State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Tag: ocean currents

  • After a Long Wait, Expedition 383 Drills its First Seafloor Core

    After a Long Wait, Expedition 383 Drills its First Seafloor Core

    It took six days to sail to Point Nemo, the most inaccessible point of the ocean on this planet, to drill a sample from the ocean floor.

  • Tapping into Ocean Power

    Tapping into Ocean Power

    The oceans of the world are a vast unexploited source of clean, reliable and predictable renewable energy. Could this energy help replace fossil fuels and be a solution to climate change?

  • In Greenland, Exactly Where Meltwater Enters the Ocean Matters

    In Greenland, Exactly Where Meltwater Enters the Ocean Matters

    In southern Greenland in summer, rivers have been streaming off the ice sheet, pouring cold fresh water into the fjords. A new study tracks where that meltwater goes—with surprising results.

  • Exploring Ocean Turbulence: 2016 Sloan Fellow Ryan Abernathey

    Exploring Ocean Turbulence: 2016 Sloan Fellow Ryan Abernathey

    When you examine the behavior of the global oceans closely—really closely, at scales smaller than 100 kilometers—eddies and jets and fronts start to appear. For Ryan Abernathey, this is where ocean physics gets interesting.

  • 6 Million Years of Sediment, Studded with Tiny Fossils

    6 Million Years of Sediment, Studded with Tiny Fossils

    Sidney Hemming and her team have started examining their first sediment core from off southern Africa. It appears to contain about 6 million years of history.

  • Setting Off for Two Months at Sea

    Setting Off for Two Months at Sea

    Sidney Hemming and the scientists aboard the JOIDES Resolution conduct the final preparations for their research cruise off southern Africa and introduce a girls’ school group from Mauritius to science at sea.

  • Uncovering the Stories of Southern Africa’s Climate Past

    Uncovering the Stories of Southern Africa’s Climate Past

    Sidney Hemming is preparing to spend two months at sea studying global ocean circulation and southern Africa’s climate variability over the past 5 million years.

  • Exploring Rugged Hills & Turbulent Waters 4,500 Meters Down

    Exploring Rugged Hills & Turbulent Waters 4,500 Meters Down

    Aboard a ship at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, scientists are studying how the deepest and coldest waters mix with shallower waters, gaining heat in the process.

  • New Book Explores Link Between Climate and Ocean Currents

    Wallace Broecker is a climate scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory who has helped shape our understanding of how the ocean moves heat around the globe, and how this so-called “great ocean conveyor” can switch the climate to a radically different state. Many scientists used to think that only periodic changes in earth’s orbit—so-called Milankovitch cycles–…

  • After a Long Wait, Expedition 383 Drills its First Seafloor Core

    After a Long Wait, Expedition 383 Drills its First Seafloor Core

    It took six days to sail to Point Nemo, the most inaccessible point of the ocean on this planet, to drill a sample from the ocean floor.

  • Tapping into Ocean Power

    Tapping into Ocean Power

    The oceans of the world are a vast unexploited source of clean, reliable and predictable renewable energy. Could this energy help replace fossil fuels and be a solution to climate change?

  • In Greenland, Exactly Where Meltwater Enters the Ocean Matters

    In Greenland, Exactly Where Meltwater Enters the Ocean Matters

    In southern Greenland in summer, rivers have been streaming off the ice sheet, pouring cold fresh water into the fjords. A new study tracks where that meltwater goes—with surprising results.

  • Exploring Ocean Turbulence: 2016 Sloan Fellow Ryan Abernathey

    Exploring Ocean Turbulence: 2016 Sloan Fellow Ryan Abernathey

    When you examine the behavior of the global oceans closely—really closely, at scales smaller than 100 kilometers—eddies and jets and fronts start to appear. For Ryan Abernathey, this is where ocean physics gets interesting.

  • 6 Million Years of Sediment, Studded with Tiny Fossils

    6 Million Years of Sediment, Studded with Tiny Fossils

    Sidney Hemming and her team have started examining their first sediment core from off southern Africa. It appears to contain about 6 million years of history.

  • Setting Off for Two Months at Sea

    Setting Off for Two Months at Sea

    Sidney Hemming and the scientists aboard the JOIDES Resolution conduct the final preparations for their research cruise off southern Africa and introduce a girls’ school group from Mauritius to science at sea.

  • Uncovering the Stories of Southern Africa’s Climate Past

    Uncovering the Stories of Southern Africa’s Climate Past

    Sidney Hemming is preparing to spend two months at sea studying global ocean circulation and southern Africa’s climate variability over the past 5 million years.

  • Exploring Rugged Hills & Turbulent Waters 4,500 Meters Down

    Exploring Rugged Hills & Turbulent Waters 4,500 Meters Down

    Aboard a ship at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, scientists are studying how the deepest and coldest waters mix with shallower waters, gaining heat in the process.

  • New Book Explores Link Between Climate and Ocean Currents

    Wallace Broecker is a climate scientist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory who has helped shape our understanding of how the ocean moves heat around the globe, and how this so-called “great ocean conveyor” can switch the climate to a radically different state. Many scientists used to think that only periodic changes in earth’s orbit—so-called Milankovitch cycles–…