Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory geophysicist Roger Buck discusses a new understanding of how mountain chains can form, described in the journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.

Roger Buck:  The Downs & Ups of Mountain Building

A new study finds global warming has measurably worsened the California drought. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory's Park Williams explains how a warming climate drives moisture from plants and soil into the air, changing the baseline amount of water available. Read more: http://ow.ly/R8KyX.

Park Williams: Warming Climate is Deepening California's Drought

Understanding how lava flows is critical when homes and roads are in a lava flow’s path. A community may have a day to evacuate, or its residents may have a week or more, with enough time to move what they can to safer ground. Volcanologist Elise Rumpf describes how she and colleagues at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have developed experiments to test how quickly and in what patterns lava flows over different types of material, such as sand or gravel. 


Elise Rumpf: Figuring Out How Lava Flows

By understanding how lava moves over different materials here, scientists can study images and data of other planets and have a better idea of those planets’ volcanic evolution and the surfaces hidden beneath their lava flows. Volcanologist Elise Rumpf, who works on lava flow characteristics at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, explains how a behavior sometimes seen when lava flows over melting permafrost in Iceland is helping scientists understand features spotted on Mars. 

Elise Rumpf: What Lava Flows on Earth Can Tell Us about Other Planets

With coral bleaching spreading, a new project and app called Bleach Patrol is putting surfers, divers and snorkelers to work as citizen scientists, keeping an eye on the world's coral reefs.  

Bleach Patrol (www.ldeo.columbia.edu/bleachpatrol ) was created by Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the World Surf League and GoFlow.

In this audio, five Lamont scientists and students - all also surfers or divers - explain the project. You'll hear from, in order: students Jesse Farmer and Ale Borunda, research scientists Brad Linsley and Bruce Shaw, and student Logan Brenner.

Cover image: Marine biologist Alice Lawrence assesses the bleaching at Airport Reef in American Samoa in February 2015. Courtes of the XL Catlin Seaview Survey

Bleach Patrol: Turning Surfers into Coral Reef Scientists

Fifty years ago, a graduate student named Walter Pitman made a discovery that would change the way we see our planet. It was late at night, and Walter was reviewing charts of ship data that had just come off the computer at what was then Columbia University’s Lamont Geological Observatory. What Walter found in those lines was the smoking gun of plate tectonics. We talked with Walter, Bill Ryan and Lynn Sykes about the events and exciting surrounding that discovery.

The Eureka Moment that Brought Plate Tectonics to Life

There was a period during the last ice age when temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere went on a rollercoaster ride, plummeting and then rising again every 1,500 years or so. Those abrupt climate changes wreaked havoc on ecosystems, but their cause has been something of a mystery. New evidence published this week in the leading journal Science shows for the first time that the ocean’s overturning circulation slowed during every one of those temperature plunges – at times almost stopping. We talked with Gene Henry, the lead author of the study and a graduate student at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, about what they found.

Ocean Circulation Implicated in Past Abrupt Climate Changes

Along the walls of Oceanographer Canyon, fish dart in and out of colorful anemone gardens and sea creatures send up plumes of sand and mud as they burrow. Bill Ryan, an oceanographer at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, watched the scenes through the windows of a mini research submarine in 1978 as he explored one of the seafloor canyons that President Obama has now designated a marine national monument. We talked with him about the expedition and what his team learned about the history of Georges Bank, the canyons, and the region's potential for oil.

Exploring the Seafloor Canyons of the New Marine National Monument

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University builds fundamental knowledge about the origin, evolution & future of our planet. 

LDEO

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