State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

research42

  • Radar Reveals Meltwater’s Year-Round Life Under Greenland Ice

    Radar Reveals Meltwater’s Year-Round Life Under Greenland Ice

    An improved technique developed by a graduate student at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and her colleagues is making it possible to use airborne ice-penetrating radar to reveal meltwater’s life under the ice throughout the year.

  • Exploring Our Changing Earth, in Real Time

    Exploring Our Changing Earth, in Real Time

    Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory scientists are loading drones with high-tech instruments and using satellites and undersea cables that are interacting with sensors in some of the most remote locations on Earth to gather data in real time and uncover the secrets of our planet.

  • Looking at Climate from All the Angles

    Looking at Climate from All the Angles

    The Earth Institute digs into the past, tracks the present and models the future of climate. We explore the broader issues surrounding climate change, seek ways to apply our knowledge to real solutions, and nurture collaboration among faculty and researchers in the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities, law, public health, engineering, architecture and urban…

  • Creating Earthquake Heat Maps: Temperature Spikes Leave Clues in the Rock

    Creating Earthquake Heat Maps: Temperature Spikes Leave Clues in the Rock

    When a fault slips, the temperature can spike by hundreds of degrees, high enough to alter organic compounds in the rocks and leave a signature. Lamont scientists have developed methods to use those organic signatures to reconstruct past earthquakes and better understand what controls them.

  • Learning from Slow-Slip Earthquakes

    Learning from Slow-Slip Earthquakes

    Off the coast of New Zealand, there is an area where earthquakes can happen in slow-motion as two tectonic plates grind past one another. These slow-slip events create an ideal lab for studying fault behavior along the shallow portion of subduction zones.

  • Forecasting for the In-Between

    Forecasting for the In-Between

    We can do a good job forecasting the weather for a week or two, and we can settle on what the climate is likely to do season to season, a month to a year into the future. But what about in-between?

  • 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.

Banner with images representing environmental issues and text "You Asked: Our Scientists and Experts Answer Your Burning Questions."

You Asked invites you to share your most pressing questions about climate, science, and sustainability. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia Climate School experts will respond with clear, evidence-based answers. Pose your questions and story ideas!

  • Radar Reveals Meltwater’s Year-Round Life Under Greenland Ice

    Radar Reveals Meltwater’s Year-Round Life Under Greenland Ice

    An improved technique developed by a graduate student at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and her colleagues is making it possible to use airborne ice-penetrating radar to reveal meltwater’s life under the ice throughout the year.

  • Exploring Our Changing Earth, in Real Time

    Exploring Our Changing Earth, in Real Time

    Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory scientists are loading drones with high-tech instruments and using satellites and undersea cables that are interacting with sensors in some of the most remote locations on Earth to gather data in real time and uncover the secrets of our planet.

  • Looking at Climate from All the Angles

    Looking at Climate from All the Angles

    The Earth Institute digs into the past, tracks the present and models the future of climate. We explore the broader issues surrounding climate change, seek ways to apply our knowledge to real solutions, and nurture collaboration among faculty and researchers in the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities, law, public health, engineering, architecture and urban…

  • Creating Earthquake Heat Maps: Temperature Spikes Leave Clues in the Rock

    Creating Earthquake Heat Maps: Temperature Spikes Leave Clues in the Rock

    When a fault slips, the temperature can spike by hundreds of degrees, high enough to alter organic compounds in the rocks and leave a signature. Lamont scientists have developed methods to use those organic signatures to reconstruct past earthquakes and better understand what controls them.

  • Learning from Slow-Slip Earthquakes

    Learning from Slow-Slip Earthquakes

    Off the coast of New Zealand, there is an area where earthquakes can happen in slow-motion as two tectonic plates grind past one another. These slow-slip events create an ideal lab for studying fault behavior along the shallow portion of subduction zones.

  • Forecasting for the In-Between

    Forecasting for the In-Between

    We can do a good job forecasting the weather for a week or two, and we can settle on what the climate is likely to do season to season, a month to a year into the future. But what about in-between?

  • 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.