful and the ship impressive, but you don’t just stroll on to a research ship…

  • Scientists Target East Coast Rocks For CO2 Storage

    Power Plants Might Pipe Emissions Under Seabed

  • The Transit Home

    We are in the midst of a four-day transit from our study site on the East Pacific Rise to the Atlantis’ next port of call in Costa Rica. All of the scientists aboard will depart for home from there, while many of the crew will stay on for another leg of the cruise. The transit…

  • Cargo in the Hold

    This will be my last post from land. We’re still setting up to do science, but this is so cool I just had to show it to you. We store entire containers on ships. Containers (like the one you saw in the last post) are the big metal things on the back of trucks, and…

  • Welcome to the LARISSA Cruise!

    Right now, everyone is busy working in port. There is cargo to load, labs to set up, and endless problems to solve. But it will all be worth it once we set sail on January 2nd. Here’s the Research Vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer, otherwise known as the NBP And here’s cargo being moved to one…

  • This Time, A Colder Destination

    My name is Debra Tillinger and I’m a graduate student in ocean and climate physics at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Until now, all of my work has focused on the tropics. My thesis is about the Indonesian Thoroughflow, which transports water from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean via the narrow straits and deep basins…

  • Return to an Ice Shelf Lost

    A team of scientists, technicians and helicopter pilots will sail from Punta Arenas, Chile, for Antarctica on Jan. 2. I’ll be part of that team, collecting data, and serving as co-chief scientist for the cruise. Our home for the next two months will be the ice-breaking research vessel Nathanial B. Palmer. My journey starts with…

  • Christmas at Sea

    As you know yesterday was Christmas, and things are just a little bit different on such a holiday aboard a research vessel. Although the sub was in the water, many of the crew had the day off. As far as I can tell, most of them work around the clock, so such a rest was…

  • But Time Will Not

    Not everything on a research vessel always goes according to plan. Today we awoke to find out that during the night the primary CTD winch failed, leaving about 2000 meters of cable and a large instrument package over the side. Alvin cannot dive when we have a wire in the water, so this situation is…