🔥 New online professional learning course! The Science of Climate Change: Beyond the Basics with Columbia Climate School professor Radley Horton Understand climate science, extreme risks, and impacts to make better decisions in a changing world. ➡️ Enroll today with Columbia+: https://bit.ly/47NJDzv

Please consider submitting your abstract to our @agu.org session on Compound Events with invited speakers A. Mishra (Texas A&M) & R. Horton (@climate.columbia.edu). Submission Deadline: Aug. 5th Session Details: agu.confex.com/agu/agu26/pr... @iiasa.ac.at @lamont.columbia.edu

🗺️ Explore pioneering @lamont.columbia.edu geologist and cartographer Marie Tharp's groundbreaking 1977 World Ocean Floor map and discover how it transformed our understanding of the Earth. #MarieTharp Via State of the Planet: https://bit.ly/4wEglgS

Two of world’s most fire-prone regions have followed strikingly different wildfire trajectories despite both experiencing warming climate, and a Pacific ocean pattern helps explain it, finds new study led by @lamont.columbia.edu PhD / NASA GISS postdoc Tess Wei-Ping Jacobson: https://bit.ly/44XdzHx

Great new paper from Zoltan Taracsak - the sulphur isotopic composition of the subarc mantle from melt inclusions, corrected for degassing. ⚒️🌋 @oxuniearthsci.bsky.social @cambridge-earthsci.bsky.social @lamont.columbia.edu @whoi.edu @ufresearch.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The sulfur content and isotopic composition of the subarc mantle

Sulfur isotopes in volcanic glasses reveal the global significance and the unexpectedly uniform source of arc magma sulfur.

science.org

In honor of Marie Tharp’s birthday, @vferrini.bsky.social—recently named the prestigious Marie Tharp Senior Research Scientist at @lamont.columbia.edu—discusses the geologist’s pioneering work and how it paved the way for her own collaborative efforts to map the ocean floor: https://bit.ly/3S0H3kO

Geologist Marie Tharp was born #OTD in 1920. She built the first accurate map of the Atlantic Ocean floor, discovering the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that provided evidence for seafloor spreading and plate tectonics. 🧪 👩‍🔬 Image: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

July 30, 1920, birthday of American geologist Marie Tharp. At a time when there were still few options for women in science, Tharp studied oil geology, but more interested in broader earth sciences, she became one of the 1st women at what’s now the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory ...

How can AI can support scientific research without undermining human judgment, ethics, or equity? This question is shaping an emerging effort at @lamont.columbia.edu led by climate scientist Marco Tedesco to think more deliberately about AI: https://bit.ly/4fDvDuX

“This is a welcome investment in what will have to be a much larger effort to address the growing problem of flooding in low-lying and coastal communities,” says Paul Gallay, director, Resilient Coastal Communities Project, @climate.columbia.edu. Via @nytimes.com. https://nyti.ms/4pFPEpF

Mamdani Commits $43 Million to Jump-Start Effort to Stop N.Y.C. Flooding

The money will go to an agency responsible for addressing the effects of climate change in the city, including the operation of flood gates.

nyti.ms

Climate change is already reshaping our brains. How do we act earlier, build resilience, and change the trajectory for future generations, ask @lamont.columbia.edu climate scientist Marco Tedesco and neuroscientist and Neuro Climate Working Group founder Burcin Ikiz: https://bit.ly/4yBmKuP

There’s more to wildfire smoke than meets the eye, and what you can’t see can hurt you. Climate scientist @dwesty.bsky.social of @lamont.columbia.edu explains. Via @cnn.com. https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/17/weather/air-quality-wildfire-smoke-chemistry-brown-carbon

Why air quality can still be bad even if the sky doesn’t look smoky | CNN

The orange haze hanging over your house is, indeed, bad. But the chemistry of wildfire smoke doesn’t have to be visible to be threatening.

cnn.com

"The frequency and intensity of these wildfire smoke events are increasing," says climate scientist @dwesty.bsky.social of @lamont.columbia.edu, warning that the fires are becoming an annual occurrence and sometimes more than just annual. Via WNYC. https://wnyc.org/npr/nx-s1-5894857

Severe drought conditions combined with heat in Canada and the US have created “a perfect storm for really dry conditions to provide a lot of fuel for these wildfires to burn,” says climate scientist @dwesty.bsky.social of @lamont.columbia.edu. Via @apnews.com. https://bit.ly/3SWJGEz

Heavy smoke from wildfires blankets the US Midwest and Northeast, prompting evacuations

Thousands of visitors have been told to evacuate a remote Minnesota wilderness area because of wildfires sending heavy smoke across the U.S. Midwest and Northeast.

bit.ly

After work to clean up other sources of pollution in US, “big challenge” is wildfire smoke, says @dwesty.bsky.social of @lamont.columbia.edu, as exposure to high levels of air pollution over long period of time is demonstrated to lead to premature mortality. Via @wired.com. https://bit.ly/4vxTIti

How to Protect Your Health as Skies Fill With Smoke From Canada’s Wildfires

Roughly 100 fires are raging out of control in Ontario, sending smoke streaming 1,000 miles to the south and east.

