State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory197

  • More Than 1,000 to Get Their Feet Wet in Hudson Estuary Project

    For many residents of New York City and upstate communities, the Hudson River is such a constant presence that it can sometimes fade into the background of daily life. On Wednesday, October 12, however, Earth Institute researchers contributed to the efforts of volunteers and students from Troy to Brooklyn in putting the Hudson front-and-center by…

  • Devastating Droughts in the American West Not Isolated Events

    Droughts that last several years are a recurring feature of the American West. They are also potentially costly natural disasters with impacts ranging from declining agricultural production, reduced water availability, increased forest fires, variable river flows, and declining fisheries. The Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s, which was memorialized in some of the greatest works…

  • Deep Magmatic Plumbing of Mid-Ocean Ridges Revealed

    New images suggest that the Earth’s lower oceanic crust is generated from multiple magma sources

  • Study Reconciles Long-Standing Contradiction of Deep-Earth Dynamics

    New databases give researchers a look into processes inside the Earth’s mantle

  • Scientists Confirm Earth’s Inner Core Rotating Faster Than Rest of Planet

    Scientists at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have ended a nine-year debate over whether the Earth’s inner core is undergoing changes that can be detected on a human timescale. Their work, which appears in the August 26 issue of the journal Science, measured differences in the time it…

Composite banner with modern building at night and portrait of Dean Alexis Abramson that reads "Science for the Planet"

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“

  • More Than 1,000 to Get Their Feet Wet in Hudson Estuary Project

    For many residents of New York City and upstate communities, the Hudson River is such a constant presence that it can sometimes fade into the background of daily life. On Wednesday, October 12, however, Earth Institute researchers contributed to the efforts of volunteers and students from Troy to Brooklyn in putting the Hudson front-and-center by…

  • Devastating Droughts in the American West Not Isolated Events

    Droughts that last several years are a recurring feature of the American West. They are also potentially costly natural disasters with impacts ranging from declining agricultural production, reduced water availability, increased forest fires, variable river flows, and declining fisheries. The Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s, which was memorialized in some of the greatest works…

  • Deep Magmatic Plumbing of Mid-Ocean Ridges Revealed

    New images suggest that the Earth’s lower oceanic crust is generated from multiple magma sources

  • Study Reconciles Long-Standing Contradiction of Deep-Earth Dynamics

    New databases give researchers a look into processes inside the Earth’s mantle

  • Scientists Confirm Earth’s Inner Core Rotating Faster Than Rest of Planet

    Scientists at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have ended a nine-year debate over whether the Earth’s inner core is undergoing changes that can be detected on a human timescale. Their work, which appears in the August 26 issue of the journal Science, measured differences in the time it…