Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory186
-
New Study Shows Climate Change Likely to Lead to Periods of Extreme Drought in Southwest North America
How anthropogenic climate change will impact the arid regions of Southwestern North America has implications for the allocation of water resources and the course of regional development. The findings of a new study, appearing in Science, show that there is a broad consensus amongst climate models that this region will dry significantly in the 21st…
-
University Launches New Climate Center
Columbia University has established its first center focused on bringing together the scientists, engineers, public health experts, foreign policy specialists and others who are working on the pressing challenges of climate change. The Columbia Climate Center, part of the Earth Institute but encompassing other parts of the University, is an outgrowth of Columbia’s leadership in…
-
Scientists Urge Revised Policies to Address Arsenic Problem in Bangladesh
An international group of scientists are suggesting new priorities for the next government of Bangladesh to advance the country’s fight against naturally occurring arsenic in groundwater. In an article entitled “Ensuring Safe Drinking Water in Bangladesh,” they urge a major revision of government policy following upcoming elections. Their work appeared in the December 15 issue…
-
What’s in an Isotope? Quite a Lot
A new technique developed by researchers at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory now allows scientists to use an isotope of manganese not abundant on Earth to understand the record of millions of years of changes to the Earth’s surface. According to the study’s lead scientists, the new technique relies on measuring extremely small amounts of the…
-
Lamont-Doherty Breaks Ground on New Geochemistry Building
On Wednesday September 27, members and friends of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory broke ground on a new geochemistry research building. The celebration took place almost 52 years to the day after the Observatory opened its current geochemistry facility, a building that has made possible many of the most important advances in modern understanding of Earth’s…
-
Holey Asphalt: New Lamont Parking Lot will Help Reduce Runoff
It isn’t often that a new parking lot receives positive reviews from the environmental community. In keeping with Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory’s history of environmental stewardship along the Hudson River, however, the new lot currently under construction on campus is no ordinary blacktop. Intended as a replacement for the existing lot that will soon become…
-
Remembered: Marie Tharp, Pioneering Mapmaker of the Ocean Floor
Marie Tharp, a pathbreaking oceanographic cartographer at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, co-creator of the first global map of the ocean floor and co-discoverer of the central rift valley that runs through the Mid-Atlantic Ridge died Wednesday August 23 in Nyack Hospital. She was 86. A pioneer of modern oceanography, Tharp was the first to map…
-
Cosmic Dust in Ice Cores Sheds Light on Earth’s Past Climate
Each year nearly 40,000 tons of cosmic dust fall to Earth from outer space. Now, the first successful chronological study of extraterrestrial dust in Antarctic ice has shown that this amount has remained largely constant over the past 30,000 years, a finding that could help refine efforts to understand the timing and effects of changes…
-
Study Shows Lack of National Consensus on Teaching K-12 Students about Human-Environmental Impacts
The destruction caused by natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and human activities such as mountaintop removal mining are powerful examples of how the environment and society are tightly interwoven. But to what extent do, or should, state science curricula in the U.S. seek to investigate or influence the nature of this interaction? That is…