natural hazards Archives - State of the Planet

A giant sandstorm pummels northern South Sudan

Double Trouble: The Importance of Thinking About Compound Risk

Compound risk — when multiple risks occur simultaneously, or one after another — was the topic of a recent discussion as part of the Resilience Media Project, a part of the Initiative on Communication and Sustainability at the Earth Institute.

by |August 11, 2020
A crowd of people stand by a waterfall flowing into a lake with a glacier and mountains in the background.

How Juneau, Alaska Responds to Yearly Glacier Floods

Glacial flooding is never predictable, but Juneau’s response has become reliably routine, thanks to scientific research and partnerships with government.

by |July 30, 2020

New Images From Under Alaska Seafloor Suggest High Tsunami Danger

Scientists probing under the seafloor off Alaska have mapped a geologic structure that they say signals potential for a major tsunami in an area that normally would be considered benign.

by |July 31, 2017

Upcoming Scientific Fieldwork: 2017 and Beyond

On every continent and ocean, Earth Institute field researchers are studying the dynamics of climate, geology, natural hazards, ecology and other subjects with direct applications to the challenges facing humanity.

by |March 6, 2017

Disaster Experts: A Journalist’s Guide

An all-purpose guide for journalists covering disasters, natural and manmade.

by |February 14, 2017

Lamont to Develop New Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System

A new pilot program led by the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory aims to provide earlier and more accurate warnings of damaging ground-shaking from earthquakes and the imminent arrival of tsunamis.

by |January 17, 2017

The Coming Great Quakes in India and Bangladesh?

A new film takes viewers from the eastern highlands of India to the booming lowland metropolis of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh–and explores an ever-more detailed picture of catastrophic earthquake threat that scientists are discovering under the region.

by |October 18, 2016

Walking in the Shadow of a Great Volcano

On a ledge just inside the lip of Chile’s Quizapu volcanic crater, Philipp Ruprecht was furiously digging a trench. Here at an elevation of 10,000 feet, a 1,000-foot plunge loomed just yards away, and wind was whipping dust off his shovel. But the volcanologist was excited. Ruprecht had just found this spot, topped with undisturbed wedding-cake layers of fine, black material that the crater had vomited from the deep earth some 84 years ago. Samples from the currently inactive site might shed light on its exceedingly violent behavior.

by |May 17, 2016

Photo Essay: In the Shadow of a Great Volcano

High in the southern Andes, Chile’s Quizapu crater is one of South America’s most fearsome geologic features. In 1846, it was the source of one the continent’s largest historically recorded lava flows. In 1932, it produced one of the largest recorded volcanic blasts. The volcano is currently inactive, but could revive at any time. What is next?

by |May 17, 2016

Crowd-Sourcing Tornado Data, and Other Climate Talks

From crowd-sourcing tornado data to teaching Harlem high-school students about climate change and climate justice, IRI scientists will share a number of fascinating projects at the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society

by |January 8, 2016