Research News 2008

Rising Seas, Severe Drought, Could Come in Decades, Says U.S. Report   The United States could suffer the effects of abrupt climate changes within decades—sooner than some previously thought--says a new government report.

Lamont-Doherty scientists are presenting scores of talks at the world’s largest gathering of earth scientists, the fall 2008 meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Subjects include unseen natural hazards, changing climate, the fall of ancient civilizations, and how future mankind might turn atmospheric carbon to stone.

Maya Tolstoy Recognized for Deep-Sea Exploration

Maya Tolstoy, a marine geophysicist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, has received the 2009 Women of Discovery Sea Award for her pioneering work in studying the ocean floors.

Geophysicist Robin Bell and climate modeler Richard Seager have been appointed Palisades Geophysical Institute senior scientists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. PGI positions are awarded to Lamont scientists in recognition of outstanding research contributions to their fields, and leadership within national and international arenas as well as within the institution.

Proposed Method Would Speed Natural Reactions a Million Times

Scientists say that a type of rock found at or near the surface in the Mideast nation of Oman and other areas around the world could be harnessed to soak up huge quantities of globe-warming carbon dioxide.

Under Miles of Ice, Range May Hold Secrets of Geology and Climate

Scientists from six nations will combine efforts over the next three months to try and penetrate one of earth’s last unexplored places: Antarctica’s vast Gamburtsev Mountains, never seen by humans...

Walter Alvarez, the maverick geologist who convinced a skeptical world that dinosaurs and many other living things on Earth were wiped out by a huge fireball from space, has won the highly esteemed Vetlesen Prize. Considered by many the earth sciences’ equivalent of a Nobel...

Seismologist Honored for Work Local and Global

     Won-Young Kim, a senior scientist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, has won the Jesuit Seismological Association Award from the Seismological Society of America for his work on wide-ranging questions both local and global.

In recognition of Won-Young Kim for the Jesuit Seismological Association Award of 2008

Won-Young Kim combines the traditional skills of the classical observational seismologist with the modern skills necessary to obtain good scientific results from the many different types of broadband digital data in use today.

Balzan Prize Honors Key Insights Into Changes in Oceans, Atmosphere

Geochemist Wallace Broecker has been working on climate questions at Lamont-Doherty for over 50 years.

North American Ice Sheet Dwindled Fast in Conditions Like Today's

In the face of warming climate, researchers have yet to agree on how much and how quickly melting of the Greenland ice sheet may contribute to sea level rise.

Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant Seen As Particular Risk

A study by a group of prominent seismologists suggests that a pattern of subtle but active faults makes the risk of earthquakes to the New York City area much greater than formerly believed.

Task Force, Advised by Columbia Scientists, Will Draw Plans to Battle Rising Seas, Strains on Water and Electricity

Much of New York City’s waterfront is projected to be vulnerable to flooding in coming decades.

Ongoing Work By Scientists Will Supply Data to the Public

A frequently asked question around New York is: “Is it safe to swim? This has spurred Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory...

River nourishes unexpected plant life, trapping greenhouse gas

Nutrients washed out of the Amazon River are powering huge amounts of previously unexpected plant life far out to sea...

NPR Science Friday, July 18, 2008

Lamont-Doherty geophysicist Angela Slagle explains the idea of trapping CO2 under the seabed

Drilling, experiments, target huge formations off West Coast

Palisades, N.Y., July 14, 2008—A group of scientists has used deep ocean-floor drilling and experiments to show that volcanic rocks off the  West Coast and elsewhere might be used to securely imprison huge amounts of globe-warming carbon dioxide captured from power plants or other sources. In particular, they say that natural chemical reactions under 78,000 square kilometers (30,000 square miles) of ocean floor off California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia could lock in as much as 150 years of U.S. CO2 production

From asteroid impacts and climate change to oceanography and microbiology, undergraduates will spend ten weeks conducting exciting and often ground-breaking scientific research in the Earth Intern program. The program matches students with a research scientist at The Earth Institute at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) in Palisades, New York. LDEO’s more than 200 research scientists are global leaders in the search for knowledge about the origin, evolution and future of the natural world. The intern program is co-sponsored by LDEO, The Earth Institute, Barnard College, and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia.

Art Lerner-Lam on MSNBC speaking about the earthquake damage in China and why aftershocks will continue to rock China for months.

Three scientists at Columbia’s Earth Institute have been elected to leading U.S. scientific academies.

Paul E. Olsen, a paleontologist and climate researcher at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Lamont seismologist Paul G. Richards was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, along with agronomist Pedro Sanchez, who heads the Earth Institute’s Tropical Agriculture Program.