Featured
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Great Plains storm intensity since the last glacial controlled by spring surface warming
Shifts in the seasonal timing of land surface warming set the severity of storm systems in the southern Great Plains since the last glacial, according to a hydroclimate proxy record from Texas and palaeoclimate modelling.
- Chijun Sun
- , Timothy M. Shanahan
- & Priyadarsi D. Roy
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News & Views |
Carbon fate in lowland rivers
The fate of sedimentary carbon in rivers is determined by a combination of mineral protection and transit time. Along the fluvial journey from headwaters to sea, biogeochemical transformations control whether carbon is buried or returned to the atmosphere as CO2.
- William Ford
- & James Fox
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Comment |
Minimizing trade-offs for sustainable irrigation
A more comprehensive understanding of the role of irrigation in coupled natural–human systems is needed to minimize the negative consequences for climate, ecosystems and public health.
- Sonali Shukla McDermid
- , Rezaul Mahmood
- & Zoe Lieberman
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Article |
Rapid and sensitive response of Greenland’s groundwater system to ice sheet change
Greenland’s groundwater system responds rapidly to ice-sheet change, according to borehole observations from underneath the ice-sheet margin.
- Lillemor Claesson Liljedahl
- , Toby Meierbachtol
- & Neil Humphrey
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ENSO-driven coupled megadroughts in North and South America over the last millennium
Cold ENSO states can lead to the simultaneous occurrence of megadroughts in southwestern North and South America, according to a hydroclimate reconstruction of the last thousand years assimilating palaeoclimate records with climate model constraints.
- Nathan J. Steiger
- , Jason E. Smerdon
- & Arianna M. Varuolo-Clarke
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Comment |
Boosting geoscience data sharing in China
Enabling public sharing of scientific data in China not only needs top-down mandates but also incentive mechanisms that boost confidence and willingness to engage in data-sharing practices among Chinese researchers.
- Xin Li
- , Guodong Cheng
- & Guofeng Zhao
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Article |
Empirical estimate of forestation-induced precipitation changes in Europe
Forestation over Europe triggers substantial local and downwind precipitation changes, according to results from an observation-based continental-scale statistical model.
- Ronny Meier
- , Jonas Schwaab
- & Edouard L. Davin
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Article
| Open AccessGlobal carbon budget of reservoirs is overturned by the quantification of drawdown areas
Globally, reservoirs are net emitters of carbon when drawdown areas are taken into account, according to an analysis of satellite observations of reservoir surface area.
- Philipp S. Keller
- , Rafael Marcé
- & Matthias Koschorreck
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Article |
Hydrological impact of Middle Miocene Antarctic ice-free areas coupled to deep ocean temperatures
Middle Miocene deep ocean temperatures were linked to Antarctic ice-sheet extent, not volume, due to distinct vegetation–climate feedbacks, according to coupled atmosphere–ocean–vegetation general circulation modelling.
- Catherine D. Bradshaw
- , Petra M. Langebroek
- & Agatha M. de Boer
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Review Article |
A biogeochemical–hydrological framework for the role of redox-active compounds in aquatic systems
Highly redox-active compounds play an important role in biogeochemical element cycles in aquatic systems that are exposed to frequent hydrological disturbances.
- S. Peiffer
- , A. Kappler
- & B. Planer-Friedrich
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Article |
Abrupt Southern Great Plains thunderstorm shifts linked to glacial climate variability
Thunderstorm activity in the Southern Great Plains was closely coupled to abrupt climate shifts during the last glacial period, according to an analysis of oxygen isotopes in modern rainfall and ancient speleothems from Texas.
- Christopher R. Maupin
- , E. Brendan Roark
- & Judson W. Partin
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Article |
Global dominance of tectonics over climate in shaping river longitudinal profiles
Spatially varying uplift rates strongly influence the concavity of river profiles worldwide, with smaller contributions from hydrological factors, according to a comparison of river profile, tectonic and climatic datasets.
