Research News All

Our 2020 Annual Report highlights our accomplishments from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020.

A new study traces three-million-year-old winds to help predict future circulation patterns.

Despite the pandemic putting fieldwork on pause, the observatory contributed new knowledge about the planet, its inner workings, and its future changes.

Columbia students and faculty consider the lessons that can be learned from this year to move toward a more equitable and sustainable future.

Eight opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and PhD students to intern in various departments and research centers across the Earth Institute.

Glacial remains suggest that climate patterns in the southern hemisphere have been out of step with those in the north. Understanding why could help project the effects of modern climate change.

President Bollinger and Lamont-Doherty’s interim director underscore the university’s commitment to solving the climate crisis.

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?

Five women and three men were chosen by the U.S. president-elect to restore the world’s most famous agency, counting on the support of the scientific community.

This undergraduate student, blogger, and activist organized an upcoming panel around climate action that highlights diversity, inclusion, and accessibility. She shares her thoughts on the changing role of social justice within the climate movement.

The president-elect’s plan will take us closer to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement, but there is much work to be done.

The database collects the best available evidence that anthropogenic climate change is real, that it is already here, and that predicted future changes must be taken seriously.

An international team suggests that research centers around the world using numerical models to predict future climate change should include simulations of past climates.

Installed on top of Lamont’s oceanography building, PhenoCam will help track how trees grow and change with the weather, seasons, and climate change.

Emissions from coal-fired power plants and possibly other sources in China are seeding the North Pacific Ocean with metals including iron, a nutrient important for marine life, according to new a new study.

A new “escape room–like” game for kids and families offers a fun and puzzle-filled way to explore the discoveries taking place at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

To measure algal blooms across large regions of the Greenland ice, and understand their effects on melting over time, scientists are turning to space.

When you give to Lamont, you help us turn discovery science into solutions science.

One way in which scientists use carbon isotopes found in fossils to identify the sites of ancient rain forests may not work as expected.

If human societies don’t sharply curb emissions of greenhouse gases, Greenland’s rate of ice loss this century is likely to greatly outpace that of any century since shortly after the end of the last ice age, a new study concludes.

A new effort to analyze the ocean’s ability to take up CO2 will be important for predicting the effectiveness of climate change mitigation efforts.

The warmer it gets, the faster Antarctica will lose ice, and at some point the losses will become irreversible. That is what researchers say in a new cover story in the leading journal Nature, in which they calculate how much warming the Antarctic Ice Sheet can survive.

In this episode, Kevin Krajick explores Marco Tedesco’s obsession with the cryosphere—the part of earth that consists of frozen water.

Humanity is failing at preserving biodiversity. But a book from 2006 offers inspiration and instructions on how to preserve what’s left of it.

A new study finds that real-time monitoring of ground motion could have detected a sudden and catastrophic flood in Bhutan five hours before it destroyed a village.

A new study of the closest ancient analog to modern carbon emissions finds that massive volcanism was the main cause of high carbon at the time. But nature did not come close to matching what humans are doing today.

Newly discovered deep seabed channels beneath the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica may be pathways for warm ocean water to melt the undersides of the ice, and contribute to sea-level rise say scientists.

Join us for our non-degree programs launching this fall and connect to timely topics around climate and sustainability.

The massive ice sheet is now locked into a certain amount of decline. But reducing emissions remains critical to preventing catastrophic loss of the entire ice sheet.

Atmospheric scientist Adam Sobel writes that yes, Hurricane Laura is about climate change, but first it’s about people.

A new study says that many of the ice shelves ringing Antarctica could be vulnerable to quick destruction if rising temperatures drive meltwater into the numerous fractures that currently penetrate their surfaces.

A new model finds that areas where humans can barely survive, which currently cover about 1 percent of the planet, will grow to about 20 percent within the next 50 years.

Scientists studying leaves from a forest that stood during a warm period 23 million years ago have for the first time linked high levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide with increased plant growth, as well with the high temperatures of the time.

The Earth Institute is offering undergraduate students with research assistant opportunities during the fall 2020 semester. Undergraduates from Columbia and Barnard will be able to serve as research assistants on projects related to sustainable development and the environment.

In a new book, glaciologist Marco Tedesco takes the reader on a personal journey through his sometimes dangerous work.

Intensified rainstorms predicted for many areas in the United States as climate warms could more efficiently water some major crops, which would at least partially offset projected yield declines caused by rising heat itself.

In a talk last week, celebrated conservationist and photographer Cristina Mittermeier shared her quest to save the sea.

In this episode of Pod of the Planet, we celebrate the life of Marie Tharp and the inspiration she has been and continues to be to many scientists today.

Celebrating the science and legacy of Lamont's Marie Tharp.

The pioneering mapmaker explains how she and her colleagues discovered underwater mountain ranges 40,000 miles long, and helped to show that the continents are not stationary.

The Secondary School Field Research Program offers a diverse group of young people a unique opportunity to do field and laboratory research.

GreenDrill promises to reveal the ice sheet’s past in unprecedented detail and enable more accurate predictions of how it may add to rising seas in the 21st century.

Scientists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory use models and observations to understand tropical storms and advance the science of predicting them.

New study estimates that a ton of lead dust may have been deposited in parks, homes, and schools near the cathedral.

Scientists have filled a gaping hole in the world’s climate records by reconstructing 600 years of soil-moisture swings across southern and central South America.

Climate change will intensify winds that steer hurricanes north over Texas in the late 21st century, increasing the odds for fast-moving storms like 2008’s Ike, compared with slow-movers like 2017’s Harvey, says new research.

A scientist reflects on the potential harms of chasing whales with boats to try to get that perfect snapshot.

The Earth Institute’s inaugural professional development training effort will provide cutting-edge content and tools to prepare K-12 educators to teach climate change in the classroom.

Changes in carbon emissions, individual behaviors, and government responses will have a big impact on the environment and our ability to combat climate change.