Goddard Institute for Space Studies
The NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), at Columbia University in New York City, is a component laboratory of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Earth-Sun Exploration Division and a unit of The Earth Institute at Columbia University. Current research at GISS emphasizes global climate change.
GISS was established in May 1961 by Robert Jastrow to do basic research in space sciences in support of Goddard programs. It was then called the Goddard Space Flight Center Institute for Space Studies but quickly became known as the Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
GISS is currently directed by James E. Hansen.
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[edit] Awards
In November 2004, Climatologists Drew Shindell and Gavin Schmidt of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, received Scientific American magazine's Top 50 Scientist award.[1]
[edit] Climate change research
A key objective of Goddard Institute for Space Studies research is prediction of climate change in the 21st century. The research combines paleogeological record, analysis of comprehensive global datasets (derived mainly from spacecraft observations), with global models of atmospheric, land surface, and oceanic processes.
Climate science predictions are based substantially on historical analysis of Earth's paleoclimate (climate through geological ages), and the sea-level/ temperature/ carbon dioxide record.
Changes in carbon dioxide associated with continental drift, and the decrease in volcanism as India arrived at the Asian continent, allowed temperatures to drop & Antartic ice-sheets to form. This resulted in a 75m drop in sea level, allowing our present-day coastlines & habitats to form and stabilize.[2]
Global change studies at GISS are coordinated with research at other groups within the Earth Sciences Division, including the Laboratory for Atmospheres, Laboratory for Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences, and Earth Observing System science office.
[edit] Popular culture
- The institute is housed at the corner of West 112th St. and Broadway in New York City in Columbia University's Armstrong Hall. The building houses Tom's Restaurant, which was the exterior for the restaurant in Seinfeld and the subject of the Suzanne Vega song Tom's Diner.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Goddard Institute for Space Studies (November 9, 2004). NASA Climatologists Named in Scientific American Top 50 Scientists. Retrieved on 2008-09-25.
- ^ James Hansen, public lecture 12th May 2011
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) - Official Site
- GISS Global Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP) - Global Surface Temperature Data
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Coordinates: 40°48′20″N 73°57′55″W / 40.80544°N 73.96536°W
