CIESIN conducts a range of basic and applied research. CIESIN’s basic research aims at better understanding and predicting the behavior of socio-ecological systems and developing data to support research by others. CIESIN staff have served as principal investigators and senior research personnel on research projects supported by a range of funders (see Programs & Projects) in areas such as environmental security, climate migration, natural hazards, indicator development from remote sensing data, experimental uses of device location and nighttime lights data, and population-environment interactions.
CIESIN’s research has resulted in peer-reviewed publications and a range of reports.
Advancing Data for Street-Level Flood Vulnerability: Evaluation of Variables Extracted from Google Street View in Quito, Ecuador
Velez, R., D. Calderon, L. Carey, C. Aime, C. Hultquist, G. Yetman, A. Kruczkiewicz, Y. Gorokovich and R.S. Chen. 2022. Advancing Data for Street-Level Flood Vulnerability: Evaluation of Variables Extracted from Google Street View in Quito, Ecuador. IEEE Open Journal of the Computer Society. 51–61.
Violent conflict exacerbated drought-related food insecurity between 2009 and 2019 in sub-Saharan Africa
Anderson, W., C. Taylor, S. McDermid, E. Ilboudo-Nébié, R. Seager, W. Schlenker, F. Cottier, A. de Sherbinin, D. Mendeloff, and K. Markey. 2021. Violent conflict exacerbated drought-related food insecurity between 2009 and 2019 in sub-Saharan Africa. Nat Food 2: 603–615. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00327-4.
Estimating population and urban areas at risk of coastal hazards, 1990–2015: How data choices matter
MacManus, K., D. Balk, H. Engin, G. McGranahan, R. Inman. 2021. Estimating population and urban areas at risk of coastal hazards, 1990–2015: How data choices matter. Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss 13 (12): 5747–5801. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5747-2021.
Development of a flash flood confidence index from disaster reports and geophysical susceptibility
Kruczkiewicz, A., A. Bucherie, F. Ayala, C. Hultquist, H. Vergara, S. Mason, J. Bazo, and A. de Sherbinin. 2021. Development of a flash flood confidence index from disaster reports and geophysical susceptibility. Remote Sens.13, 2764. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13142764
Atlas of the Human Planet 2020
Atlas of the Human Planet 2020 January 2021, 139 pages, 22.7 MB PDF). This report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission presents policy-relevant examples provided by users of Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) products, in the areas of domains of disaster risk reduction and crisis management, environment, urbanization, and sustainable development. CIESIN is among select organizations which showcased applications.
A systematic review of coastal vulnerability mapping
Bukvic, A, G. Rohat, A. Spotsos, and A. de Sherbinin. 2020. A systematic review of coastal vulnerability mapping. Sustainability 12(7). https://doi.org/10.3390/su12072822.
COREDAR: A coastal climate service framework on sea-level rise risk communication for adaptation policy planning
Khan, S., R.S. Chen, and A. de Sherbinin. 2020. COREDAR: A coastal climate service framework on sea-level rise risk communication for adaptation policy planning. In Handbook of Climate Services, eds. W.L. Filho and D. Jacob, 85–104. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36875-3.
Using disaster outcomes to validate components of social vulnerability to floods: Flood deaths and property damage across the USA
Tellman, B., C. Schank, B. Schwarz, and P.D. Howe. 2020. Using disaster outcomes to validate components of social vulnerability to floods: Flood deaths and property damage across the USA. In Climate risk and vulnerability mapping, eds. Alex de Sherbinin and Stefan Kienberger. Special Issue, Sustainability 12(15): 6006. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12156006.
Climate vulnerability mapping: A systematic review and future prospects
de Sherbinin, A., A. Bukvic, G. Rohat, M. Gall, B. McCusker, B. Preston, A. Apotsos, et al. 2019. Climate vulnerability mapping: A systematic review and future prospects. WIREs Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.600.
The Impacts of Climate Change on Ecosystem Services and Resulting Losses and Damages to People and Society
van der Geest, K., A. de Sherbinin, S. Kienberger, Z. Zommers, A. Sitati, E. Roberts and R. James. 2019. The Impacts of Climate Change on Ecosystem Services and Resulting Losses and Damages to People and Society. In Loss and damage from climate change: Concepts, methods and policy option, eds. R. Mechler, L.M. Buwer, T. Schinko, S. Surminski, and J. Linnerooth-Bayer. 221–236. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72026-5_9.
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Clear filtersCIESIN’s applied research efforts are aligned with Columbia’s Fourth Purpose, which leverages the university’s scholarly knowledge to create societal and global impact, in close partnership with organizations outside academia. The goal of this research is to advance human welfare and environmental sustainability by applying the university’s distinct intellectual capacities to practical problem solving and policy development, thereby bringing about meaningful changes. Examples include helping to identify locations for solar desalination, policy-relevant research on climate-related migration, and scientifically robust environmental indicator development for policy audiences. Clients have included USAID, The World Bank, and state agencies.