Lucy Walker '19 and geoscience professor Meg Estapa spent the summer performing collaborative research project studying carbon matter in the ocean, and discuss their findings on This is Skidmore - the Skidmore College podcast.

As plankton die and sink toward the seafloor, their carbon stays out of the atmosphere, slowing climate change. But the process is too variable and complex to measure comprehensively. Until now.

When it comes to climate-change science, Skidmore students are working with faculty on a broad range of research. Among the projects this year: studying an ancient stalagmite to learn about the effects of volcanic eruptions and storms on the decline of Mexico's Maya civilization, analyzing coal ash from as far away as Calcutta to determine how it behaves in the atmosphere, and calibrating a tool that uses satellite data to determine how carbon sinks deep into the ocean.