Research News 2003

Study Finds Evidence for Global Methane Release About 600 Million Years Ago
New Findings May Have Implications for the Stability of Today's Climate

Scientists at the University of California, Riverside and Columbia University have found evidence of the release of an enormous quantity of methane gas as ice sheets melted at the end of a global ice age about 600 million years ago, possibly altering the ocean's chemistry, influencing oxygen levels in the ocean and atmosphere, and enhancing climate warming because methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. The study was published in today's issue of the journal Nature.

Columbia University Researcher Links Climate to the Quality of the World's Most Cherished Violins

There has been considerable debate surrounding the reasons why instruments crafted in the late 17th and early 18th centuries are tonally superior to modern instruments. Theories range from the skill of the craftsman to secret techniques such as a special varnish, the drying of the wood, the storage time, or even the use of old wood from historic structures. Lloyd Burckle of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, and Henri Grissino-Mayer of the Laboratory of Tree Ring Science, University of Tennessee, have proposed an alternate hypothesis -- climate. Their research was published in the journal Dendrochronologia.

The President of Iceland Visits the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

On November 13, 2003, President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson of Iceland met with researchers from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory to discuss cooperative projects and stimulate opportunity between his country and Columbia University. Grímsson is keenly aware of the need to unite northern countries to partake in joint research programs in the Arctic.

Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Visits the Earth Institute

Vice Admiral Lautenbacher, Ph.D., USN (Ret.), Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), met with members of the Earth Institute to discuss global observation research and development of new academic programs in Earth and environmental policy. Lautenbacher was accompanied by the Assistant Administrator of NOAA Research, Richard Rosen, and several NOAA Program Coordinators.

NOAA/Columbia University Establish Cooperative Institute For Climate Applications And Research

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Columbia University in Palisades, N.Y., have established a cooperative institute to study climate applications and research. NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

GPS Measurements Reveal Imprint of North American Plate in Siberia

Two Columbia University researchers, in collaboration with scientists in Russia and the U.S., recently resolved a decades-old debate when they discovered that the boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates passes through Eastern Siberia. The study carried out by Mikhail Kogan and Christopher Scholz at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Grigory Steblov and Dmitry Frolov of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Robert King at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Roland Bürgmann of the University of California, Berkeley appeared in a recent issue of Geophysical Research Letters.

Presentations by Columbia University Scientists at the 115th Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America: November 2 to 5, 2003, Seattle, Washington

A recent study conducted by oceanographers Taro Takahashi and Stewart Sutherland from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) and Richard Feely and Cathy Cosca from the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) indicates the partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) measured in surface waters dramatically changed after the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) phase shift in the Pacific Ocean that occurred around 1990.

Release of Carbon Dioxide From the Equatorial Pacific Ocean Intensified During the 1990s

A recent study conducted by oceanographers Taro Takahashi and Stewart Sutherland from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) and Richard Feely and Cathy Cosca from the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) indicates the partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) measured in surface waters dramatically changed after the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) phase shift in the Pacific Ocean that occurred around 1990.

Columbia Researchers Improve Remote Mapping Techniques For Rapid Assessment of Disaster Zones

Research by scientists at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University shows that Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) polarimetry is a more superior technology for rapidly identifying disaster zones than the currently used optical remote sensing technologies, such as Landsat and SPOT. Their findings are published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, and coincide with an opportunity to outfit satellites scheduled for deployment in 2004 with SAR polarimetry instruments.

Columbia Researchers Discover Currents Connecting Pacific and Indian Oceans Are Colder and Deeper Than Expected
Findings could change the way scientists understand inter-ocean and ocean-atmosphere dynamics that give rise to the annual Asian monsoon and El Niño

Scientists at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have found that currents connecting the Indian and Pacific Oceans are colder and deeper than originally believed. This discovery may one day help climate modelers predict the intensity of the Asian monsoon or El Niño with greater accuracy and with more lead-time than is currently possible.

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Will Co-Lead Multi-Million Dollar Research Program to Explore Earth Processes Beneath the Ocean Floor

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Alliance of the Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc., Texas A&M University, and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University announced today that they have signed a contract to operate a scientific drillship as part of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP). The contract has an estimated cost of $626 million over ten years.

Development of a Smart Energy Plan Is Underway to Prevent Future Blackouts and Meet the Nation's Growth Needs
The nations current electric grid system will not work in the future with solar and wind farms providing substantial but intermittent power over long distances

By 2050, it will take between 15 and 20 Terawatts (TW) of electric power to supply the North American economy. A little under 7 TW is currently used, with most of that consumed in the United States. The “Smart Electric Grid of the Future” must be able to efficiently and securely deliver this two- to three-fold-increase in power to all corners of the continent, in addition to being invulnerable to security breaches, attacks, natural disasters, and mechanical failures. The country can ill afford more blackouts like August 14, 2003.

