Volume 2 Issue 12, December 2021

An article in Water Research tracks monochlorobenzene biodegradation in anoxic canal sediments impacted by legacy pollution.

An article in Atmosphere identified species of bacteria transported by dust particles in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia.

Marcus Buechel discusses how the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) can be used to investigate the impact of climate change on land–surface hydrological cycles.

Thu Thuy Nguyen discusses how machine learning has become a feasible and cost-effective method for large-scale soil carbon prediction.

Mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrass meadows have historically been lost or degraded, threatening their ability to store carbon and provide ecosystem services. This Review details the global potential of blue carbon ecosystem protection and restoration in climate change mitigation, through carbon sequestration and co-benefit production.

Major environmental disruptions throughout Earth’s history are often linked to extensive magmatic events, termed large igneous provinces. This Review explores the coupled evolution of mantle melting, magmatism and volatile release over the life cycle of large igneous provinces.

Global drylands are threatened by a combination of anthropogenic climate change and human activities, putting some locations at high risk of desertification. This Review details changes observed in the drylands of China, and the mitigating impact of large-scale restoration and conservation programmes designed to reverse them.

Since 2000, oceanographic conditions in the Barents Sea and the Eurasian Basin have transitioned from those reflecting the Arctic to a state more closely resembling that of the Atlantic. This Review examines the physical and ecological manifestations, drivers and implications of this so-called Atlantification.