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Precipitation associated with the South Asian summer monsoon has decreased by approximately 7% since 1950, but the reasons for this are unclear. Now research suggests that changes in land-cover patterns and increased emissions from human activities have contributed to this weakening, which is expected to continue in the coming decades.
Using food prices to assess climate change impacts on food security is misleading. Differential impacts on income require a broader measure of household well-being, such as changes in absolute poverty.
Antarctic ice sheets are a key player in sea-level rise in a warming climate. Now an ice-sheet modelling study clearly demonstrates that an Antarctic ice sheet/shelf system in the Atlantic Ocean will be regulated by the warming of the surrounding Southern Ocean, not by marine-ice-sheet instability.
Research integrating experimental data and modelling to improve representation of plant physiological thresholds infers largely temperature-driven loss of conifer trees by 2100 across the southwestern USA and much of the Northern Hemisphere.
Global river flood risk is expected to increase substantially over coming decades due to both climate change and socioeconomic development. Model-based projections suggest that southeast Asia and Africa are at particular risk, highlighting the need to invest in adaptation measures.
An assessment of links between anthropogenic climate change and the impacts of recent regional climate trends on human and natural systems shows that many of these impacts can now be attributed to the effects of global warming.
Climate, evolutionary age, topography, land area and several species traits all influence range size. Research quantifying these influences on terrestrial vertebrates suggests that small-range species may be most vulnerable to climate change.
The response of climate to external forcing is known as climate sensitivity, and its estimates are calculated from historical observations. This study estimates the efficacy of individual forcings and revises climate sensitivities accordingly.
A statistical analysis of rainfall records over Europe compared with climate reconstructions based on sediment and pollen time series data suggests that proxy records can be reliable descriptors of long-term precipitation variability.
The chemical breakdown of rocks can be enhanced by spreading silicate granules over land. Research suggests that this measure, which increases the rate at which CO2 is locked up in ocean carbonates, could lower atmospheric CO2 by 30–300 ppm by 2100.
