State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

natural hazards2

  • Photo Essay: Land, Lava, People

    Photo Essay: Land, Lava, People

    On Hawaii, lava is a way of life. The whole island is made of the stuff. Eruptions from Kilauea volcano have been adding new land and wiping out old for all of human time, and far before. In recent decades, lava flows have wiped out communities and major roads. The latest eruption, which began in June 2014, now…

  • In Hawaii, Living With Lava

    In Hawaii, Living With Lava

    When the most recent eruption of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano started last June, Melvin Sugimoto at first did not think much of it. Hawaii, where he has lived all his life, is made entirely of hardened lava, and Kilauea, perhaps the world’s most active volcano, has been adding more off and on for the last 300,000 years. “Lava is…

  • Historic Hurricane Nears Landfall on Southwest Coast of Mexico

    Historic Hurricane Nears Landfall on Southwest Coast of Mexico

    Hurricane Patricia, the strongest hurricane ever observed in either the Atlantic or eastern Pacific, is expected to make landfall on the Southwest coast of Mexico this afternoon and evening as an extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane.

  • AGU 2013: Social Science Perspectives on Natural Hazards

    AGU 2013: Social Science Perspectives on Natural Hazards

    Learn about improving communication of and planning for natural hazards from a social science perspective at AGU2013.

  • A Different Climate Change Message, on Stage Nov. 2-3

    A Different Climate Change Message, on Stage Nov. 2-3

    The Superhero Clubhouse eco-theater group will be putting on a double-billed performance –Don’t Be Sad Flying Ace! and Field Trip: A Climate Cabaret- on November 2nd and 3rd at the Theater at the 14th St. Y, 344 East 14th Street (between 1st and 2nd Aves).

  • Managing Hazard Risk and Weather Extremes at AGU

    Managing Hazard Risk and Weather Extremes at AGU

    Researchers from the Earth Institute’s Center for Research on Environmental Decisions will present their work at the 2012 American Geophysical Union Conference in San Francisco this week. Psychology doctoral candidate Katherine Thompson will present a poster entitled “The Psychology of Hazard Risk Perception”; and visiting research scholar Diana Reckien will present a poster entitled “Realities…

  • To Comilla and Back

    To Comilla and Back

    I’ve just arrived back in Bangladesh with an engineer to install 6 new GPS stations to add to our studies of earthquake hazards and land subsidence. Our first stop was Comilla University, the westernmost exposed fold of the collision between the Ganges-Bramaputra Delta and the Sumatra-Andaman-Burma plat boundary.

  • Lurking Under Bangladesh: The Next Great Earthquake?

    Lurking Under Bangladesh: The Next Great Earthquake?

    Beneath Bangladesh: The Next Great Earthquake? from Earth Institute on Vimeo. After the recent great quakes that have swept away entire coastlines and cities in Japan, Haiti and Sumatra, scientists are now looking hard at the nation that may suffer the gravest threat of all: Bangladesh. A new documentary from the Earth Institute follows seismologists as they trace signs of…

  • Lamont Scientists Present Findings on Hidden Dangers of Climate Change, Natural Hazards

    Scientists from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory will report this week on vital topics including new evidence of the effects of climate change; technologies to confront it; studies of eastern U.S. earthquake risk; and previously unseen inner workings of the deep polar ice caps. The reports will be presented at the fall 2007 American Geophysical…

  • Photo Essay: Land, Lava, People

    Photo Essay: Land, Lava, People

    On Hawaii, lava is a way of life. The whole island is made of the stuff. Eruptions from Kilauea volcano have been adding new land and wiping out old for all of human time, and far before. In recent decades, lava flows have wiped out communities and major roads. The latest eruption, which began in June 2014, now…

  • In Hawaii, Living With Lava

    In Hawaii, Living With Lava

    When the most recent eruption of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano started last June, Melvin Sugimoto at first did not think much of it. Hawaii, where he has lived all his life, is made entirely of hardened lava, and Kilauea, perhaps the world’s most active volcano, has been adding more off and on for the last 300,000 years. “Lava is…

  • Historic Hurricane Nears Landfall on Southwest Coast of Mexico

    Historic Hurricane Nears Landfall on Southwest Coast of Mexico

    Hurricane Patricia, the strongest hurricane ever observed in either the Atlantic or eastern Pacific, is expected to make landfall on the Southwest coast of Mexico this afternoon and evening as an extremely dangerous Category 5 hurricane.

  • AGU 2013: Social Science Perspectives on Natural Hazards

    AGU 2013: Social Science Perspectives on Natural Hazards

    Learn about improving communication of and planning for natural hazards from a social science perspective at AGU2013.

  • A Different Climate Change Message, on Stage Nov. 2-3

    A Different Climate Change Message, on Stage Nov. 2-3

    The Superhero Clubhouse eco-theater group will be putting on a double-billed performance –Don’t Be Sad Flying Ace! and Field Trip: A Climate Cabaret- on November 2nd and 3rd at the Theater at the 14th St. Y, 344 East 14th Street (between 1st and 2nd Aves).

  • Managing Hazard Risk and Weather Extremes at AGU

    Managing Hazard Risk and Weather Extremes at AGU

    Researchers from the Earth Institute’s Center for Research on Environmental Decisions will present their work at the 2012 American Geophysical Union Conference in San Francisco this week. Psychology doctoral candidate Katherine Thompson will present a poster entitled “The Psychology of Hazard Risk Perception”; and visiting research scholar Diana Reckien will present a poster entitled “Realities…

  • To Comilla and Back

    To Comilla and Back

    I’ve just arrived back in Bangladesh with an engineer to install 6 new GPS stations to add to our studies of earthquake hazards and land subsidence. Our first stop was Comilla University, the westernmost exposed fold of the collision between the Ganges-Bramaputra Delta and the Sumatra-Andaman-Burma plat boundary.

  • Lurking Under Bangladesh: The Next Great Earthquake?

    Lurking Under Bangladesh: The Next Great Earthquake?

    Beneath Bangladesh: The Next Great Earthquake? from Earth Institute on Vimeo. After the recent great quakes that have swept away entire coastlines and cities in Japan, Haiti and Sumatra, scientists are now looking hard at the nation that may suffer the gravest threat of all: Bangladesh. A new documentary from the Earth Institute follows seismologists as they trace signs of…

  • Lamont Scientists Present Findings on Hidden Dangers of Climate Change, Natural Hazards

    Scientists from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory will report this week on vital topics including new evidence of the effects of climate change; technologies to confront it; studies of eastern U.S. earthquake risk; and previously unseen inner workings of the deep polar ice caps. The reports will be presented at the fall 2007 American Geophysical…