Schedule of Events

Saturday, October 5, 2002
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Located on a 170-acre estate on the Hudson River, the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) of Columbia University is the only research center in the world examining the planet from its core to its outermost atmosphere, across every continent and every ocean. From global climate change to earthquakes, volcanoes, shrinking natural resources, environmental hazards and beyond, LDEO scientists continue to provide the basic knowledge of Earth systems that must inform the wise stewardship of our planet.

Shuttle Bus Service

From and to New York City:
The bus departs for LDEO from 118th Street and Amsterdam Avenue at 9:30, 10:00, 11:00, and 11:30 a.m.
Buses leave for 118th Street and Amsterdam Avenue from LDEO at 2:00, 2:30, 3:30, and 4:00 p.m.

From and to the parking lot at the IBM Conference Center on Route 9W:
Buses will run continuously throughout the day from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

All shuttle buses arrive to and depart from the Geoscience building at LDEO. Persons with special needs should contact the LDEO Security Office at 845-365-8860 or write to ray@admin.ldeo.columbia.edu.

Lamont Alumni Information
All LDEO faculty, staff, and student alumni are invited to a special hospitality suite in the Lamont Hall Seminar Room, open all day. A general meeting of the Alumni Association will be held in the Monell Auditorium at 4:00 p.m.

Tent 1 / Welcome Tent
(in front of bus stop near Geoscience)
Receive Open House programs and campus maps here.

Tours:
Sign up for walking tours of the LDEO campus. The 45-minute tours, limited to groups of 20, depart from the front of Geoscience at 10:30 and 11:30 a.m., and 2:00 and 3:00 p.m.

Tent 2 / Undergraduates' Welcome Tent
(next to Welcome Tent)
Talk to representatives from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, the Biosphere 2 Center, and Barnard College and learn about pursuing an undergraduate degree in the Earth sciences. Free Open House tee shirts and lunch vouchers are available to Columbia undergraduates with a valid Columbia University ID.

Tent 3 / Marine Affairs
(across from Core Lab)
An exhibit of the R/V Ewing, LDEO's oceanographic research vessel, named for its first director, Dr. Maurice Ewing (1906 to 1974). Learn about the scientific programs, including seismic research and seafloor mapping, conducted aboard the EWING as it circumnavigates the globe.

Gumby Suits!
Better known as immersion suits, they are designed to float and protect you from cold waters and hypothermia in the event your vessel is sinking and you have to abandon ship. There are two chances to win the prize for suiting up the fastest - 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. - but you must sign up in advance because each contest is limited to 30 people. Children must be at least four feet tall, and you must show up promptly at the start times for information and instructions on the suits, otherwise names will be chosen from a list of alternates.

Tent 4 / Marine Geology & Geophysics Division
Core Repository
LDEO's Deep Sea Sample Repository stores sediment cores from every major ocean and sea around the world. Examine deep-ocean bottom sediments from the North Atlantic to learn about recent abrupt changes in the Earth's climate.

Children are invited to look through a microscope to see the kinds of things that scientists find in deep-sea sediment cores and use to reconstruct the Earth's past climate, such as grains dropped from melting icebergs and sea ice and microfossils of organisms that once lived at the ocean's surface.

Hudson River Research
Explore highlights of Columbia's ongoing research to understand the history of the Hudson River, its response to El Niño type climate change, and the future of its complex ecosystems. Learn how and why scientists are mapping the River bottom, studying the flow of contaminants, and examining sediments.

Children can earn a fish stamp by proving their Hudson estuary expertise. Put together the Hudson River puzzle by looking for the deepest spot in the River, finding its widest expanse, locating the Sparkill gap where the River used to flow, finding out where it is salty and where it is fresh, and learning where the tidal section ends.

Peer into the Depths
Side-scan sonar, a sub-bottom profiler, and multi-beam bathymetry have provided LDEO scientists with a better view of the bottom of the Hudson River and evidence of its sometimes turbulent history. Catch a glimpse of the River bottom using interactive computers.

Deep Beneath Piermont Marsh
An 11-meter core from Piermont Marsh has recovered ancient material including seeds, pollen, and fish scales as old as 4200 years. Scientists have also identified surprising major changes in the Marsh's history, including dry El Niño-like periods that resulted in devastating fires.

The Core of Hudson River History
Cores from the Hudson tell a history - from salinity levels, to the brick industry, to a strong oyster presence, to contaminants. Examine core samples from the Hudson. Many contaminants accumulate in the fine-grained sediments of river-estuary systems, such as heavy metals, PCB's, dioxins, and chlorinated pesticides. Learn how the study of contaminants can assist with understanding other estuary processes.

Tracers
View an animation of how harmless tracers are used in the Hudson River to tell scientists how contaminants mix, are transported, and spread throughout the River

Tent 5 / Gift Shop
(across from Core Lab)
Purchase LDEO tee shirts, Open House tee shirts, baseball caps, mugs, souvenirs, and more.

