Hudson River

Centers, Projects & Initiatives

Hudson River Research

PI(s): 
Robin E. Bell

The Center for River and Estuaries is an association of scientists from Columbia University that study various aspects of rivers and estuaries world wide including the distribution of sediments, th

Website: 
Hudson River Research
 

Researchers

Name Title Fields of interest
Philip Orton Postdoctoral Research Scientist Air-sea interaction and gas exchange; estuary and coastal ocean physics; storm surges; turbulent mixing; sediment transport; physical forcing of biogeochemical exchanges – air-sea, land-sea, and water-sediment transports; autonomous measurement platforms
Gregory O'Mullan Adjunct Associate Research Scientist Environmental microbiology, biogeochemistry, and molecular ecology
Frank Nitsche Research Scientist Marine Geology, Environmental Geophysics, Acoustic Surveys, GIS, Continental Margins, Estuaries, Quaternary Sedimentation
 

News items

  • How Safe is the Hudson? Scientists Test the River, Adirondacks to Ocean
    August 31, 2016

    Lamont's Andy Juhl and a team of scientists working with the non-profit Riverkeeper conducted an unprecedented health check of the entire Hudson River system, starting at the headwaters high in the Adirondacks and going all the way to New York Harbor, where the river meets the ocean. They released their results today, giving the 315-mile-long Hudson River a spotty but mostly positive health report with some important insights.

  • Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Widespread in Hudson River, Study Finds
    July 17, 2013

    The risk of catching some nasty germ in the Hudson River just started looking nastier.  Disease-causing microbes have long been found swimming there, but now researchers have documented antibiotic-resistant strains in specific spots, from the Tappan Zee Bridge to lower Manhattan. The microbes identified are resistant to ampicillin and tetracycline, drugs commonly used to treat ear infections, pneumonia, salmonella and other ailments. The study is published in the current issue of the Journal of Water and Health.

     

  • Water Conservation Obstacles in Rockland
    August 22, 2012

    Water is on the minds of Rockland residents this summer, and not just because of the record U.S. drought. Rockland County’s main water provider, United Water NY, wants to build a treatment plant on the Hudson River that would deliver more freshwater to Rockland taps. Some people are in favor of boosting supply to this growing suburban region, a short drive from the George Washington and Tappan Zee bridges. Others are opposed, citing the cost, in energy and dollars, plus the danger to fish and other wildlife. As the project awaits approval from the state Department of Environmental Conservation, a new debate on water consumption has emerged. Should people be encouraged, or even required, to use less? And if so, how?

  • Imagining the Hudson before Humans
    October 07, 2011

    The Hudson River that explorer Henry Hudson sailed some 400 years ago had no power plants on its shores. No trains, bridges, factories or houses. Those innovations changed the river, leaving a legacy of PCBs, sewage and other pollutants. But pollution is just one way that humans have transformed the river. A small way, it turns out.

  • Sewage Still Plagues Hudson River
    August 11, 2011

    People are swimming in the Hudson again, and while clumps of sewage rarely float by anymore, the water is not reliably clean, says a report released this week from the environmental group Riverkeeper.

  • Pondering the Deep : An Artist's Take on the Hudson River Bottom
    May 13, 2009

    Another world lies beneath the Hudson River, as scientists have shown using pulses of sound to map the bottom. In recent years, the bathymetry maps developed at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Stony Brook University have turned up hundreds of shipwrecks and a new channel off Battery Park City, drawing interest from treasure hunters and mariners alike. Now a new group is finding inspiration: artists.

  • Is the Hudson Swimmable? New Program Aims to Test the Waters
    July 25, 2008

    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...

  • Hudson River Estuary Enters Middle Age
    February 05, 2004

    The Hudson River Estuary, a stretch of the Hudson River from Troy, N.Y. to its mouth in New York Harbor, has begun a new stage of its life say geologists at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Queens College in Flushing, N.Y. Researchers at both institutions have found that, aside from a few very specific locations, the estuary may have largely stopped filling in with new sediment.

 

Videos

Sewage Contamination and Water Quality in the Hudson River The LDEO/Riverkeeper Partnership
Hudson River: A Swimmable Future? Part of the 2011 Public Lecture Series
 

 

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