News & Views in 2015

A simple conceptual model helps to answer the question of which forests are more likely to die following droughts.

A focus on African American communities on the Eastern Shore of Maryland highlights the ways that local cultural knowledge differs from place to place, developing understanding of local climate risks and resources for adaptation.

Diatoms are important primary producers in the ocean, however their response to rising CO₂ is uncertain. Now research shows how diatoms regulate their metabolism in response to changing CO₂.

Countries need to cut greenhouse-gas emissions from the energy sector if the world is to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. But no one is sure of the best path. New research highlights the key uncertainties driving energy policy debate in the UK.

The global atmosphere is warming and human emissions are responsible. Now research shows that an increasing fraction of temperature and precipitation extremes are attributable to that warming.

The Atlantic overturning circulation plays a key role in large-scale climate but how it varies is not well known. Now a study proposes that the weakening it may have experienced in the late 1970s is unprecedented over the last millennium.

Long-term climate change and sea-level rise in model projections have been primarily determined by external forcing of climate conditions. Now, research shows that centennial projections of the dynamic sea level are also sensitive to the ocean's initial conditions.

The underlying causes of biodiversity loss can be numerous and difficult to identify. Now evidence suggests that disease outbreaks triggered by warming oceans are a primary cause of the disappearance of Caribbean coral reefs.

Modelling of the power system on the west coast of North America shows that including bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration technologies could enable the region to be carbon negative by 2050.

Heavy precipitation has increased worldwide, but the effect of this on flood magnitude has been difficult to pinpoint. An alternative approach to analysing records shows that, in the central United States, floods have become more frequent but not larger.

The characteristics and views of people sceptical about climate change have been analysed extensively. A study now confirms that sceptics in the US have some characteristics of a social movement, but shows that the same group dynamics propel believers.

Climate change can affect well-being in poor economies more than previously shown if its effect on economic growth, and not only on current production, is considered. But this result does not necessarily suggest greater mitigation efforts are required.

As atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations rise, some regions are expected to warm more than others. Now research suggests that whether warming will intensify or slow down over time also depends on location.

Evolutionary adaptation will help some animals cope with future climate change, but for juvenile salmon there may be limits to how far the thermal tolerance of cardiac function can adapt.

Asia's mega-deltas are densely populated and face multiple stressors including upstream development and sea-level rise. Adapting to these challenges requires difficult choices between hard and soft responses set within a strongly political context.

How climate change will impact the natural phenomenon La Niña, the counterpart of El Niño, has been unclear. In spite of uncertainty, now a study shows a large model consensus for an increasing frequency of extreme La Niña events.