Research News All

A grad student and his colleagues search for innovative new ways to detect and disarm millions of hidden hazards.

A Columbia Climate School Ph.D. student recounts a research expedition into an active volcano in the Aleutian Islands.

Fast turnover of carbon between seawater and microbes is a fact, but how it works is largely a black hole. This projects aims to shed light.

Wu started her career in mathematics before coming to Lamont and applying it to climate change and atmospheric processes.

Interviews provide an emotional and thoughtful connection to others through discussing and sharing over topics that they might never have a chance to discuss otherwise.

When it comes to access to nature and environmental protection of these resources, environmental resources are all too often not allocated equitably.

Researchers have combined information about social vulnerability with data on mortgages, evictions, and threats from climate change. The new dataset will be freely available to other researchers.

The Earth Institute is offering undergraduate, graduate and PhD students opportunities to intern in various departments and research centers in a variety of administrative, communications and research roles.

A 2009-2018 analysis of 14 countries teases out the factors behind reversals in food security. Conflict, not drought, is behind much of it.

A time similar to our own saw catastrophic sea-level rise. But exactly how catastrophic?

Lamont’s field season typically sees as many as 50 to 60 expeditions, which take researchers to all corners of the globe. As pandemic restrictions begin to lift, teams are picking up where they left off.

The immersive and exciting program took students through deep dives into climate science and live problem-solving simulations.

Researchers are using ocean-bottom and land-based seismometers to record the R/V Marcus Langseth’s soundings from afar, to better understand the potential impacts of large earthquakes in the Cascadia region.

While researchers search for a megathrust fault off the Pacific Northwest coast, they are also helping to map the seafloor in high resolution and detect underwater methane seeps.

When using sound to search for an undersea fault, researchers must take special precautions to protect dolphins, whales and other vulnerable species.

Before embarking on a 6-week voyage to scan for Cascadia’s megathrust fault, the research team had to quarantine for two weeks in a hotel.

Climate change may be loading the dice for a tough summer.

Understanding how people will respond to climate dangers depends not only on top-down data, but also on bottom-up community engagement.

Today we’re celebrating World Oceans Day with a deep dive into an international project to map the entire seafloor.

Happy World Oceans Day!

The report identifies opportunities and challenges in implementing new technologies that could reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels worldwide.

Fluids trapped within the stones are helping researchers reconstruct the deep history of the continent, and eventually maybe others.

Researchers who are developing environmental curriculum tailored to students in China share their findings so far.

Sea ice is rapidly melting off the northwest coast of Alaska, endangering the Indigenous population. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory researchers joined forces with the local community to understand how climate change is affecting their region.

Earth Day is a time to celebrate the natural world. Being in nature can improve our mood and our mental and physical health. Plus, natural areas do a lot of work for us.

The plan provides a set of strategies and benchmarks, grounded in science, for Columbia to achieve its ambitious sustainability goals.

Tonight’s Earth Lecture takes a hard look at climate change and the path forward.

We’ve gotten better at preventing and tracking oil spills, but oceanographers say much more progress is needed.

Climate science tells us how the world is changing. Climate art shapes how we choose to respond.

This pre-college program in Castleton, Vermont, will mobilize students in grades 9–12 to take action and affect change in response to our warming planet.

A Q&A with the geochemist, who plans to investigate a key climate interval millions of years ago.

Throughout Earth Month, we’ll be sharing some of the incredible photos that our researchers have captured during field work. Enjoy!

Blog posts and events to help you get informed, inspired, and involved.

A new study finds that that even when air pollution in Kinshasa and Brazzaville is at its lowest, it’s still four times higher than World Health Organization guidelines.

The discovery of fossil plants below a mile of Greenland ice indicates that the ice sheet completely melted in the past, and suggests it could rapidly do so again.

The postdoctoral researcher studies hydrothermal systems and will soon go to the Chilean Andes to explore how geyser activity there may be related to glacier growth and retreat over thousands of years.

Mingfang Ting studies the connection between planetary waves in the atmosphere and climate anomalies, such as droughts and extreme heat.

Gender equality is an essential ingredient in building a fair and sustainable world. Today we’re publishing stories that honor the accomplishments of many of our women colleagues and highlight programs that push for gender equality every day.

CO2 molecules make up only a small percentage of the atmosphere, but their impact on our climate is huge. The reason comes down to physics and chemistry.

She studies Earth’s past warm periods to try to understand the future, and was just named a 2021 Sloan Research Fellow.

In honor of International Day of Women and Girls in Science, meet just a few of the extraordinary women scientists of Lamont.

She’s trying predict fecal bacteria contamination of the river, and researching how environmental degradation disproportionately harms disadvantaged communities.

In honor of the day, we’re highlighting a few women who play an essential role in the Earth Institute’s work to understand how the planet works, how humans are changing it, and how to build a sustainable future.

She takes care of hundreds of kilometers of deep-sea sediments that are invaluable to science, and recently received a mentorship award.

We’ve lost 28 trillion tons of ice globally in 24 years, from 1994 to 2017, and the implications for sea level rise could be significant.

For her work toward charting the global ocean floor, scientist Vicki Ferrini has been named by the Explorer Club as one of 50 people changing the world.

Climate scientist Gisela Winckler explains the link between climate science and solutions, and shares some of her research adventures.

Researchers have reconstructed past sea levels in the western Mediterranean in new detail by sampling coastal cave formations.

Large numbers of icebergs that drifted unusually far from Antarctica before melting into ocean waters have been key to initiating ice ages of the past, says a new study.