State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

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  • IEDA: Revolutionizing Big Data

    IEDA: Revolutionizing Big Data

    The Interdisciplinary Earth Data Alliance is fueling groundbreaking multi-disciplinary discoveries worldwide. “This is a new era of data mining,” says IEDA Director Kerstin Lehnert, a geochemist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

  • Spy Satellites Reveal the Himalayas’ Changing Glaciers – in 3D

    Spy Satellites Reveal the Himalayas’ Changing Glaciers – in 3D

    Declassified spy satellite images are beginning to provide the first consistent look at how glaciers across the Himalayas are changing and what future water supplies might look like for millions of people.

  • The ‘Bird’ Has Flown!

    The ‘Bird’ Has Flown!

    The ‘bird’ has flown! Voices are raised in celebratory cheers from the southernmost continent to across the U.S. Our first ALAMO float is deployed! Now we can begin to answer some of the big questions on this mysterious ice/ocean interface.

  • ‘Ghost Ice Shelves’ and the Third Antarctic Ice Sheet

    ‘Ghost Ice Shelves’ and the Third Antarctic Ice Sheet

    The Antarctica Peninsula has been referred to as Antarctica’s third ice sheet. Following behind the East and West Antarctic ice sheet in size, one might be inclined to minimize its importance in the effects of melting Antarctic ice, on changes in sea level and other impacts, but that would be an imprudent mistake. The peninsula…

  • A Front Row Seat on the Ocean Floor

    A Front Row Seat on the Ocean Floor

    Ocean scientists are, in their hearts, explorers. Our group aboard the R/V Atlantis may be more infected with the exploration bug than most. The first goal of our expedition makes that clear: We aim to map regions of the seafloor never before seen by human eyes.

  • The Domino Effect

    The Domino Effect

    Ice shelves can behave like dominos. When they are lined up and the first one collapses it can cause a rippling effect like dominos. We have seen this with the Larsen Ice Shelves. Named in series, the Larsen A, B and C shelves extended along the northeastern edge of the West Antarctic Peninsula, and covered…

  • A First Meeting with an Old Friend

    A First Meeting with an Old Friend

    If you have studied the impacts of climate on Antarctica you have encountered Pine Island Glacier. Tucked in at an angle under the West Antarctic Peninsula handle, this seemingly innocuous glacier has been making headlines for years as one of the fastest flowing ice stream glaciers on Earth.

  • Year by Year, Line by Line, We Build an Image of Getz Ice Shelf

    Year by Year, Line by Line, We Build an Image of Getz Ice Shelf

    Changes in Antarctic ice have been dominated by the interaction of the ice and the ocean, and because ice shelves extend out into the water they are vulnerable to melt from the warmer ocean water. Melt can affect them in two ways, through thinning along their length and through causing a retreat of the “grounding…

  • How to Prep a City for Climate Change

    How to Prep a City for Climate Change

    Cities around the world already have begun responding to climate change, and a new report from the Earth Institute provides a deep analysis about the risks they face and a detailed look at what some cities are doing about it.

Colorful banner with city: "MR 2025: Mobility, Adaptation, and Wellbeing in a Changing Climate."
  • IEDA: Revolutionizing Big Data

    IEDA: Revolutionizing Big Data

    The Interdisciplinary Earth Data Alliance is fueling groundbreaking multi-disciplinary discoveries worldwide. “This is a new era of data mining,” says IEDA Director Kerstin Lehnert, a geochemist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

  • Spy Satellites Reveal the Himalayas’ Changing Glaciers – in 3D

    Spy Satellites Reveal the Himalayas’ Changing Glaciers – in 3D

    Declassified spy satellite images are beginning to provide the first consistent look at how glaciers across the Himalayas are changing and what future water supplies might look like for millions of people.

  • The ‘Bird’ Has Flown!

    The ‘Bird’ Has Flown!

    The ‘bird’ has flown! Voices are raised in celebratory cheers from the southernmost continent to across the U.S. Our first ALAMO float is deployed! Now we can begin to answer some of the big questions on this mysterious ice/ocean interface.

  • ‘Ghost Ice Shelves’ and the Third Antarctic Ice Sheet

    ‘Ghost Ice Shelves’ and the Third Antarctic Ice Sheet

    The Antarctica Peninsula has been referred to as Antarctica’s third ice sheet. Following behind the East and West Antarctic ice sheet in size, one might be inclined to minimize its importance in the effects of melting Antarctic ice, on changes in sea level and other impacts, but that would be an imprudent mistake. The peninsula…

  • A Front Row Seat on the Ocean Floor

    A Front Row Seat on the Ocean Floor

    Ocean scientists are, in their hearts, explorers. Our group aboard the R/V Atlantis may be more infected with the exploration bug than most. The first goal of our expedition makes that clear: We aim to map regions of the seafloor never before seen by human eyes.

  • The Domino Effect

    The Domino Effect

    Ice shelves can behave like dominos. When they are lined up and the first one collapses it can cause a rippling effect like dominos. We have seen this with the Larsen Ice Shelves. Named in series, the Larsen A, B and C shelves extended along the northeastern edge of the West Antarctic Peninsula, and covered…

  • A First Meeting with an Old Friend

    A First Meeting with an Old Friend

    If you have studied the impacts of climate on Antarctica you have encountered Pine Island Glacier. Tucked in at an angle under the West Antarctic Peninsula handle, this seemingly innocuous glacier has been making headlines for years as one of the fastest flowing ice stream glaciers on Earth.

  • Year by Year, Line by Line, We Build an Image of Getz Ice Shelf

    Year by Year, Line by Line, We Build an Image of Getz Ice Shelf

    Changes in Antarctic ice have been dominated by the interaction of the ice and the ocean, and because ice shelves extend out into the water they are vulnerable to melt from the warmer ocean water. Melt can affect them in two ways, through thinning along their length and through causing a retreat of the “grounding…

  • How to Prep a City for Climate Change

    How to Prep a City for Climate Change

    Cities around the world already have begun responding to climate change, and a new report from the Earth Institute provides a deep analysis about the risks they face and a detailed look at what some cities are doing about it.