Environmental sciences articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Subglacial lakes can influence basal hydrology and ice flow in Antarctica, but are poorly constrained in Greenland. Here the authors provide the first ice sheet-wide inventory of subglacial lakes beneath GrIS, including 54 uncharted lakes.

    • J. S. Bowling
    • , S. J. Livingstone
    •  & W. Chu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spatial distribution has been rarely studied in global disaster risk models. Here the authors address damaged networked infrastructure at the asset level for a wider range of hazards and reveal a global Expected Annual Damages ranging from $3.1 to 22 billion with a particular vulnerability of transport infrastructure in Small Island Developing States.

    • E. E. Koks
    • , J. Rozenberg
    •  & S. Hallegatte

  • Perspective
    | Open Access

    Questions of causality are ubiquitous in Earth system sciences and beyond, yet correlation techniques still prevail. This Perspective provides an overview of causal inference methods, identifies promising applications and methodological challenges, and initiates a causality benchmark platform.

    • Jakob Runge
    • , Sebastian Bathiany
    •  & Jakob Zscheischler

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Graphite is a promising anode material for sodium-ion batteries but suffers from the high co-intercalation potential. Here, the authors examine the factors influencing this potential and tailor the stability of graphite intercalation compound, realizing high energy and power densities.

    • Zheng-Long Xu
    • , Gabin Yoon
    •  & Kisuk Kang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multiple aspects of anthropogenic change threaten coral reefs. Here, the authors show that bleaching associated with thermal stress was low when local dredging released moderate amounts of suspended sediments, but high sediment loads coupled with high temperatures had synergistic negative effects on coral survival.

    • Rebecca Fisher
    • , Pia Bessell-Browne
    •  & Ross Jones

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There lacks model comparison of global land use change projections. Here the authors explored how different long-term drivers determine land use and food availability projections and they showed that the key determinants population growth and improvements in agricultural efficiency.

    • Elke Stehfest
    • , Willem-Jan van Zeist
    •  & Keith Wiebe

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Aerosol impacts have not been comprehensively considered in the cost-benefit integrated assessment models that are widely used to analyze climate policy. Here the authors account for these impacts and find that the health co-benefits from improved air quality outweigh the co-harms from increased near-term warming, and that optimal climate policy results in immediate net benefits globally.

    • Noah Scovronick
    • , Mark Budolfson
    •  & Fabian Wagner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    At the CarbFix experimental site in Iceland, artificial removal of CO2 from the Earth’s atmosphere is investigated. The authors here propose a new method based on isotope fractionation calculations to estimate the efficiency of CO2 sequestration into calcite in basaltic groundwater settings.

    • Philip A. E. Pogge von Strandmann
    • , Kevin W. Burton
    •  & Sigurður R. Gislason

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Modern observation indicates that vegetation cover could modulate land surface temperatures substantially. Here the authors demonstrate that such vegetation feedbacks could be clearly identified in the Chinese Loess Plateau land surface temperature records during past cool periods when vegetation cover was reduced.

    • Hongxuan Lu
    • , Weiguo Liu
    •  & Zhisheng An

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plastics threaten the ocean environment. Here the authors present a 60 year time series (via the continuous plankton recorder) for the North Atlantic, revealing a significant increase in marine plastic after 1990.

    • Clare Ostle
    • , Richard C. Thompson
    •  & David G. Johns

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Determining the source of nanoparticles is critical for nanotechnology risk assessment. Here, the authors develop an approach that, by taking into account the isotopic signatures of both Si and O, may be able to distinguish between natural and engineered SiO2 nanoparticles, and even those synthesized by different manufacturers.

    • Xuezhi Yang
    • , Xian Liu
    •  & Guibin Jiang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Efficient anion recognition and trapping is of great significance for anion-specific separation processes but the design of an anion-adaptive sorbents remains a challenge. Here the authors use a cucurbit[8]uril based soft cationic supramolecular material as efficient sorbent for TcO4− ions.

    • Lei Mei
    • , Fei-ze Li
    •  & Wei-qun Shi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The potential of biomass energy carbon capture and storage is unclear. Here the authors estimated the negative emissions potential from highly alkaline materials, by-products and wastes and showed that these materials have a CO2 storage potential of 2.5–7.5 billion tonnes per year by 2100.

    • Phil Renforth

  • Article
    | Open Access

    .Agricultural intensification and a growing human population are likely to increase the eutrophication of lakes and impoundments over the next century.  Here, the authors show that this enhanced eutrophication will substantially increase emissions of methane (+ 30–90%), a potent greenhouse gas, from these systems over the next century.

