Volume 9 Issue 8, August 2016

Slowing GDP growth, a structural shift away from heavy industry, and more proactive policies on air pollution and clean energy have caused China's coal use to peak. It seems that economic growth has decoupled from growth in coal consumption.

Summer temperatures in Europe varied markedly over the past millennium. Climate models and palaeoclimate records indicate that changes in cloud cover related to storm tracks contributed to the variations — and may continue to do so in the future.

The two small satellites of Mars are thought to have accreted from a debris disk formed in a giant impact. Simulations suggest the moons were shepherded into formation by the dynamical influence of one or more short-lived massive inner moons.

Conversion of Antarctic circumpolar upwelling waters to less dense water has mainly been attributed to surface heat fluxes. An analysis of water-mass transformation shows that the dominant process is the formation of sea ice near Antarctica and its melt offshore.

At mid-ocean ridges, the directions in which plates spread and the underlying mantle flows were thought to broadly align. A synthesis of results from ridges that spread at a variety of rates reveals that instead there may be a systematic skew.

TEX₈₆-based records of sea surface temperature from the Early Eocene suggest polar warmth that is not seen in climate models. A reassessment of the TEX₈₆ proxy adjusts these temperatures, lending confidence to simulations of greenhouse climates.

The Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum was associated with a massive release of carbon. Marine sediments suggest a temporary deepening of the calcite compensation depth, indicating extensive silicate weatheringin the aftermath of the event.

Mars has two small moons that may have formed in the aftermath of a giant impact. Simulations suggest that Phobos and Deimos accreted from the disperse outer region of the debris disc that was stirred up by short-lived larger moons.

Summer rainfall is projected to decline in the European Alps. Regional high-resolution simulations suggest that at the highest elevations, precipitation may instead increase as a result of enhanced potential instability and convective rainfall.

Antarctic sea-ice extent has been increasing. Analyses of climate simulations and observations show that atmospheric conditions conducive to Antarctic sea-ice expansion were favoured by the negative phase of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation.

Sea-ice formation is a key factor in the lower branch of the Southern Ocean overturning circulation. Observation-based data in conjunction with a water-mass transformation framework reveal that sea ice plays a central role in the upper branch too.

Laurentide ice-sheet retreat continued into the mid-Holocene. Speleothem-based precipitation records suggest the cessation of melt led to the establishment of the present precipitation patterns associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation.

Sea surface temperature estimates from the early Eocene indicate an unusually flat meridional temperature gradient. A re-evaluation of the proxy used to derive these temperatures argues against this interpretation.

Vertical crustal motions during the earthquake cycle are poorly constrained for strike–slip faults. Analysis of GPS data from the San Andreas Fault shows that the crust flexes over hundreds of kilometres due to locking of the fault at depth.

It is unclear whether subduction is still active beneath the Indo-Burman mountain range. Analyses of GPS measurements from this region reveal a locked megathrust fault, implying that subduction is active and could generate a large earthquake.

Earth’s crust diverges and extends along mid-ocean ridges. Analyses of gravity and seismic data from the equatorial Atlantic show that propagation of ridge segments can compress the crust and create sufficient uplift to create small islands.

Distinguishing convective and stratiform rainfall is key to understanding how the water cycle responds to climate change. An analysis of satellite and surface data shows that rain isotope ratios reflect the proportions of these types of rain.

European summer temperatures are controlled by multiple factors. A climate reconstruction for the past millennium shows that temperature differences between the north and the south reflect internal variability in storm tracks and cloud cover.

Mantle flow beneath mid-ocean ridges was thought to respond passively to plate motions. Analysis of seismic data from ridges reveals a skew between the directions of plate motion and mantle flow, implying mantle flow may stress the plates.