Overview
Research at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) emphasizes a broad study of global change, which is an interdisciplinary initiative addressing natural and man-made changes in our environment that occur on various time scales — from one-time forcings such as volcanic explosions, to seasonal and annual effects such as El Niño, and on up to the millennia of ice ages — and that affect the habitability of our planet.
GISS is located at Columbia University in New York City. The institute is a laboratory in the Earth Sciences Division of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and a unit of the Columbia University Earth Institute.
Featured Story
Plants Blooming, Leafing Earlier
Decades of data show plants are leafing and flowering sooner each year than predicted by controlled experiments designed to predict plant responses to rising temperatures. (2012-05-02)
More Research News & Features
Will a Warmer World Be Stormier?
No single extreme event is evidence of climate change. But what is the likelihood of more events such as stronger thunderstorms and hurricanes as surface temperatures rise?
(2012-04-24)
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Cassini Spies Wave Rattling Jet Stream on Jupiter
New movies of Jupiter are the first to catch an invisible wave shaking up one of the giant planet's jet streams, an interaction that also takes place in Earth's atmosphere.
(2012-03-13)
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Bright is the New Black
A study including NASA scientists has found that covering roofs of New York City buildings can drastically reduce surface temperatures, cutting into the sweltering phenomenon called the 'urban heat island.'
(2012-03-07)
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Far-Out Photosynthesis
As we search for habitable planets in other solar systems, how similar can we expect the optical signs of photosynthesis to be those of Earth?
(2012-02-29)
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NASA Awards Goddard Institute for Space Studies Contract
NASA has awarded a contract to Trinnovim, LLC, of Arlington, Va., for specialized scientific support services to the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City.
(2012-02-16)
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Earth's Energy Budget Remains Out of Balance
A new NASA study underscores the fact that greenhouse gases generated by human activity — not changes in solar activity — are the primary force driving global warming.
(2012-01-30)
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Read Science Brief
Recent Publications
Ma, Q., R.H. Tipping, and N.N. Lavrentieva, 2012: Causal correlation functions and Fourier transforms: Application in calculating pressure induced shifts. J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer, 113, 936-950, doi:10.1016/j.jqsrt.2012.02.012.
Lamouroux, J., R.R. Gamache, A.L. Laraia, Q. Ma, and R.H. Tipping, 2012: Comparison of trajectory models in calculations of N2-broadened half-widths and N2-induced line shifts for the rotational band of H216O and comparison with measurements. J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer, 113, 951-960, doi:10.1016/j.jqsrt.2011.11.010.
Fry, M.M., V. Naik, J.J. West, M.D. Schwarzkopf, A.M. Fiore, W.J. Collins, F.J. Dentener, D.T. Shindell, C. Atherton, D. Bergmann, B.N. Duncan, P. Hess, I.A. MacKenzie, E. Marmer, M.G. Schultz, S. Szopa, O. Wild, and G. Zeng, 2012: The influence of ozone precursor emissions from four world regions on tropospheric composition and radiative climate forcing. J. Geophys. Res., 117, D07306, doi:10.1029/2011JD017134.
Shindell, D., 2012: The clean air dividend. New Scientist, 214, no. 2860, 22-23.
Del Genio, A.D., and J.M. Barbara, 2012: Constraints on Saturn's tropospheric general circulation from Cassini ISS images. Icarus, 219, 689-700, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2012.03.035.
Kravitz, B., A. Robock, D.T. Shindell, and M.A. Miller, 2012: Sensitivity of stratospheric geoengineering with black carbon to aerosol size and altitude of injection. J. Geophys. Res., 117, D09203, doi:10.1029/2011JD017341.
