Social media plus scientists plus Chemistry Cat puns is a great formula for a talk, right?
What Obama Can and Should Do About Climate Change
As President Obama embarks on his second term, many Americans are hoping that the extreme weather of 2012 will mark a sea change and finally goad him into making meaningful efforts to deal with climate change.
A River Runs Through It: Predicting Floods in the Midwest
Focusing on the American Midwest, Andrew Robertson analyzes the relationships between floods, weather and climate patters throughout the 20th century.
The Truth About Verification
The December 2011 precipitation forecast issued by the International Research Institute for Climate and Society called for a 75 percent chance of above normal precipitation over parts of the Philippines between January and March. As the months played out, storms brought roughly eight inches more rain than usual for the period. That’s about 85 percent more than usual. Does this mean the forecast was right? What if the storms never materialized and the region received eight inches of rain less than normal? Would the forecast then have been wrong?
Breaking the Poverty Trap in Ethiopia: Subsistence, Satellites, and Some Other Important Stuff
Two acres of cracked earth. In northern Ethiopia, it can be a trap that keeps farmers tethered to it for generations. Or it can be a springboard to a better life for this and future generations. What impedes it from showing its springier qualities? You could argue the biggest pressure on the land comes from the sky above it.
Polar Climate Change Education Partnership Receives $5.6 Million Grant
The Columbia Climate Center led PoLAR Climate Change Education Partnership receives a $5.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), one of six awards under the Climate Change Education Partnership-Phase II program.
Studying Cutting-Edge Carbon Storage Technologies
This past June, PhD candidates from Earth Institute’s Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy Miriam Okun and Yinghuang Ji traveled to Alabama to attend Research Experience in Carbon Sequestration (RECS), an intensive 10-day program hosted by Southern Company and sponsored by the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory. The program allowed participants to study cutting-edge [...]
Mexico’s Climate Change Law
By Juan Carlos de Obeso Tuesday June 5th of 2012 will be remembered as a key date in the annals of climate change legislation. On this day Mr. Felipe Calderon, President of Mexico, signed a decree that enacted the General Climate Change Law, which had been previously approved by the Senate and the Deputy chamber. [...]
Photo Essay: In the Heart of Dryness
Explore the country of Niger in this visual essay while learning about the importance of seasonal forecasting to the Sahel, one of the poorest and most climate-vulnerable regions in the world.
Decadal Prediction: The New Kid On the Block
Research on decadal prediction—what the climate is going to be like a decade or two from now—is still relatively new and experimental. It’s also in high demand by planners and decision makers interested in building dams and other large-scale development projects. In a new paper, IRI’s Lisa Goddard and colleagues discuss how decadal prediction research can best fit with existing efforts on seasonal forecasting and long-term climate change modeling.
