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Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Company type	Non-profit research institute
Founded	1948
Headquarters	Palisades, New York
Key people	Steven L. Goldstein, Interim Director
Parent	Columbia University
Website	www.ldeo.columbia.edu

The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) is a research institution specializing in the Earth science and climate change. Though part of Columbia University, it is located on a separate closed campus in Palisades, New York.

The Observatory was one of the centers of research that led to the development of the theory of Plate Tectonics as well as many other notable scientific developments.

Campus

LDEO is located in Palisades, New York on a property overlooking the Hudson River which was once the weekend residence of banker Thomas W. Lamont. It was donated to the university in 1948 by his widow, Florence Lamont. In 1969, the Observatory was renamed "Lamont-Doherty" following a gift from the Henry L. and Grace Doherty Charitable Foundation.

Research

Climate change

The LDEO is a substantial source of data for the US government in relation to climate change. Faculty at the LDEO have been noted for giving climate change testimony to Congress in relation to melting ice sheets. NOAA has also noted the LDEO's Global Ocean Surface Water Partial Pressure of CO2 Database as being an instrumental source of partial pressure carbon dioxide data (pCO₂), which can, in turn, detail the amount of carbon dioxide dissolved in the earth's oceans. Many versions of the LDEO database have been published over the years, dating back to 2006.

Tree rings

The tree-ring lab at the LDEO studies the effects on climate and climate change on trees. In an interview, Nicole Davi from the LDEO noted findings like the formation of tree-rings during extended dry seasons, as well as work being done to carbon-date trees to verify tree ring data.

Core repository

The core repository at the LDEO stores various drilled sediment samples from the earth's oceans. The samples have been used to detail climate changes between glaciation periods, in context of dissolved elements and gases, like calcium (from shells) and carbon dioxide.

Earthquakes

A major source of past earthquake data comes from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory/National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (NCEER) Earthquake Strong Motion Database.

Antarctic mapping

In 2012, Voice of America documented the work done by LDEO researcher Robin Bell, and others, in mapping the land underneath the Antarctica ice sheet. Several notable findings included the discovery of hidden rivers, hidden mountain ranges, and significant geothermal energy below the ice.

Other

Other examples of LDEO's research are:

• Seismic activity following nuclear weapons testing.
• Continental drift: in the North Atlantic, and, separately, their effects on the magnetic field.
• The "ocean-atmosphere system."
• Future weather in El Niño events.
• The relationship between weather and yields.
• The relationship between rotation of the core and seismic activity.
• The sea floor.
• Ice ages.
• Solar weather.
• Seismic activity on the moon.

Research vessels

Directors

1. Maurice Ewing (1949–1972)
2. Manik Talwani (1972–1980)
3. Neil Opdyke (1981; interim)
4. C. Barry Raleigh (1981–1989)
5. Dennis V. Kent (1989–1990; interim)
6. Gordon Eaton (1990–1994)
7. John C. Mutter (1994–1996; interim)
8. Peter M. Eisenberger (1996–1999)
9. John C. Mutter (1999–2000; interim)
10. G. Michael Purdy (2000–2011)
11. Arthur L. Lerner-Lam (2011–2012; interim)
12. Sean Solomon (2012–2020)
13. Maureen Raymo (2020–2023)
14. Stephen L. Goldstein (2023–present; interim)

Notable people

• Robin Bell
• Wallace Smith Broecker - popularized the term global warming
• Bruce C. Heezen - mapped the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the 1950s
• Terry Plank
• Marie Tharp - oceanic cartographer whose work led to the consensus on the plate tectonics and continental drift theories.