- Hansjörg Seybold
- , Wouter R. Berghuijs
- & James W. Kirchner
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Article
| Open AccessCo-variation of silicate, carbonate and sulfide weathering drives CO2 release with erosion
Unlike sulfide and carbonate, silicate weathering does not increase with physical erosion, which could result in a net release of carbon dioxide associated with uplift, according to stream-water chemistry of southern Taiwan.
- Aaron Bufe
- , Niels Hovius
- & Jui-Ming Chang
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Article |
Bedrock weathering contributes to subsurface reactive nitrogen and nitrous oxide emissions
Weathering of deep bedrock releases reactive nitrogen into the subsurface, which contributes to the flux of nitrous oxide to the atmosphere, according to a field study that combines soil, rock and groundwater data within a river catchment.
- Jiamin Wan
- , Tetsu K. Tokunaga
- & Kenneth H. Williams
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Article |
Recent European drought extremes beyond Common Era background variability
European summer droughts in recent years are anomalously severe compared with those of the previous 2,000 years, according to a synthesis of annually resolved tree-ring carbon and oxygen isotope records.
- Ulf Büntgen
- , Otmar Urban
- & Miroslav Trnka
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Editorial |
Valuing wetlands
Wetlands provide a wealth of societal and climatic benefits. Balanced conservation strategies are needed to ensure their protection in the twenty-first century and beyond.
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Comment |
Paleofloods stage a comeback
Geological and botanical archives can preserve evidence of exceptional floods going back centuries to millennia. Updated risk guidelines offer a new opportunity to apply lessons from paleoflood hydrology to judge the odds of future floods.
- Scott St. George
- , Amanda M. Hefner
- & Judith Avila
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Moist heat stress extremes in India enhanced by irrigation
Intensive irrigation in India cools the land surface, but increases the moist heat stress in South Asia, according to an analysis of observational datasets and meteorological models.
- Vimal Mishra
- , Anukesh Krishnankutty Ambika
- & Matthew Huber
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Comment |
Arctic fires re-emerging
Underground smouldering fires resurfaced early in 2020, contributing to the unprecedented wildfires that tore through the Arctic this spring and summer. An international effort is needed to manage a changing fire regime in the vulnerable Arctic.
- Jessica L. McCarty
- , Thomas E. L. Smith
- & Merritt R. Turetsky
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Comment |
Homogenization of the terrestrial water cycle
Land-use and land-cover changes are accelerating. Such changes can homogenize the water cycle and undermine planetary resilience. Policymakers and practitioners must consider water–vegetation interactions in their land-management decisions.
- Delphis F. Levia
- , Irena F. Creed
- & Michael Bruen
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Comment |
Rethinking groundwater age
It is commonly thought that old groundwater cannot be pumped sustainably, and that recently recharged groundwater is inherently sustainable. We argue that both old and young groundwaters can be used in physically sustainable or unsustainable ways.
- Grant Ferguson
- , Mark O. Cuthbert
- & Jennifer C. McIntosh
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Article |
Post-impact cryo-hydrologic formation of small mounds and hills in Ceres’s Occator crater
Mounds within Ceres’s Occator crater may have formed by freezing of water-rich impact-induced melt, by a process analogous to that of pingo formation on Earth, according to an analysis of data from NASA’s Dawn mission.
- B. E. Schmidt
- , H. G. Sizemore
- & C. T. Russell
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Article |
Valley formation on early Mars by subglacial and fluvial erosion
Some valleys in the southern highlands of Mars may have formed by subglacial erosion, consistent with a cold and icy early Mars, according to a statistical analysis of valley morphometry.
- Anna Grau Galofre
- , A. Mark Jellinek
- & Gordon R. Osinski
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Article |
Late Cenozoic climate change paces landscape adjustments to Yukon River capture
Increased river incision and landscape erosion can be attributed to late Cenozoic cooling/changes in hydroclimate, according to cosmogenic isotope and luminescence ages of a sequence of bedrock terraces in the Yukon River basin.
