State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

landslides

  • Caroline Juang: Blending Art, Science, and Outreach

    Caroline Juang: Blending Art, Science, and Outreach

    In addition to studying climate-related hazards, Juang is a talented artist who helps make STEM fields more accessible for underrepresented minorities. Somehow, she also finds time to sleep.

  • At a Melting Glacier, a Landslide, Then Tsunami, Signal Climate-Related Threat

    At a Melting Glacier, a Landslide, Then Tsunami, Signal Climate-Related Threat

    A peculiar seismic signal was the first indication of a gigantic landslide and subsequent tsunami in the remote mountains of British Columbia. It detected what may be a growing climate-related threat.

  • Glacier Town at Risk in Next Great New Zealand Earthquake

    Glacier Town at Risk in Next Great New Zealand Earthquake

    The tourist town of Franz Josef, at the base of a large glacier of the same name, could be at the epicenter of the next magnitude 8 rupture along the Alpine Fault line.

  • Alaskan Coast at Risk of Catastrophic Landslide and Mega-Tsunami

    Alaskan Coast at Risk of Catastrophic Landslide and Mega-Tsunami

    Geoscientists estimate that a mountain slope could collapse into Prince William Sound within a year, and likely within 20 years, triggering devastating waves.

  • Assessing Landslide Risk in Rohingya Refugee Camps

    Assessing Landslide Risk in Rohingya Refugee Camps

    NASA and Columbia University’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society partner with humanitarian organizations to provide near real-time data on land use, rainfall and elevation.

  • Massive Landslide Detected in Glacier Bay’s Fragile Mountains

    Massive Landslide Detected in Glacier Bay’s Fragile Mountains

    A 4,000-foot-high mountainside collapsed in Glacier Bay National Park this week in a massive landslide that spread debris for miles across the glacier below. Scientists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory are studying it to improve understanding of landslide risks.

  • Summer Heat Wave May Have Triggered Landslide on Lonely Alaskan Glacier

    Summer Heat Wave May Have Triggered Landslide on Lonely Alaskan Glacier

    A massive landslide in Alaska’s snowy Wrangell-St. Elias mountain range in July may have been caused by a summer heat wave making some slopes more vulnerable to collapse, says the Lamont-Doherty scientist who first discovered the avalanche.

  • A Library of Giant Landslides

    A Library of Giant Landslides

    A new method for detecting big landslides is allowing scientists to understand the dynamics of these elusive events almost instantly, without traipsing to remote mountains or scrambling up rugged peaks months, or even years, later. In a recent study in the journal Science, Göran Ekström and Colin Stark, geophysicists at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory,…

  • Investigating Giant, Unseen Landslides

    Investigating Giant, Unseen Landslides

    Steep mountains produce some of the biggest landslides on earth but in such rugged terrain who’s around to notice? These monster back country slides are now gaining attention from far-away scientists, aided by a global network of seismic stations, earth-orbiting satellites and the crowd-sourcing power of the internet.

  • Caroline Juang: Blending Art, Science, and Outreach

    Caroline Juang: Blending Art, Science, and Outreach

    In addition to studying climate-related hazards, Juang is a talented artist who helps make STEM fields more accessible for underrepresented minorities. Somehow, she also finds time to sleep.

  • At a Melting Glacier, a Landslide, Then Tsunami, Signal Climate-Related Threat

    At a Melting Glacier, a Landslide, Then Tsunami, Signal Climate-Related Threat

    A peculiar seismic signal was the first indication of a gigantic landslide and subsequent tsunami in the remote mountains of British Columbia. It detected what may be a growing climate-related threat.

  • Glacier Town at Risk in Next Great New Zealand Earthquake

    Glacier Town at Risk in Next Great New Zealand Earthquake

    The tourist town of Franz Josef, at the base of a large glacier of the same name, could be at the epicenter of the next magnitude 8 rupture along the Alpine Fault line.

  • Alaskan Coast at Risk of Catastrophic Landslide and Mega-Tsunami

    Alaskan Coast at Risk of Catastrophic Landslide and Mega-Tsunami

    Geoscientists estimate that a mountain slope could collapse into Prince William Sound within a year, and likely within 20 years, triggering devastating waves.

  • Assessing Landslide Risk in Rohingya Refugee Camps

    Assessing Landslide Risk in Rohingya Refugee Camps

    NASA and Columbia University’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society partner with humanitarian organizations to provide near real-time data on land use, rainfall and elevation.

  • Massive Landslide Detected in Glacier Bay’s Fragile Mountains

    Massive Landslide Detected in Glacier Bay’s Fragile Mountains

    A 4,000-foot-high mountainside collapsed in Glacier Bay National Park this week in a massive landslide that spread debris for miles across the glacier below. Scientists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory are studying it to improve understanding of landslide risks.

  • Summer Heat Wave May Have Triggered Landslide on Lonely Alaskan Glacier

    Summer Heat Wave May Have Triggered Landslide on Lonely Alaskan Glacier

    A massive landslide in Alaska’s snowy Wrangell-St. Elias mountain range in July may have been caused by a summer heat wave making some slopes more vulnerable to collapse, says the Lamont-Doherty scientist who first discovered the avalanche.

  • A Library of Giant Landslides

    A Library of Giant Landslides

    A new method for detecting big landslides is allowing scientists to understand the dynamics of these elusive events almost instantly, without traipsing to remote mountains or scrambling up rugged peaks months, or even years, later. In a recent study in the journal Science, Göran Ekström and Colin Stark, geophysicists at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory,…

  • Investigating Giant, Unseen Landslides

    Investigating Giant, Unseen Landslides

    Steep mountains produce some of the biggest landslides on earth but in such rugged terrain who’s around to notice? These monster back country slides are now gaining attention from far-away scientists, aided by a global network of seismic stations, earth-orbiting satellites and the crowd-sourcing power of the internet.