Category: Earth Sciences

Chasing Tornadoes: A Close Call with a Deadly Storm

by | 6.19.2013 at 11:54am
Beneath the Beast: A large EF-5 wedge tornado near El Reno, OK. The tornado had the distinction of being the widest recorded, with EF1 winds to a diameter of 2.6 miles. Sadly, the storm took four storm chasers’ lives.

Tornadoes are rare at any one location, but out of anywhere in the United States, the central Oklahoma area has the greatest risk—and this day would prove no exception.

Tides Play a Role in Triggering Undersea Earthquakes

by | 6.17.2013 at 1:45pm
Maya Tolstoy, earthquakes, oceans

Can shifting tides trigger earthquakes? Research done by Maya Tolstoy, a geophysicist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, suggests they do.

400 ppm World, Part 2: Rising Seas Come with Rising CO2

by | 6.12.2013 at 12:49pm
Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey shore

Every indication is that thermal expansion will not dominate rates of sea-level rise in the future. As Earth’s climate marches toward equilibration with present-day CO2 levels, the climate will continue to warm. And this warming threatens the stability of a potentially much, much larger source for sea-level rise — the world’s remaining ice sheets.

400 ppm World, Part 1: Large Changes Still to Come

by | 6.11.2013 at 11:32am
Ice core records of CO2 and climate over the past million years, NOAA

Why should society care that CO2 is now as high as 400 ppm? The reasons are multiple, but all trace back to the relationship between CO2 and temperature.

Climate in the Peruvian Andes: From Early Humans to Modern Challenges

by | 6.10.2013 at 11:10am
Peru 2012 199

Twice humans have witnessed the wasting of snow and ice from Peru’s tallest volcano, Nevado Coropuna—In the waning of the last ice age, some 12,000 years ago, and today, as industrial carbon dioxide in the air raises temperatures again. As in the past, Coropuna’s retreating glaciers figure prominently in the lives of people below. In an ongoing project, scientists at Columba University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and partner institutions are reconstructing the ebb and flow of ice on Coropuna since the last ice age to understand how the tropics influence the global climate system, how ice-loss and a warmer climate will impact farming in the region, and what adaptation measures might help people survive in this hotter, drier world.

Lamont Scientist Featured in Antarctic Climate Change Documentary

by | 6.6.2013 at 10:47am
antarctic_documentary_f

Lamont-Doherty scientist Hugh Ducklow is featured in a documentary due out next summer on climate change and the West Antarctic Peninsula. Catch a preview in this newly-released trailer.

A Tale of Sea Ice, Algae and the Arctic

by | 5.29.2013 at 4:12pm
Sea ice algae.

I returned to New York on Monday, but Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory scientists Andy Juhl and Craig Aumack remain working in Barrow, Alaska for another week. They’ll continue to collect data and samples in a race against deteriorating Arctic sea ice conditions as the onset of summer causes the ice to thin and break up.

Science, Creativity and Isopods

by | 5.27.2013 at 3:12am
Andy Juhl lowers ROV Brinson into the Arctic Ocean.

It’s near midnight and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory researchers Andy Juhl and Craig Aumack, and Arizona State’s Kyle Kinzler are gathered around a table in their lab at the Barrow Arctic Research Consortium discussing the best way to catch an isopod.

Ctene Sensations of the Arctic Ocean

by | 5.23.2013 at 1:40am
Ctenophores

One of the goals of Andy Juhl’s and Craig Aumack’s Arctic research is to determine the role of ice algae as a source of nutrition for food webs existing in the water column and at the bottom of the Arctic ocean.

Collecting Core Data About Arctic Ecosystems

by | 5.20.2013 at 1:53pm
Andy Juhl records the temperature of the ice every 10cm for the length of the core.

Our team spent most of Friday on the Arctic sea ice, drilling and sampling ice cores at our main field site. For each core collected, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory scientists Andy Juhl and Craig Aumack take a number of different physical, chemical and biological measurements