Physical sciences articles within Nature Geoscience

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  • Letter |

    The global-mean temperature evolution over the course of the twenty-first century is uncertain. Simulations with an ensemble of thousands of climate models that reproduce observed warming over the past 50 years suggest that a mid-range greenhouse-gas emissions scenario without mitigation could lead to a warming of between 1.4 and 3 K by 2050, relative to 1961–1990.

    • Daniel J. Rowlands
    • , David J. Frame
    •  & Myles R. Allen

  • Editorial |

    The Earth's magnetic field protects us from solar activity, but the Moon and Mars are more exposed. The upcoming solar maximum is the perfect time to observe how our dynamic Sun affects its planets.

  • Letter |

    On the Moon, extensional tectonic features have only been observed close to the influence of the mare basalt-filled basins and floor-fractured craters. Analysis of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera images reveals several potentially very young extensional tectonic features in the farside highlands, implying that extensional stresses may locally exceed compressional ones.

    • Thomas R. Watters
    • , Mark S. Robinson
    •  & Brett W. Denevi

  • Research Highlights |

    • Tamara Goldin

  • Letter |

    Saturn’s moon Titan has a dense atmosphere, but its thermal structure is poorly understood. Simulations with a three-dimensional general circulation model suggest that Titan has a lower atmospheric structure with two boundary layers: a seasonal deep layer, and a shallower one that develops during the course of each day.

    • Benjamin Charnay
    •  & Sébastien Lebonnois

  • Letter |

    The electric discharge of a thundercloud in the troposphere is often accompanied by upper-atmospheric electric discharges such as sprites or halos. Numerical simulations of the electric response of the mesosphere to lightning suggest that the process of electron associative detachment is fundamental to upper-atmospheric electrodynamics.

    • A. Luque
    •  & F. J. Gordillo-Vázquez

  • Letter |

    The stability over time of the zonal jets on the giant planets has been debated. An analysis of observations from the Cassini spacecraft reveals an acceleration of wind velocities in Saturn’s high-altitude equatorial jet between 2004 and 2009, by 20 m s−1 at tropopause level and by 60 m s−1 in the stratosphere.

    • Liming Li
    • , Xun Jiang
    •  & Kevin H. Baines

  • Editorial |

    Accessible storage of scientific data is usually mandated, but not often achieved. The task needs people who are interested in information technology and regard it as their primary focus.

  • News & Views |

    Analysis of the first Apollo samples suggested that Earth's only satellite was bone dry. Spacecraft data and improved analysis techniques now indicate that the Moon is more volatile-rich and complex than previously thought.

    • David J. Lawrence

  • Letter |

    Phyllosilicate minerals are rare in the Noachian-aged crust of the northern lowlands of Mars, compared with the tropical highlands. Geochemical and climate modelling suggest that this dichotomy is consistent with the presence of a cold ocean fringed by cold-based glaciers.

    • Alberto G. Fairén
    • , Alfonso F. Davila
    •  & James F. Kasting

  • News & Views |

    An exotic arrow-shaped cloud was discovered in the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan last year. Numerical modelling shows how a large-scale atmospheric wave can naturally shape tropical clouds to such an arrow.

    • Tetsuya Tokano

  • Letter |

    Saturn’s moon Titan exhibits an active weather cycle that involves methane. An analysis of cloud observations and simulations with a general circulation model reveals that convection in Titan’s atmosphere is organized through an interplay of two wave modes, leading to local rates of precipitation of up to twenty times the average.

    • Jonathan L. Mitchell
    • , Máté Ádámkovics
    •  & Elizabeth P. Turtle

  • News & Views |

    Volcanic deposits on the Moon are almost entirely composed of basaltic lava flows that make up the dark and extensive mare plains. High-resolution images and compositional data now reveal rare, non-mare volcanism on the Moon's farside.

    • Noah Petro

  • Article |

    Non-basaltic volcanism is rare on the Moon and has been found predominantly on the lunar nearside. Analysis of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera images and spectral data reveal the presence of compositionally evolved, non-basaltic volcanism on the lunar farside.

    • Bradley L. Jolliff
    • , Sandra A. Wiseman
    •  & David A. Paige

  • News & Views |

    Chondritic meteorites are remnants of the ancient Solar System. Analysis of the dust rims often found on their constituent particles shows that the rims were swept up while the particles wafted about and collided in a weakly turbulent protoplanetary nebula.

    • Jeff Cuzzi

  • Letter |

    Rock fabrics record the formation, compaction and deformation history of that rock. High-resolution mapping of tiny grains in the Allende CV meteorite reveals preservation of a spherical fabric that may have formed in the solar nebula, and could be the oldest rock fabric to have formed in the Solar System.

    • Philip A. Bland
    • , Lauren E. Howard
    •  & Kathryn A. Dyl

  • Review Article |

    Iron controls phytoplankton growth in large tracts of the global ocean, and thereby influences carbon dioxide drawdown. Recent advances reveal the importance of iron-binding ligands and organic matter remineralization in regulating ocean iron levels.

    • P. W. Boyd
    •  & M. J. Ellwood

  • Letter |

    Ocean eddies generated through instability of the mean flow are a vital component of the energy budget of the global ocean. Modelling combined with satellite altimetry data suggests that the energy from westward-propagating eddies is scattered and eventually dispersed when they reach the western boundary of an ocean basin.

    • Xiaoming Zhai
    • , Helen L. Johnson
    •  & David P. Marshall

  • Letter |

    Vertical motions of the rocky margins of Greenland and Antarctica respond to mass changes of their respective ice sheets, but these motions can be obscured by ancient episodes of glacial advance or retreat. An analysis of the acceleration of vertical motion indicates that accelerated ice loss in western Greenland started in the late 1990s.

    • Yan Jiang
    • , Timothy H. Dixon
    •  & Shimon Wdowinski

  • Letter |

    The 100,000-year glacial cycles are generally thought to be driven by the eccentricity of the Earth’s orbit. Statistical analyses of climate variability and orbital forcing over the past five million years indicate that the glacial cycles are the result of an internal climate oscillation phase locked to the 100,000-year eccentricity cycle.

    • Lorraine E. Lisiecki

  • News & Views |

    The fragmentation of continents at convergent plate boundaries is thought to be influenced by the subducting lithosphere. Numerical modelling suggests that instead, the forces exerted by the underlying mantle can drive the formation of continental microplates.

    • Christine Siddoway

  • Letter |

    In the Arctic spring, sunlight-induced reactions convert gaseous elemental mercury into compounds that are rapidly deposited on the snowpack. Analysis of the isotopic composition of mercury in snow samples collected during an atmospheric mercury depletion event suggests that sunlight triggers the re-emission of mercury from the snowpack.

    • Laura S. Sherman
    • , Joel D. Blum
    •  & Thomas A. Douglas

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