State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

ocean and climate physics

  • Key Ocean Current Contains a Warning on Climate

    Key Ocean Current Contains a Warning on Climate

    A new study shows that a giant current circling Antarctica has speeded up during past warm periods, eating away at the polar ice. It’s doing it again now.

  • Carbon Lurking in Deep Ocean Threw Ancient Climate Switch, Say Researchers

    Carbon Lurking in Deep Ocean Threw Ancient Climate Switch, Say Researchers

    A million years ago, a longtime pattern of alternating glaciations and warm periods dramatically changed, when ice ages suddenly became longer and more intense. Scientists have long suspected that this was connected to the slowdown of a key Atlantic Ocean current system that today once again is slowing. A new study of sediments from the…

  • How Does the Ocean Drive Weather and Climate Extremes?

    How Does the Ocean Drive Weather and Climate Extremes?

    Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory scientists Ryan Abernathey and Richard Seager are investigating how processes in the ocean create extreme weather and climate conditions over land.

Columbia Climate School Giving Day on October 28, 2026, featuring students and renewable energy imagery

October 28, 2026 is Columbia Giving Day! Your gift to Columbia Climate School helps advance interdisciplinary research, educate the next generation of leaders, and transform bold ideas into real-world solutions for climate, Earth, and society.

  • Key Ocean Current Contains a Warning on Climate

    Key Ocean Current Contains a Warning on Climate

    A new study shows that a giant current circling Antarctica has speeded up during past warm periods, eating away at the polar ice. It’s doing it again now.

  • Carbon Lurking in Deep Ocean Threw Ancient Climate Switch, Say Researchers

    Carbon Lurking in Deep Ocean Threw Ancient Climate Switch, Say Researchers

    A million years ago, a longtime pattern of alternating glaciations and warm periods dramatically changed, when ice ages suddenly became longer and more intense. Scientists have long suspected that this was connected to the slowdown of a key Atlantic Ocean current system that today once again is slowing. A new study of sediments from the…

  • How Does the Ocean Drive Weather and Climate Extremes?

    How Does the Ocean Drive Weather and Climate Extremes?

    Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory scientists Ryan Abernathey and Richard Seager are investigating how processes in the ocean create extreme weather and climate conditions over land.