    • Jake J. Beaulieu
    • , Tonya DelSontro
    •  & John A. Downing

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Separating anthropogenic and climatic impacts on forest compositions can be challenging due to a lack of data. Here the authors look at forest compositional changes in eastern Canada since the 19th century and find land use has most strongly shaped communities towards disturbance-adapted species.

    • Victor Danneyrolles
    • , Sébastien Dupuis
    •  & Dominique Arseneault

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    How can scientists and policymakers work together to reduce the health impacts of air pollution? In this review paper, the authors discuss the interplay between advances in environmental exposure assessment and policy advances to tackle pollution in a focused way.

    • Andrew Caplin
    • , Masoud Ghandehari
    •  & George Thurston

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It remains unclear how urban emissions influence the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOA), including in the Amazon forest. Here, the authors simulate the formation of SOAs in the Amazon using a high-resolution regional chemical transport model. They find that urban emissions of NOx from Manaus enhance the production of biogenic SOA by 60–200%.

    • Manish Shrivastava
    • , Meinrat O. Andreae
    •  & Chun Zhao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Impact models projections are used in integrated assessments of climate change. Here the authors test systematically across many important systems, how well such impact models capture the impacts of extreme climate conditions.

    • Jacob Schewe
    • , Simon N. Gosling
    •  & Lila Warszawski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Oxidation of magnetite has broad implications in geochemistry and environmental science, but its reaction mechanisms are not fully understood yet. Here the authors use Bragg coherent diffractive imaging to show oxidative dissolution of magnetite inducing a rich array of strain and defect structures.

    • Ke Yuan
    • , Sang Soo Lee
    •  & Paul Fenter

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fire-derived organic matter (OM) is present throughout the environment, and its impact on nutrient cycling remains poorly understood. Here, the authors show that this pyrogenic OM can retain large quantities of ammonia through covalent bond formation, thereby exerting an important control on nitrogen cycling.

    • Rachel Hestrin
    • , Dorisel Torres-Rojas
    •  & Johannes Lehmann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Country difference in macroeconomic cycles-mortality changes relationships has been rarely explored. Here the authors studied the relationship between 2008 recession and daily mortality counts for EU countries and revealed a significant relationship between macroeconomic cycles and mortality trends.

    • Joan Ballester
    • , Jean-Marie Robine
    •  & Xavier Rodó

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Size-resolved Black Carbon (BC) particle number emission inventory is not available for global civil aviation. Here the authors converted BC mass emission inventory into number emission inventory and found that aviation BC number emission contributes to 1.3% of total ground anthropogenic emissions and 3.6% on global average.

    • Xiaole Zhang
    • , Xi Chen
    •  & Jing Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chinese government has implemented regulations to reduce mining-related methane emission since 2010. Here the authors estimated methane emissions in China using GOSAT satellite observation and results reveal a business-as-usual increase in methane emissions since 2010 despite those ambitious targets.

    • Scot M. Miller
    • , Anna M. Michalak
    •  & Stefan Schwietzke

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Forecasting drought and its impact on agriculture and ecosystems is challenged by a lack of knowledge of vegetation access to deep moisture. Here the authors show that combining vegetation and water storage remote sensing can be used to infer this knowledge, allowing drought impact forecasts months in advance.

    • Siyuan Tian
    • , Albert I. J. M. Van Dijk
    •  & Luigi J. Renzullo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The underlying mechanisms structuring dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition and reactivity in rivers remain poorly quantified. Here, the authors pair mass spectrometry and fluorescence spectroscopy to show that hydrology and river geomorphology both shape molecular patterns in DOM composition.

    • Laurel M. Lynch
    • , Nicholas A. Sutfin
    •  & Matthew D. Wallenstein

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Isotopic thermometry of carbonate minerals postulates that their composition reflects thermodynamic equilibrium constants. Here the authors constrain equilibrium relationships between temperature, 18O/16O and clumped isotopes and find that most natural calcites form out of isotopic equilibrium.

    • M. Daëron
    • , R. N. Drysdale
    •  & G. Zanchetta

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The spatio-temporal distributions of these plastics are not fully characterized. Here the authors examined the sources, sinks and pathways and projected microplastic concentrations for 2066 and found that most plastics accumulate in the North Pacific, with the highest concentrations predicted in the East Asia Seas and central North Pacific.

    • Atsuhiko Isobe
    • , Shinsuke Iwasaki
    •  & Tadashi Tokai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The mid-Pleistocene transition is recognized as a shift in paleoclimatic periodicity from 41- to 100-kyr cycles. Here the authors present a unique mid-Pleistocene transition of coupled monsoon-vegetation changes from 23- to 100-kyr cycles, which indicates varied sensitivity of past climate to astronomical and ice/CO2 forcing.