wired.com

Canadian wildfire smoke triggered an air quality alert in NYC ahead of the World Cup final, but climate scientist @dwesty.bsky.social of @lamont.columbia.edu says rain should clear conditions, with no major disruptions expected to the weekend's events. Via @reuters.com. https://bit.ly/4vvM2Yn

NYC air quality set to clear for World Cup final

YouTube video by Reuters

youtube.com

Air pollution expert @dwesty.bsky.social of @lamont.columbia.edu discusses this summer’s wildfires and resulting air quality in New York City and beyond. Learn More: https://lamont.columbia.edu/news/wildfire-smoke-returns-what-know-about-weeks-air-quality

Time for the regularly scheduled eastern US smoke event. See thread below and check out the latest here: www.airnow.gov/wildfires/

Wildfires Landing Page | AirNow.gov

Wildfire smoke is a mixture of air pollutants of which particulate matter is the principal public health threat. Although a large population can be exposed to smoke during a wildfire event, most healt...

airnow.gov

Dan Westervelt@dwesty.bsky.social · last yr.

Wildfire smoke is back across most of the eastern half of the US! It was this month 2 years ago that an exceptional smoke event blanketed NYC and much of the east coast, vaulting the story into national news. Here's a spotlight I did back then which is still relevant: www.curbed.com/2023/06/nyc-...

Some initial reporting below from AP including a quote from me: apnews.com/article/wild...

Wildfires expose millions in the Midwest and Northeast US to dangerous smoke

Heavy smoke from several large wildfires blazing in Canada and Minnesota is expected to engulf large swaths of the Midwest and Northeast U.S. this week, exposing millions of people to dangerous air po...

apnews.com

HRRR-smoke near surface smoke forecast for 5pm EDT this afternoon. Things could get pretty gross!

Some thoughts from me on this year's edition of the extreme wildfire smoke: www.wired.com/story/northe...

Smoke From Canada's Wildfires Turns Skies Sickly Orange Across the Eastern US

Roughly 100 fires are raging out of control in Ontario, sending smoke streaming 1,000 miles to the south and east.

wired.com

The latest data from my lab observation site at @lamont.columbia.edu . Seems like we're heading towards a big event. Visibility is currently very poor as can be seen from the photo of the monitoring site.

Mingfang Ting, professor of climate at Columbia Climate School, joins @akshatrathi.bsky.social on Zero podcast to discuss the science of El Niño and how prepared the world is. Via @bloomberg.com. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-09/super-el-nino-will-give-us-a-glimpse-of-life-in-2035

Super El Niño Will Give Us a Glimpse of Life in 2035

Over the next year, the naturally occurring El Niño weather pattern will add to growing damage from climate change.

bloomberg.com

Advances in virtual and augmented reality, spatial computing, and other technologies can make work with data more intuitive, benefiting science research and education, write Alexandra Boghosian (@lamont.columbia.edu, @schmidtsciences.bsky.social) and colleagues. Via @eos.org. https://bit.ly/4gz74BJ

Extended Reality Offers Opportunities for Scientific Show-and-Tell - Eos

Advances in virtual and augmented reality, spatial computing, and other technologies offer chances to work with data more intuitively, benefiting Earth and space science research and education.

eos.org

Geopolitics/grid vulnerability are driving clean energy adoption. “People want control over their energy to reduce anxiety about global issues they cannot influence. Global instabilities are affecting individual decision-making,” says Dean Alexis Abramson. Via @forbes.com. https://bit.ly/4pfkll6

Grid War: How Geopolitics And Anxiety Drive Home Solar

Cyberattacks on power grids and shifting federal policy are pushing Americans toward rooftop solar and batteries — not for climate ideals, but personal security.

bit.ly

On Aug 5 5:30-8:30pm ET, join us for the Harlem Week 2026 Climate Change Conference to explore creating a safer, healthier future for communities disproportionately affected by climate impacts. ➡️ Learn More/RSVP: https://www.climate.columbia.edu/events/harlem-week-2026-climate-change-conference

🌟 Folarin Kolawole Receives 2026 National Geographic Wayfinder Award 🌳 Forests May Store Less Carbon than Expected 🌋 CO2 and Water Played Key Roles in Historic Mount Etna Eruptions 🗓️ Science Saturdays at LDEO Field Station | Oct 17 LDEO Open House 📩 lamont.columbia.edu/news/newsletter

Study by @lamont.columbia.edu volcanologists & colleagues shows that gas bubbles played central role in how fast & far lava traveled from Kīlauea’s 2018 eruption, and that flow models need to account for bubbles to more accurately forecast where lava will stop: lamont.columbia.edu/news/study-r...

Scientists, engineers, and educators across disciplines are leveraging the potential of extended reality for fieldwork planning, data analysis, education, and outreach, write researchers from @ssi-org.bsky.social, @lamont.columbia.edu, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ. 🧪 eos.org/features/ext...

Extended Reality Offers Opportunities for Scientific Show-and-Tell - Eos

Advances in virtual and augmented reality, spatial computing, and other technologies offer chances to work with data more intuitively, benefiting Earth and space science research and education.

eos.org

Help @nyseagrant.bsky.social, @lamont.columbia.edu, @columbiaseas.bsky.social build an AI system to clean up litter in NY’s rivers, lakes, and sea. Just photograph human-made litter like plastic, metal, textiles in waterways and share on MyCoast app. View instructions (PDF): https://bit.ly/3RqDDYj