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How the climate system reacts to stabilized or decreasing CO2 concentrations is not yet well understood. Here, the authors show that deep ocean warming and its slower heat release lead to unique patterns of ocean surface warming and precipitation.
Tropical instability waves (TIWs) are an important component of the equatorial Pacific climate. An analysis of satellite observations, in situ measurements and ocean circulation models indicates that TIW activity has intensified in the central equatorial Pacific by approximately 12 ± 6% per decade since the 1990s.
Tropical instability waves (TIWs) are an important component of the equatorial Pacific climate. Here the authors show that TIW activity has intensified in the central equatorial Pacific at ∼12 ± 6% per decade over the recent three decades.
Ongoing climate change has the potential to reduce people’s direct experiences with nature, leading to or further exacerbating the ‘extinction of experience’. We argue that understanding these impacts is crucial, as the extinction of experience can have adverse consequences for both humans and the natural environment.
Climate warming can impact predators directly as well as indirectly by affecting their prey and habitat. How predators respond to such changes is largely unknown. Now, experimental work shows the ability of spiders to adjust their webs in response to warming-induced changes in plant communities that alter prey size distributions.
The authors show shifts in predatory spider web mesh size under experimental warming in an alpine meadow. Web mesh size decreased for a large spider species, but increased for a small species, with changes linked to altered prey size spectra following soil moisture and plant community shifts.
The authors investigate the impacts of excluding ecosystem data from Russian stations in the Arctic. While the current network of Arctic stations is already biased, the exclusion of Russian stations lowers representativeness and creates further biases that can rival end-of-century climate change shifts.
Accurate representation of permafrost carbon emissions is crucial for climate projections, yet current Earth system models inadequately represent permafrost carbon. Sustained funding opportunities are needed from government and private sectors for prioritized model development.
Despite the promise of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) to improve food security in South Asia, most CSA practices and technologies have not been widely adopted. We identify the key barriers to CSA adoption in South Asia and suggest strategies to overcome them to increase CSA adoption at scale.
Recent US climate bills mark a major step in domestic climate actions, while their successful implementation relies on strong assumptions. This Perspective discusses potential challenges regarding supply, consumer demand and political polarization and how insights of social science could help to overcome these challenges.
Ocean eddies impact circulation, heat and gas fluxes between the ocean and the atmosphere. Modelling how warming will alter their occurrence in the Arctic shows that sea ice decline and increased baroclinic instability drive an increase in eddy kinetic energy.
Soaring temperatures hit the headlines throughout 2023; only time will tell if the annual climate talks have pivoted from discussion and debate to meaningful progress for climate action.
Justice issues are integral to a variety of climate science and policy processes. This Perspective provides a framework, based on philosophical theory, to explain key justice concepts and how they can be applied in climate discussions.