Dee Breger Wins First and Second Prize in First Annual NSF/Science Magazine Award For Visualization

Dee Breger, of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, has won both first and second prize in the photography category of the first annual 2003 Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge -- a joint project of the National Science Foundation and Science Magazine.

JOI Enters into Negotiations to Manage U.S. Drillship for Integrated Ocean Drilling Program

Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI), a consortium of eighteen universities and research institutions, announced today that it will be entering into negotiations with the U.S. National Science Foundation to operate a scientific drillship for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP). If successful, the National Science Foundation would award $620-650 million over 10 years to JOI for the alliance of JOI, Texas A&M University, and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University to provide long-term management and scientific support of a non-riser drilling vessel.

Columbia University Researcher Develops New Use For Seismic Reflection Data: Revealing Locations And Potentials For Mega Earthquakes
Hazards to northwestern North America could be greater than previously thought

Researchers have found an important new application for seismic reflection data, commonly used to image geological structures and explore for oil and gas. Recently published in the journal Nature, new use of reflection data may prove crucial to understanding the potential for mega earthquakes.

Deep Wells Can Target Low Arsenic Aquifers in Bangladesh, New Study Shows
Columbia researchers advance plan to mitigate arsenic crisis

A solution to arsenic-poisoned drinking water in Bangladesh has come two steps closer with two new research papers by Lex van Geen, Doherty Senior Researcher at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, part of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and a team of researchers from Columbia.

Carbon Sequestration Could Be Employed Today To Help Alleviate Greenhouse Emissions
Columbia University researcher presents "A Guide to CO2 Sequestration"

Recent congressional support to research and develop zero-emissions plants and hydrogen fueled vehicles is a necessary long-term solution toward reducing harmful greenhouse gases; however, there are immediate opportunities to render fossil fuels—currently accounting for 85% of all commercial energy—environmentally acceptable.

06/19/03

Does the Trigger for Abrupt Climate Change Reside in the Ocean or in the Atmosphere?

A Science "Review" by W.S. Broecker, the Newberry Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

06/04/03

National Science Foundation Provides Emergency “Event Response” Funding To Study Massive Volcanic Eruption On Anatahan, Mariana Islands

On May 10, 2003, a volcanic eruption occurred on Anatahan, an uninhabited island just 75 nautical miles north of Saipan in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. At the time of the eruption, researchers studying the sinking (or subduction) of ocean seafloor into the earth's mantle for the MARGINS Program, headquartered at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, were deploying seismographic equipment in the area.

Columbia-Led Scientists Dust Off Desert Sands From The French Alps

NASA-funded scientists using an atmospheric computer model proved for the first time that dust from the Takla-Makan desert of China traveled more than 12,400 miles (20,000 kilometers) over two weeks time and landed atop the French Alps. Chinese dust plumes have been known to reach North America and even Greenland, but have never been reported before in Europe.

Research by Dr. Won-Young Kim at LDEO Suggests Ancient Fault Line in Indiana Has Been Re-Activiated

Dr. Won-Young Kim, a seismologist with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, conducted research to determine the potential hazard of future earthquakes to the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone in Indiana, which in 2002 suffered a 5.0 magnitude earthquake.

Governor Pataki Announces $26 Million to Launch World Class Rivers & Estuaries Center, Satellites Established with RPI and Columbia

Columbia President Lee Bollinger joined NY Governor George Pataki in Beacon, NY, yesterday where a $26 Million Hudson River Institute will be built. Columbia's Lamont-Doherty campus and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will become satellite Hudson research centers.

Click HERE for current Columbia research on the Hudson

Death Valley Field Trip Challenges Students to Think Like Earth Scientists

With its steep, faulted margins, upturned ancient sea beds, and modern-day volcanic craters, Death Valley offers a front-row seat to a panorama of Earth’s activity that goes back 1.7 billion years and continues today.

03/28/03

Columbia University Students Publish First Natural Hazards and Disaster Mitigation Framework for Earthquake and Flood Prone City of Caracas

Recently published in the American Geophysical Union's journal EOS is an analysis of how to build disaster resilience into the Venezuelan capital region. The authors of the paper, Kevin Vranes and Kristina Czuchlewski, are Columbia University students participating in a unique academic program that combines research in natural hazards with urban planning and policy studies.

03/05/03

The Antarctic AnSlope Expedition, February 25 through April 11, 2003

Dr. Arnold L. Gordon, of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, is aboard the Research Vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer in Antarctic's northwestern Ross Sea. Gordon is the principal investigator leading a study to build on scientific understanding of global climate and the crucial, but not well understood role played by a frontal zone known as the Antarctic Slope Front (ASF) occurring near the upper continental slope of much of Antarctic's perimeter. go to reports home.