State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Tag: New York metro area

  • Balancing Act: Can Precariously Perched Boulders Signal New York’s Earthquake Risk?

    Balancing Act: Can Precariously Perched Boulders Signal New York’s Earthquake Risk?

    Long ago, melting glaciers dropped giant boulders onto surfaces in the New York City exurbs, and many seem to remain in their original, delicately balanced positions. Can they be used to judge the maximum sizes of past earthquakes?

  • The Very Lonely Seismometer

    The Very Lonely Seismometer

    Out in the middle of the woods in New York’s exurbs, a hiker finds a TV antenna attached to a rotting oil drum. What is this?

  • Within Sight of New York City, an Old-Growth Forest Faces Storms and Sea Level Rise

    Within Sight of New York City, an Old-Growth Forest Faces Storms and Sea Level Rise

    On a peninsula within sight of New York City, researchers are studying trees dating as far back as the early 1800s. Rising seas and more powerful storms, both fueled by climate change, could eventually spell their end.

  • Photo Essay: An Old-Growth Forest Near New York City Faces Storms and Sea-Level Rise

    Photo Essay: An Old-Growth Forest Near New York City Faces Storms and Sea-Level Rise

    Centuries-old trees on a peninsula near New York City could provide an important record of past storms. Researchers recently traveled there to sample the trees before they are wiped out by rising seas and powerful storms.

  • The Earth Shook, but It Wasn’t an Earthquake

    The Earth Shook, but It Wasn’t an Earthquake

    Last Thursday, thousands of people on the Eastern Seaboard felt the earth tremble. Seismologists at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory quickly concluded it was not an earthquake, but a military exercise.

  • Eye on the Storm

    Eye on the Storm

    Atmospheric scientist Adam Sobel is author of the new book “Storm Surge: Hurricane Sandy, Our Changing Climate and Extreme Weather of the Past and Future.” Sobel was one of the first researchers to explain to media and the public what might be brewing, before the storm hit. In the aftermath, he looked closely at the…

  • We Don’t Know All About Hurricanes–But We Know Enough to Act

    We Don’t Know All About Hurricanes–But We Know Enough to Act

    Sandy instantly brought a new kind of national media attention to the influence of global warming on weather disasters. After several years of near-silence on climate from our political leaders and the mainstream media, the renewed attention is profoundly welcome.

  • When the World Ended in Ice

    When the World Ended in Ice

    A mile or so of glacial ice covering much of North America and plowing down from the north once terminated in the New York metropolitan area, at a front stretching roughly from exit 13 on the New Jersey Turnpike (Rahway), on across southern Staten Island, the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn, and northeastward through Long Island. But exactly when that ice started…

Science for the Planet: In these short video explainers, discover how scientists and scholars across the Columbia Climate School are working to understand the effects of climate change and help solve the crisis.
  • Balancing Act: Can Precariously Perched Boulders Signal New York’s Earthquake Risk?

    Balancing Act: Can Precariously Perched Boulders Signal New York’s Earthquake Risk?

    Long ago, melting glaciers dropped giant boulders onto surfaces in the New York City exurbs, and many seem to remain in their original, delicately balanced positions. Can they be used to judge the maximum sizes of past earthquakes?

  • The Very Lonely Seismometer

    The Very Lonely Seismometer

    Out in the middle of the woods in New York’s exurbs, a hiker finds a TV antenna attached to a rotting oil drum. What is this?

  • Within Sight of New York City, an Old-Growth Forest Faces Storms and Sea Level Rise

    Within Sight of New York City, an Old-Growth Forest Faces Storms and Sea Level Rise

    On a peninsula within sight of New York City, researchers are studying trees dating as far back as the early 1800s. Rising seas and more powerful storms, both fueled by climate change, could eventually spell their end.

  • Photo Essay: An Old-Growth Forest Near New York City Faces Storms and Sea-Level Rise

    Photo Essay: An Old-Growth Forest Near New York City Faces Storms and Sea-Level Rise

    Centuries-old trees on a peninsula near New York City could provide an important record of past storms. Researchers recently traveled there to sample the trees before they are wiped out by rising seas and powerful storms.

  • The Earth Shook, but It Wasn’t an Earthquake

    The Earth Shook, but It Wasn’t an Earthquake

    Last Thursday, thousands of people on the Eastern Seaboard felt the earth tremble. Seismologists at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory quickly concluded it was not an earthquake, but a military exercise.

  • Eye on the Storm

    Eye on the Storm

    Atmospheric scientist Adam Sobel is author of the new book “Storm Surge: Hurricane Sandy, Our Changing Climate and Extreme Weather of the Past and Future.” Sobel was one of the first researchers to explain to media and the public what might be brewing, before the storm hit. In the aftermath, he looked closely at the…

  • We Don’t Know All About Hurricanes–But We Know Enough to Act

    We Don’t Know All About Hurricanes–But We Know Enough to Act

    Sandy instantly brought a new kind of national media attention to the influence of global warming on weather disasters. After several years of near-silence on climate from our political leaders and the mainstream media, the renewed attention is profoundly welcome.

  • When the World Ended in Ice

    When the World Ended in Ice

    A mile or so of glacial ice covering much of North America and plowing down from the north once terminated in the New York metropolitan area, at a front stretching roughly from exit 13 on the New Jersey Turnpike (Rahway), on across southern Staten Island, the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn, and northeastward through Long Island. But exactly when that ice started…