References

1. "Office of the Director". LDEO. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
2. ^ Schiffman, Richard (24 Apr 2020). "The Lab That Discovered Global Warming Has Good News and Bad News". New York Times. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
3. "Columbia Project given $7 Million". New York Times. 13 Jan 1969. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
4. "Earth's Thermometers: Glacial and Ice Sheet Melt in a Changing Climate For Committee on Science Space and Technology U.S. House of Representatives" (PDF). US House of Representatives. 2019-07-11. Retrieved 2024-07-21.
5. "GLOBAL OCEAN SURFACE WATER PARTIAL PRESSURE OF CO2 DATABASE: MEASUREMENTS PERFORMED DURING 1957–2019 (Version 2019)" (PDF). NOAA. July 2019.
6. Rukovets, Olga; Planet, State of the. "What tropical trees can teach about the environment". phys.org. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
7. Pinkerton, Byrd (2023-10-10). "Mud libraries hold the story of the Earth's climate past — and foretell its future". Vox. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
8. "Earthquake Strong Motion Database: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (LDEO/NCEER)". NASA. Retrieved 2024-07-21.
9. "Mapping Mountain Range Found Under Antarctic Ice". Voice of America. 2012-01-08. Retrieved 2024-07-21.
10. Oliver, Jack; Ewing, Maurice (1958-08-15). "Seismic Surface Waves at Palisades from Explosions in Nevada and the Marshall Islands". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 44 (8): 780–785. doi:10.1073/pnas.44.8.780. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 534559. PMID 16590271.
11. Richards, Paul G.; Won-young, Kim (2009-03-02). "Advances in Monitoring Nuclear Weapon Testing" (PDF).
12. PITMAN, WALTER C.; TALWANI, MANIK (1972). "Sea-Floor Spreading in the North Atlantic". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 83 (3): 619. doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1972)83[619:ssitna]2.0.co;2. ISSN 0016-7606.
13. Heirtzler, J. R.; Dickson, G. O.; Herron, E. M.; Pitman, W. C.; Le Pichon, X. (1968). "Marine magnetic anomalies, geomagnetic field reversals, and motions of the ocean floor and continents". Journal of Geophysical Research. 73 (6): 2119–2136. doi:10.1029/JB073i006p02119.
14. Broecker, Wallace S.; Denton, George H. (1990). "The role of ocean-atmosphere reorganizations in glacial cycles". Quaternary Science Reviews. 9 (4): 305–341. doi:10.1016/0277-3791(90)90026-7.
15. Cane, Mark A.; Zebiak, Stephen E.; Dolan, Sean C. (1986). "Experimental forecasts of el Niño". Nature. 321 (6073): 827–832. doi:10.1038/321827a0.
16. Cane, Mark A.; Eshel, Gidon; Buckland, R. W. (1994). "Forecasting Zimbabwean maize yield using eastern equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature". Nature. 370 (6486): 204–205. doi:10.1038/370204a0.
17. Song, Xiaodong; Richards, Paul G. (1996). "Seismological evidence for differential rotation of the Earth's inner core". Nature. 382 (6588): 221–224. doi:10.1038/382221a0.
18. Zhang, Jian; Song, Xiaodong; Li, Yingchun; Richards, Paul G.; Sun, Xinlei; Waldhauser, Felix (2005). "Inner Core Differential Motion Confirmed by Earthquake Waveform Doublets". Science. 309 (5739): 1357–1360. doi:10.1126/science.1113193. PMID 16123296.
19. Tharp, Marie. "Connect the dots: mapping the sea floor and discovering the Mid-Ocean Ridge". Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia Twelve Perspectives on the First Fifty Years.
20. Ewing, Maurice; Donn, William L. (1956). "A Theory of Ice Ages". Science. 123 (3207): 1061–1066. doi:10.1126/science.123.3207.1061. PMID 17748617.
21. CLIMAP Project Members (1976). "The Surface of the Ice-Age Earth". Science. 191 (4232): 1131–1137. doi:10.1126/science.191.4232.1131. PMID 17781630.
22. Hays, J. D.; Imbrie, John; Shackleton, N. J. (1976). "Variations in the Earth's Orbit: Pacemaker of the Ice Ages". Science. 194 (4270): 1121–1132. doi:10.1126/science.194.4270.1121. PMID 17790893.
23. Bond, Gerard; Kromer, Bernd; Beer, Juerg; Muscheler, Raimund; Evans, Michael N.; Showers, William; Hoffmann, Sharon; Lotti-Bond, Rusty; Hajdas, Irka; Bonani, Georges (2001). "Persistent Solar Influence on North Atlantic Climate During the Holocene". Science. 294 (5549): 2130–2136. doi:10.1126/science.1065680. PMID 11739949.
24. Latham, Gary; Ewing, Maurice; Dorman, James; Lammlein, David; Press, Frank; Toksőz, Naft; Sutton, George; Duennebier, Fred; Nakamura, Yosio (1972). "Moonquakes and lunar tectonism". The Moon. 4 (3–4): 373–382. doi:10.1007/BF00562004.
25. "University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System: UNOLS Vessels". University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System. Archived from the original on 2011-09-29.
26. "Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory: R/V Marcus G. Langseth". Archived from the original on 2011-07-09.
27. "New Seismic Vessel Will Look Deep Under Oceans". Science Daily. 2007-12-04. Archived from the original on 2014-07-13. Retrieved 2011-11-02. The academic community's most advanced seismic-research vessel was dedicated here today, opening potential new windows on natural hazards, earth's evolution, and other vital questions. The R/V Marcus G. Langseth, owned by the U.S. National Science Foundation, will generate CAT-scan-like 3D images of magma chambers, faults and other structures miles below the world's seabeds. To be used by dozens of cooperating institutions, it will be operated for NSF by Columbia University's Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory.
28. "Lamont Directors 1949-Present".
29. Bizzarro, Danielle (Jul 10, 2001). "Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory Bestows Heritage Award on Marie Tharp, Pioneer of Modern Oceanography". Columbia News. Office of Public Affairs, Columbia University. Archived from the original on 2001-09-25. Retrieved Oct 12, 2014.
30. Blakemore, Erin (30 August 2016). "Seeing Is Believing: How Marie Tharp Changed Geology Forever". Smithsonian Magazine.

External links

• Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Website

41°00′14″N 73°54′25″W / 41.004°N 73.907°W / 41.004; -73.907

• Geology organizations
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