http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu Tapping experts in climate, geology, oceanography, ecology, sustainable development, global health, energy, food and water, State of the Planet captures stories of how the Earth works and how we can sustainably make our lives better. Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:31:36 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/06/19/chasing-tornadoes-a-close-call-with-a-deadly-storm/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/06/19/chasing-tornadoes-a-close-call-with-a-deadly-storm/#comments Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:54:28 +0000 Guest Blogger http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=37460 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.]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/06/19/chasing-tornadoes-a-close-call-with-a-deadly-storm/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/06/17/tides-play-a-role-in-triggering-undersea-earthquakes/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/06/17/tides-play-a-role-in-triggering-undersea-earthquakes/#comments Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:45:57 +0000 David Funkhouser http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=37375 Can shifting tides trigger earthquakes? Research done by Maya Tolstoy, a geophysicist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, suggests they do. ]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/06/17/tides-play-a-role-in-triggering-undersea-earthquakes/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/06/12/400-ppm-world-part-2-rising-seas-come-with-rising-co2/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/06/12/400-ppm-world-part-2-rising-seas-come-with-rising-co2/#comments Wed, 12 Jun 2013 16:49:23 +0000 Guest Blogger http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=37288 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.]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/06/12/400-ppm-world-part-2-rising-seas-come-with-rising-co2/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/06/11/400-ppm-world-part-1-large-changes-still-to-come/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/06/11/400-ppm-world-part-1-large-changes-still-to-come/#comments Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:32:21 +0000 Guest Blogger http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=37224 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. ]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/06/11/400-ppm-world-part-1-large-changes-still-to-come/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/06/10/climate-in-the-peruvian-andes-from-early-humans-to-modern-challenges/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/06/10/climate-in-the-peruvian-andes-from-early-humans-to-modern-challenges/#comments Mon, 10 Jun 2013 15:10:49 +0000 Kim Martineau http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=37105 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.]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/06/10/climate-in-the-peruvian-andes-from-early-humans-to-modern-challenges/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/06/06/lamont-scientist-featured-in-antarctic-climate-change-documentary/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/06/06/lamont-scientist-featured-in-antarctic-climate-change-documentary/#comments Thu, 06 Jun 2013 14:47:32 +0000 Kim Martineau http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=37159 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.]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/06/06/lamont-scientist-featured-in-antarctic-climate-change-documentary/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/29/a-tale-of-ice-algae-and-the-arctic/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/29/a-tale-of-ice-algae-and-the-arctic/#comments Wed, 29 May 2013 20:12:51 +0000 Rebecca Fowler http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=37035 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. Even [...]]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/29/a-tale-of-ice-algae-and-the-arctic/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/27/science-creativity-and-isopods/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/27/science-creativity-and-isopods/#comments Mon, 27 May 2013 07:12:11 +0000 Rebecca Fowler http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=36994 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. When scientists do fieldwork, they enter into it with specific questions and science goals in [...]]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/27/science-creativity-and-isopods/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/23/ctene-sensations-of-the-arctic-ocean/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/23/ctene-sensations-of-the-arctic-ocean/#comments Thu, 23 May 2013 05:40:49 +0000 Rebecca Fowler http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=36929 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. During their fieldwork these Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory scientists are deploying a plankton net, a [...]]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/23/ctene-sensations-of-the-arctic-ocean/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/20/collecting-core-data-about-arctic-ecosystems/ http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/20/collecting-core-data-about-arctic-ecosystems/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 17:53:40 +0000 Rebecca Fowler http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/?p=36868 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 that characterize the ice and the organisms living inside it. Some [...]]]> http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2013/05/20/collecting-core-data-about-arctic-ecosystems/feed/ 0