The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, NY, is a research institute of Columbia University with annual revenues of about $50 million and a worldwide reputation for excellence in earth sciences research. Lamont's mission is to understand how the planet Earth works in all of its physical manifestations. Scientific inquiry ranges from the origin and history of the planet to the processes taking place in and on it. Research is often interdisciplinary and includes seismology, marine geology and geophysics, terrestrial geology, petrology, geochemistry, climate studies, atmospheric science, oceanography and paleontology.
The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory is renowned for its problem-solving
innovation, its unique geological and climatological archives, and the
outstanding achievement of its graduates. Lamont scientists observe the Earth
on a global scale, from its deepest interior to the outer reaches of the
atmosphere, on every continent and every ocean. They decipher the long record
of the past, monitor the present, and seek to foresee the future of the planet.
From global climate change to earthquakes, volcanoes, non-renewable resources,
environmental hazards and beyond, the Observatory's fundamental challenge is to
seek to provide an adequate and rational basis for the difficult choices faced
by civilization in its stewardship of our fragile planet. The Lamont-Doherty
Earth Observatory has over 600 research professionals working in all aspects of
earth sciences, including a staff on 110 Ph.D. researchers and more than 100
students studying for the Ph.D in any year. We are the fourth highest rated
departments of both Geology and Oceanography in the country, according to the
National Academy of Sciences. Combined, we are the highest rated Earth
Sciences department in the country, and the evaluation procedure, completed in
1995, does not even consider the 50% of our research staff that is not on the
faculty.
Lamont was founded in 1949 as a basic research center for the nation's post-war underwater acoustics and seismological research. It has grown to be the second largest institution within Columbia University, itself one of the great universities of the world with annual revenues of $1.2 billion. Lamont has since diversified into one of, if not the, most prominent earth sciences research laboratory in the world. Always founded in observations, we now operate the academic fleet's only marine seismic vessel, manage the greater than $250 million Biosphere II facility outside Tucson, Arizona, and have just installed the largest parallel supercomputer dedicated to earth sciences research in academia. The Biosphere II facility is the world's most extensive "controlled-ecosystem" laboratory, allowing Lamont geochemists to experiment directly with the effects of global warming and CO2 emissions.
Lamont is the lead organization in Columbia's new Earth Institute, which crosses traditional disciplinary lines to seek an understanding of all the dimensions and dynamics of global systems -- including what can be done to engineer these processes for optimal benefit of humanity. We have developed a linkage between our El Ni–o climate prediction models and crop yields in Africa, for example, which offers great hope for matching agricultural hybrids and seed technologies to rainfall and weather patterns in advance to forestall crop failures in some of the poorest countries in the world.
Further, Lamont has positioned itself to take advantage of post Cold War technology conversion. In collaboration with Bell Aerospace, Lamont formed Bell Geospace, Inc. to market measurements from previously classified SSBN Trident submarine gravity gradiometers in the oil industry. This "stealth" technology produces excellent images of the 3D gravitational distortion from salt tectonics, as well as a sensitive monitor of density changes from the drainage of shallow gas reservoirs. Lamont participated with Bell and Unisys in the declassification process within the Pentagon, providing the domain knowledge to convince the Department of Defense that the oil industry offered the market clout to keep Bell Aerospace in business so the Navy would maintain gravity gradiometry capabilities into the next century. Lamont also conducts oceanographic research aboard SSN attack submarines under the Arctic ice cap.
We are a prominent player in the worldwide seismic network which provides both the hope of eventual prediction of earthquakes and the monitoring of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. We operate major components of the Kazakstan national seismological network remotely from our campus in Palisades, New York, for example.
The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory has had a long history of accomplishments in oil and gas research, as well. We were one of the founding institutions in the development of the Plate Tectonics theory, and led the industry into an understanding of how plate movements affect where to explore for oil and gas. The North Slope of Alaska was a giant oil accumulation to come from the application of Plate Tectonics to oil and gas exploration. Lamont also developed pioneering discoveries in rock physics, borehole geophysics, exploration seismology, structure and stratigraphy, as well as trained a significant percentage of the Ph.D. researchers in oil industry research laboratories over the years.
Recently, Lamont has developed 4D reservoir monitoring technologies and patents that form the foundation of our 4D software technologies offering, including those for the analysis of repeated 3D seismic surveys, heat flow and well log monitoring in the borehole, the identification of hydrocarbons behind casing, and geopressure mapping. The earth sciences research skills and domain knowledge of the oil and gas industry of Lamont provides a unique foundation upon which the offering will maintain its leading edge in reservoir monitoring.