Tent 6 / Seismology, Geology and Tectonophysics
(in front of Seismology)
Demonstration of Space Geodetic Methods
See demonstrations of GPS (Global Positioning System) real time navigation and how it tracks the motion of the North American Tectonic Plate.

Ups and Downs of Sea Level, Past and Future
Discover the location of the shoreline 20,000 years ago, some 100 miles seaward of the present shoreline and 400 ft (120 m) lower than it is now, which is where sea level would be if all the ice in the polar caps were to melt today.

The First Lunar Seismogram from the Apollo 11 Space Mission
During the historical Apollo 11 space mission to land men on the Moon, astronauts deployed a Passive Seismic Experiment Package (PSEP) on the lunar surface on July 21, 1969. LDEO scientists led the Apollo 11 PSEP Experiment to determine the internal structure and composition of the Moon. The first lunar seismogram is on exhibit with photographs taken by the Apollo 11 astronauts.

Tent 7 / Food Tent
(near Seismology)
Purchase sandwiches, beverages, and other delectable edibles.

Tent 8 / Geochemistry
(in front of Geochemistry)
Did you know that there are volcanoes under the Arctic ice? Ever wonder what it is like at the North Pole? Talk to the petrologists who spent two months on an icebreaker in the Arctic ice. Learn about plate tectonics and the origin of igneous rocks around the globe.

Stump the Geologist!
(behind Geochemistry)
Bring your rocks and minerals to Mr. Wizard to be identified and analyzed.

Tent 9 / Borehole Research Group
Marine Geology and Geophysics Division
(in front of Borehole)
Discover what down-hole logging is and how it helps to unlock the mysteries of our planet, from the ground directly under your feet to the crust deep below the ocean's surface. Learn about the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP), make your own logs, and view videos that take you inside actual boreholes on land and at sea.

Tent 10 / Tree Ring Laboratory
Biology and Paleoenvironment Division
(in front of Tree Ring Lab)

Tent 11 / Dinosaurs
Biology and Paleoenvironment Division
(northeast of Borehole)
Dinosaurs once ruled the very ground that LDEO occupies today. Examine the beginning of the age of dinosaurs in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania through the research of an LDEO paleobiologist. Visitors will see local fossils from 200 million years ago, including those of dinosaurs and their contemporaries, as well as exhibits describing the unique geological setting and history of our region.

Tent 12 / Where are We?
Marine Geology and Geophysics Division
(across from Dinosaurs)
Interactive software demonstrations teach elementary-aged school children how to read maps.

Spatial Skills/Map Skills Challenge
Become a field geologist by visiting a simulated "outcrop" to determine the shapes of buried geologic structures and model them in clay.

Tent 13 / LDEO Childhood Development Center
(across from Lamont Hall)
Fun and games for children of all ages, including face painting, Play-Doh, bubbles, hoops, and more.

Tent 14 / International Research Institute for Climate Prediction
(in front of Monell)
Get the latest information on the developing El Niño and see how it is predicted to influence climate around the world. Presentations, activities, and posters will illustrate how El Niño works, how it affects societies, and how people can use climate information and seasonal climate forecasts to make better decisions.

Betting on the Climate
What could the developing El Niño mean for the Florida vacation that you have planned for this winter? How can you use probabilistic climate information to make informed decisions? Make a choice and spin the wheel.

Presentations under the tent include:

10:30 a.m. El Niño and Hurricanes by Suzana Camargo

11:30 a.m. El Niño and La Niña: The Babies of the Pacific by Lisa Goddard

1:30 p.m. Forecasting the Next Season's Climate by Tony Barnston

2:30 p.m. El Niño and La Niña: The Babies of the Pacific by Brad Lyon

3:30 p.m. El Niño Impacts Half a World Away: Stories from Southern Asia by Lareef Zubair

Tent 15 / Ocean and Climate Physics
(next to Oceanography)
Investigate the physics of climate phenomena in the atmosphere and oceans and how changes affect the environment. View tank experiments modeling some of the amazing processes found in oceans and the atmosphere. See how accurately our instruments measure temperature and salinity in comparison to your own ability in a saltwater tasting contest.

Tent 16 / Public Outreach and Education
(East of Tree Ring Lab)
Earth2Class
Earth2Class offers a series of training workshops for middle school and high school science teachers. Find out about current scientific research and how best to bring this knowledge to the classroom.

Columbia University Press
Buy Columbia University Press books by faculty on a wide range of topics, including those relating to Earth, social, and environmental sciences as well as the history of LDEO and its environs.

Earthscape
Columbia Earthscape, an online center for global environmental research, is changing how researchers, teachers, students, and decision makers access critical information. Explore Earthscape on computers.

BUILDING EXHIBITS and LECTURES
Geochemistry Building, Room 6
Tour LDEO's Clean Lab, where trace elements are separated from rock samples under ultra-clean conditions, and the Mass Spectrometer Laboratory, where isotope ratios are measured on samples as small as a billionth of a gram. LDEO staff will demonstrate the uses of mass spectrometry in the Earth sciences to determine ages of samples, to trace geological processes, and to investigate the history of our planet. (Group size is limited.)