- Adrian M. Bender
- , Richard O. Lease
- & Tammy M. Rittenour
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Article |
Mud in rivers transported as flocculated and suspended bed material
Fast settling rates of suspended silt and clay particles suggest that mud in rivers is largely flocculated and part of suspended bed-material load.
- Michael P. Lamb
- , Jan de Leeuw
- & Gary Parker
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Article |
Observed changes in dry-season water availability attributed to human-induced climate change
Regional changes in dry-season water availability over recent decades can be attributed to human-induced climate change, according to analyses of global reconstructions.
- Ryan S. Padrón
- , Lukas Gudmundsson
- & Sonia I. Seneviratne
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Article |
Widespread subsidence and carbon emissions across Southeast Asian peatlands
Subsidence and carbon emissions in tropical peatlands are primarily linked to drainage history, not land-use type, according to large-scale high-resolution remote sensing in Southeast Asia.
- Alison M. Hoyt
- , Estelle Chaussard
- & Charles F. Harvey
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Article |
Significant methane ebullition from alpine permafrost rivers on the East Qinghai–Tibet Plateau
High-elevation rivers in permafrost of the East Qinghai–Tibet Plateau are hotspots of methane emissions, according to measurements of methane fluxes in the region.
- Liwei Zhang
- , Xinghui Xia
- & Peter A. Raymond
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Article |
The river–groundwater interface as a hotspot for arsenic release
The interface between riverbed and aquifer is a biogeochemical reaction hotspot for arsenic release from river sediments, according to numerical simulations of groundwater flow and biogeochemical reaction processes.
- Ilka Wallis
- , Henning Prommer
- & Rolf Kipfer
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Article |
Mechanical and hydrological effects of seamount subduction on megathrust stress and slip
Changing stresses and pore fluid pressures during subduction of seamounts, as simulated with a numerical model that couples mechanical and hydrological processes, help explain observed patterns of megathrust slip.
- Tianhaozhe Sun
- , Demian Saffer
- & Susan Ellis
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Article |
Carbon release through abrupt permafrost thaw
Analyses of inventory models under two climate change projection scenarios suggest that carbon emissions from abrupt thaw of permafrost through ground collapse, erosion and landslides could contribute significantly to the overall permafrost carbon balance.
- Merritt R. Turetsky
- , Benjamin W. Abbott
- & A. David McGuire
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Article |
Dunes in the world’s big rivers are characterized by low-angle lee-side slopes and a complex shape
Dunes in the world’s big rivers are dominated by lee-side slopes with angles of less than 10°, according to a bedform analysis of high-resolution bathymetric datasets.
- Julia Cisneros
- , Jim Best
- & Yuanfeng Zhang
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Article |
Iron-oxidizer hotspots formed by intermittent oxic–anoxic fluid mixing in fractured rocks
Subsurface iron-oxidizing bacteria are sustained by intermittent oxygen delivery through rock fracture networks, according to biological and geochemical analyses of borehole fluids combined with a fluid mixing model.
- Olivier Bochet
- , Lorine Bethencourt
- & Tanguy Le Borgne
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Article |
A tenfold slowdown in river meander migration driven by plant life
River meanders migrate much faster in barren than in vegetated landscapes, according to global analyses of active meander migration of both unvegetated and vegetated rivers. The difference in migration rates suggests that the rise of land plants had a significant influence on landscapes.
- Alessandro Ielpi
- & Mathieu G. A. Lapôtre
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Article |
Role of dynamic topography in sustaining the Nile River over 30 million years
The path of the river Nile has been stable for as long as 30 million years, sustained by mantle convection, according to geophysical and geological evidence and geodynamic model simulations.
- Claudio Faccenna
- , Petar Glišović
- & Zohar Gvirtzman
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Article |
Mid-latitude freshwater availability reduced by projected vegetation responses to climate change
Projected responses of plants to rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations reduce runoff in large parts of the mid-latitudes as bulk canopy water demands grow, suggests an analysis of precipitation partitioning in climate model simulations.