    • Youbin Sun
    • , Qiuzhen Yin
    •  & Zhisheng An

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Climate change strongly impacts regions in high latitudes and altitudes that store high amounts of carbon in yet frozen ground. Here the authors show that the consequence of these changes is global warming of permafrost at depths greater than 10 m in the Northern Hemisphere, in mountains, and in Antarctica.

    • Boris K. Biskaborn
    • , Sharon L. Smith
    •  & Hugues Lantuit

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Deforestation for palm oil production is often attributed to large-scale, agro-industrial expansion. Here, Ordway et al. show that much recent expansion in Southwest Cameroon can be attributed to an informal sector of non-industrial producers establishing near informal, non-industrial palm oil mills.

    • Elsa M. Ordway
    • , Rosamond L. Naylor
    •  & Eric F. Lambin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Increased abundance of antibiotic resistance genes in the environment may be due to selection pressure by residual antibiotics, or to contamination with resistant bacteria from human faeces. Here, Karkman et al. analyze metagenomic data and find evidence supporting the second scenario in most cases.

    • Antti Karkman
    • , Katariina Pärnänen
    •  & D. G. Joakim Larsson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Credibility of long-term projection in quantitative models is continuously under debate and they rely on validation to prove projection accuracy. Here the authors investigated the views on the validation approaches and they show that empirical data plays an important role in the validation practice in all main areas of sustainability science.

    • Sibel Eker
    • , Elena Rovenskaya
    •  & Simon Langan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Short-lived natural bromocarbons, which contribute to ozone depletion in the atmosphere, are believed to be produced through light-driven processes, mainly in oceans. Here the authors present bromocarbon measurements in snow, sea ice, and air during polar winter that show an unexpected source of bromine to the polar atmosphere during periods of no sunlight.

    • Katarina Abrahamsson
    • , Anna Granfors
    •  & Alfonso Saiz-Lopez

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Salt particles in the Amazon basin are typically attributed to marine aerosols transported from the Atlantic Ocean. Here the authors show the potential importance of fungal spores as a source of sodium-salt particles in the Amazon rainforest.

    • Swarup China
    • , Susannah M. Burrows
    •  & Alexander Laskin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Reduction of gaseous Hg(II) compounds drives atmospheric mercury wet and dry deposition to Earth surface ecosystems. Global Hg models assume this reduction takes place in clouds. Here the authors report a new gas-phase Hg photochemical mechanism that changes atmospheric mercury lifetime and its deposition to the surface.

    • Alfonso Saiz-Lopez
    • , Sebastian P. Sitkiewicz
    •  & Jeroen E. Sonke

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pharmaceuticals are widespread contaminants in surface waters. Here, Richmond and colleagues show that dozens of pharmaceuticals accumulate in  food chains of streams, including in predators in adjacent terrestrial ecosystems.

    • Erinn K. Richmond
    • , Emma J. Rosi
    •  & Michael R. Grace

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Investment in watershed services programs is growing, however the factors that contribute to sustainability of such programs are unclear. Here the authors use a large database of cities around the world to show that payment schemes are more likely to be present in watersheds with more agricultural land and less protected areas.

    • Chelsie L. Romulo
    • , Stephen Posner
    •  & Robert I. McDonald

  • Article
    | Open Access

    UNESCO World Heritage located in low-lying coastal areas is increasingly at risk from flooding and erosion due to sea-level rise. This study shows that up to 82% of cultural World Heritage sites located in the Mediterranean will be at risk from coastal flooding and over 93% from coastal erosion by 2100 under high-end sea-level rise.

    • Lena Reimann
    • , Athanasios T. Vafeidis
    •  & Richard S. J. Tol

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Drivers of crop yield variability require quantification, and historical records can help in improving understanding. Here, Webber et al. report that drought stress will remain a key driver of yield losses in wheat and maize across Europe, and benefits from CO2 will be limited in low-yielding years.

    • Heidi Webber
    • , Frank Ewert
    •  & Daniel Wallach

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rising demand for ruminant meat and dairy products in developing nations drives increasing GHG and ammonia emissions from livestock. Authors show here that only long-term adoption of global best-practice in sustainable intensification buffered by a short-term coping strategy of green-source trading can offer a way forward.

    • Yuanyuan Du
    • , Ying Ge
    •  & Raphael K. Didham

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Correlations between prehistoric eruptions and other phenomena depend on accurate dating of the eruption. Here the authors show that magmatic CO2 in groundwater can bias radiocarbon ages for eruptions and that plateaux of carbon isotopic values in tree ring sequences biased by magmatic CO2 foreshadow major eruptions.

    • Richard N. Holdaway
    • , Brendan Duffy
    •  & Ben Kennedy

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