News: EAS

Advancing geothermal exploration at Cornell University

By: Terry Jordan and Patrick Fulton

Wanted: a carbon-free energy source with which to heat buildings in populated regions with cold winters. That is the challenge being tackled by Cornell University as it assesses Earth Source Heat, a vision to heat campus using geothermal energy. A busy year of progress was powered by expertise and efforts within the Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences. Read more

Understanding long-term climate and CO2 change

Paleoceanographic records tell us that the climate has experienced a long-term cooling trend and declines in atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past several tens of millions of years, interrupted by some shorter intervals of ups and downs, according to research by Louis Derry, a professor in Cornell’s Department of Atmospheric and Earth Sciences. Read more

Tomas Zapata, Ph.D. ’95, connects dots for CUBO success

By: Reeve Hamilton

Meeting a goal as ambitious as Cornell’s aspiration to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035 requires broad collaboration. For example, this summer’s drilling of the Cornell University Borehole Observatory (CUBO), which opened up new opportunities for exploring geothermal energy, succeeded due to involvement from Cornell faculty, students, staff, and alumni like Tomás Zapata, Ph.D. ’95, who works for the multi-energy company Repsol. Read more

Drilling ends and data analysis begins for borehole observatory

The Cornell University Borehole Observatory provides a platform to directly study the temperature, permeability and other characteristics of the rock deep beneath the Ithaca campus – factors that will help the university determine whether to move forward with a proposed plan to warm the Ithaca campus with Earth Source Heat. Read more