Geoscience Building, Room 204
CIESIN - The Center for International Earth Science Information Network
On exhibit are different applications of web-based mapping tools, including an interactive map of expeditions to the Arctic, the Sustainability Index that measures the progress of 142 countries toward achieving sustainability, and a tool for exploring wetland sites listed by the Ramsar Convention as Wetlands of International Importance. (Group size is limited.)

Marine Biology Building, Room 4
Scanning Electron Microscopy
See demonstrations of Lamont's scanning electron microscope and x-ray microanalyzer, including samples of microfossils used in a recent and surprising study determining that El Niño conditions existed during the last ice age. (Group size is limited.)

Oceanography Building
A series of lectures will introduce you to the current research of scientists of the Ocean and Climate Physics division:

Room 104

10:30 a.m. El Niño and the Indonesian Throughflow by Dwi Susanto

11:30 a.m. A History of El Niños since 1850 by Alexey Kaplan

12:30 p.m. Monitoring and Forecasting Mosquito-Borne Disease Transmission by Jeff Shaman

1:30 p.m. Arctic Ice by Bruno Tremblay

2:30 p.m. Climate Variations in the North Atlantic: The North Atlantic Oscillation by Yochanan Kushnir

3:30 p.m. Ocean Currents in the Bay of Naples by Luisa Grieco

Room 105
Three short movies, shown throughout the day, provide an impression of work and life on board a research ship of the amazing wildlife encountered near Antarctica, and the components of global climate studies. (Group size is limited.)

Room 109
A lecture and a demonstration on the effects of tectonic processes on the Earth's crust by scientists from the Marine Geology and Geophysics division:

11:00 a.m. The Catastrophic Effects of Known and Postulated Abyssal Impacts by Dallas Abbott

1:00 p.m. Does the bending crust make the most common faults on earth? Observations and a demonstration of an analog model by Roger Buck
The ocean floor is constantly moving, deforming, and breaking. Slip on some of the ocean floor fault breaks, related to the motion of tectonic plates, causes giant earthquakes and may generate huge tsunamis, while faults that form and slip in response to the bending of crust plates do not generate large earthquakes even though more energy is dissipated in bending plates than in any other tectonic process. This talk and analog model demonstration deals with how bending faults form, what they look like, and why they do not produce big earthquakes.

Seismology Building
Seismology Seminar Room, 2nd floor
Earthquake Wave Animation Demos
A series of animations will be shown continuously throughout the day demonstrating various waves that are generated in earthquakes, such as compressional (P-waves), shear (S-waves), surface waves (Love and Rayleigh), and normal modes of oscillation. Informal explanations will be given at the top of each hour as well as the opportunity to ask questions. (Group size is limited.)

Room 201
Lamont-Doherty Cooperative Seismographic Network
See a demonstration of the modern, real-time seismographic network for the east coast. A computer display will show real-time seismic signals coming in from around the world. Learn about earthquakes in the Northeastern U.S. and view the LCSN web page for images of recent earthquake activity. (Group size is limited.)

Room 201
Earthquake at Au Sable Forks, New York, April 20, 2002
On April 20, 2002 at 06h 50m 47.5s (EDT), a strong earthquake of magnitude 5.3 (Richter scale) occurred 5 miles north of Au Sable Forks, Adirondacks, New York. The quake was widely felt by residents from Ottawa, Canada, down to Baltimore, Maryland. The earthquake caused substantial damage. On May 16, 2002, a Presidential disaster declaration was issued for Clinton and Essex Counties, NY. View photographs of damaged roads and learn about earthquakes in and around the Adirondacks. (Group size is limited.)

Room 214
Rock Touching Room
Touch and examine rocks and minerals from around the world. Kids love them.

Wildlife Trust
(The Nafe House)
Visit the New York headquarters of this conservation science organization working to conserve threatened wild species and their habitats in partnership with scientists and educators worldwide. Discuss with Trust scientists the "New York Bioscape Initiative," which works to conserve species and habitats in the New York City metropolitan region.

EARTH SYSTEMS SCIENCE LECTURES

Monell Auditorium

10:30 -- 11:00 a.m. Survey of the Global Situation: Accumulated Stresses and Economic Impacts of an El Niño by Jeffrey Sachs, Director, The Earth Institute at Columbia University

11:15 -- 11:45 a.m. The Age of Uncertainty: Managing Natural Hazards in Modern Society by Arthur Lerner-Lam

12:00 -- 12:30 p.m. El Niño: How it Works and How it Relates to Drought Disasters and Malaria Epidemics by Madeleine Thomson and Tony Barnston

1:30 -- 2:00 p.m. Volcanoes under the Arctic Ice: the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge Expedition (" AMORE 2001") by Steven Goldstein

2:15 -- 2:45 p.m. Forecasting El Niño with Computer Models by Dake Chen

3:00 -- 3:30 p.m. Flood & Fire: Assessing El Niño Related Disasters with Remote Sensing Technology by Jeff Weissel