State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Author: Kim Martineau3


  • Photo Essay: A Day in the Life of the Hudson River

    Photo Essay: A Day in the Life of the Hudson River

    Once a year, Piermont Pier becomes a field station, and local students, a team of environmental investigators. On Tuesday, scientists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory led students through a series of field experiments designed to teach them more about the Hudson River.

  • Volcanic Plumbing at Mid-Ocean Ridges Goes Far Deeper than Thought

    Volcanic Plumbing at Mid-Ocean Ridges Goes Far Deeper than Thought

    New pictures in the journal Nature Geoscience may help resolve a debate about how new crust forms at mid-ocean ridges where earth’s tectonic plates are slowly pulling apart.

  • Lamont-Doherty Director Awarded National Medal of Science

    Lamont-Doherty Director Awarded National Medal of Science

    Sean Solomon, director of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and a geophysicist who has spent much of his career studying Earth’s neighboring planets as well as the Earth itself, will receive the National Medal of Science.

  • A Drone’s Eye View of Another Active Japanese Volcano

    A Drone’s Eye View of Another Active Japanese Volcano

    The day before Japan’s Ontake volcano blew its top, Lamont volcanologist Einat Lev visited Shinmoedake, another active volcano in Japan, to film the aftermath of a recent eruption there. Three years after Shinmoe came to life with a steam explosion similar to Ontake’s, the volcano continues to spew poisonous sulfur dioxide gas.

  • Photo Essay: Sculpting Tropical Peaks

    Photo Essay: Sculpting Tropical Peaks

    Max Cunningham, a graduate student at Lamont-Doherty, traveled to Costa Rica’s Mount Chirripó this past summer to test the idea that mountain glaciers carved the summit we see today. He and his colleagues hope to eventually pin down when Chirripó’s high-elevation valleys eroded into their current form. Check out a recap of their 2014 field…

  • Photo Essay: Open House at Lamont-Doherty

    Photo Essay: Open House at Lamont-Doherty

    Bend a rock. Channel your historic ‘birthquake.’ Check out rocks, fossils, sediment cores and more at Lamont’s Open House on Saturday, October 11.

  • The Columbia Geology Tour: Stories in the Stones

    The Columbia Geology Tour: Stories in the Stones

    For the last decade or so, Columbia University geologist David Walker has led students and colleagues on a tour of the geologic gems hiding within Columbia’s campus. Along the way, Walker finds evidence of how life on Earth has evolved over 4.5 billion years.

  • The Long Life of Death Valley

    The Long Life of Death Valley

    Geologist Nicholas Christie-Blick has studied the Death Valley region for more than four decades. Each spring, he leads a group of Columbia University undergraduates there on a fieldtrip. Check out highlights from this year’s trip.

  • World Trade Center Ship Traced to Colonial-Era Philadelphia

    World Trade Center Ship Traced to Colonial-Era Philadelphia

    Four years ago this month, archeologists monitoring the excavation of the former World Trade Center site uncovered a ghostly surprise: the bones of an ancient sailing ship. In a new study, scientists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory say that an old growth forest in the Philadelphia area supplied the white oak used in the ship’s frame,…

  • Photo Essay: A Day in the Life of the Hudson River

    Photo Essay: A Day in the Life of the Hudson River

    Once a year, Piermont Pier becomes a field station, and local students, a team of environmental investigators. On Tuesday, scientists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory led students through a series of field experiments designed to teach them more about the Hudson River.

  • Volcanic Plumbing at Mid-Ocean Ridges Goes Far Deeper than Thought

    Volcanic Plumbing at Mid-Ocean Ridges Goes Far Deeper than Thought

    New pictures in the journal Nature Geoscience may help resolve a debate about how new crust forms at mid-ocean ridges where earth’s tectonic plates are slowly pulling apart.

  • Lamont-Doherty Director Awarded National Medal of Science

    Lamont-Doherty Director Awarded National Medal of Science

    Sean Solomon, director of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and a geophysicist who has spent much of his career studying Earth’s neighboring planets as well as the Earth itself, will receive the National Medal of Science.

  • A Drone’s Eye View of Another Active Japanese Volcano

    A Drone’s Eye View of Another Active Japanese Volcano

    The day before Japan’s Ontake volcano blew its top, Lamont volcanologist Einat Lev visited Shinmoedake, another active volcano in Japan, to film the aftermath of a recent eruption there. Three years after Shinmoe came to life with a steam explosion similar to Ontake’s, the volcano continues to spew poisonous sulfur dioxide gas.

  • Photo Essay: Sculpting Tropical Peaks

    Photo Essay: Sculpting Tropical Peaks

    Max Cunningham, a graduate student at Lamont-Doherty, traveled to Costa Rica’s Mount Chirripó this past summer to test the idea that mountain glaciers carved the summit we see today. He and his colleagues hope to eventually pin down when Chirripó’s high-elevation valleys eroded into their current form. Check out a recap of their 2014 field…

  • Photo Essay: Open House at Lamont-Doherty

    Photo Essay: Open House at Lamont-Doherty

    Bend a rock. Channel your historic ‘birthquake.’ Check out rocks, fossils, sediment cores and more at Lamont’s Open House on Saturday, October 11.

  • The Columbia Geology Tour: Stories in the Stones

    The Columbia Geology Tour: Stories in the Stones

    For the last decade or so, Columbia University geologist David Walker has led students and colleagues on a tour of the geologic gems hiding within Columbia’s campus. Along the way, Walker finds evidence of how life on Earth has evolved over 4.5 billion years.

  • The Long Life of Death Valley

    The Long Life of Death Valley

    Geologist Nicholas Christie-Blick has studied the Death Valley region for more than four decades. Each spring, he leads a group of Columbia University undergraduates there on a fieldtrip. Check out highlights from this year’s trip.

  • World Trade Center Ship Traced to Colonial-Era Philadelphia

    World Trade Center Ship Traced to Colonial-Era Philadelphia

    Four years ago this month, archeologists monitoring the excavation of the former World Trade Center site uncovered a ghostly surprise: the bones of an ancient sailing ship. In a new study, scientists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory say that an old growth forest in the Philadelphia area supplied the white oak used in the ship’s frame,…