- Justin S. Mankin
- , Richard Seager
- & A. Park Williams
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Widespread drying of European peatlands in recent centuries
Pervasive drying over the last few centuries has reduced carbon storage in European peatlands, the result of climate change and human impacts, according to a continent-wide compilation of hydrological records derived from testate amoeba.
- Graeme T. Swindles
- , Paul J. Morris
- & Barry Warner
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Article |
An interval of high salinity in ancient Gale crater lake on Mars
Brines from evaporation of a lake in Gale crater on Mars are inferred from bulk enrichments of Ca- and Mg-sulfates in Hesperian sedimentary rocks, identified by geochemical analyses and observations by NASA’s rover Curiosity.
- W. Rapin
- , B. L. Ehlmann
- & A. R. Vasavada
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Article |
Earthquake-triggered 2018 Palu Valley landslides enabled by wet rice cultivation
Aqueduct-supported cultivation of rice resulted in liquefaction of the alluvial soils that led to the landslides triggered by the Palu 2018 earthquake, according to satellite analyses.
- Kyle Bradley
- , Rishav Mallick
- & Emma M. Hill
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Article |
Two decades of glacier mass loss along the Andes
Glaciers in the Andes have lost about 23 Gt of mass per year between 2000 and 2018, with the fastest loss in Patagonia, according to time series of digital elevation models that are based on ASTER stereo images.
- I. Dussaillant
- , E. Berthier
- & L. Ruiz
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Amplification of mega-heatwaves through heat torrents fuelled by upwind drought
The European mega-heatwaves in 2003 and 2010 were intensified by torrents of hot air that were transported in from desiccated regions upwind, suggests an analysis of observations and reanalysis data together with a Lagrangian heat-tracking framework.
- Dominik L. Schumacher
- , Jessica Keune
- & Diego G. Miralles
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Synchronous rise of African C4 ecosystems 10 million years ago in the absence of aridification
Aridification did not cause the expansion of ecosystems using the C4 photosynthetic pathway in parts of Africa 10 million years ago, according to leaf-wax analyses in deep-sea drill cores, leaving declining atmospheric carbon dioxide levels as the most plausible cause.
- Pratigya J. Polissar
- , Cassaundra Rose
- & Peter deMenocal
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Article |
California forest die-off linked to multi-year deep soil drying in 2012–2015 drought
Deep soil drying, caused by high evaporation, can explain California forest die-off in the droughts during 2012–2015, according to analyses of patterns of die-off and moisture deficit.
- M. L. Goulden
- & R. C. Bales
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Article |
Human domination of the global water cycle absent from depictions and perceptions
Only about 15% of water cycle diagrams include human interaction with water, although human freshwater appropriation amounts to about half of global river discharge, according to an analysis of 464 water cycle diagrams and a synthesis of the global water cycle.
- Benjamin W. Abbott
- , Kevin Bishop
- & Gilles Pinay
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Article |
A deep groundwater origin for recurring slope lineae on Mars
Observations and heat-flow modelling suggest that briny groundwater surfacing from fractures forms recurring slope lineae on Mars.
- Abotalib Z. Abotalib
- & Essam Heggy
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Article |
Worldwide alteration of lake mixing regimes in response to climate change
Many lakes that currently mix once or twice a year may become permanently stratified or mix only once in a warming climate, suggest numerical simulations of lake mixing regimes. Mixing regimes are most affected by ice-cover duration and surface temperatures.
- R. Iestyn Woolway
- & Christopher J. Merchant
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Article |
Distinct air–water gas exchange regimes in low- and high-energy streams
Bubble-mediated gas exchange in high-energy streams accelerates faster as energy dissipation intensifies than does turbulent-diffusion-driven gas exchange in low-energy streams, according to an analysis of new measurements and published data.
- Amber J. Ulseth
- , Robert O. Hall Jr
- & Tom J. Battin