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| Open AccessVegetation dieback in the Mississippi River Delta triggered by acute drought and chronic relative sea-level rise
Coastal wetlands are vulnerable to sea-level rise. Here, the authors use 16 years of data to correlate vegetation dieback in the Mississippi River Delta to drought-induced salt water intrusion in the summer of 2012.
- Tracy Elsey-Quirk
- , Austin Lynn
- & Dubravko Justic
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Article
| Open AccessLocal incomplete combustion emissions define the PM2.5 oxidative potential in Northern India
The authors investigate the local/regional nature and associated oxidative potential of PM2.5 emission sources in northern India and show that reducing local inefficient combustion emissions can effectively mitigate PM health effects.
- Deepika Bhattu
- , Sachchida Nand Tripathi
- & André S. H. Prévôt
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Article
| Open AccessSeismic evidence for melt-rich lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary beneath young slab at Cascadia
This study provides seismic evidence for the presence of partial melts along the base of Cascadia’s subducting slab, with implications to lithosphere-asthenosphere decoupling that potentially influences subduction dynamics and earthquake cycles.
- Xin Wang
- , Ling Chen
- & Jianfeng Yang
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Article
| Open AccessIce sheet and precession controlled subarctic Pacific productivity and upwelling over the last 550,000 years
Ice sheets and precession are shown to control westerly strength and position, impacting nutrient-rich water upwelling and productivity in the subarctic Pacific. This finding underscores the subarctic Pacific’s significant contribution to Pleistocene CO2, particularly on a precession timescale.
- Zhengquan Yao
- , Xuefa Shi
- & Yonggui Yu
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Article
| Open AccessQuantum critical phase of FeO spans conditions of Earth’s lower mantle
Large-scale eDMFT computation reveals that FeO undergoes a gradual orbitally selective insulator-metal transition across the extreme conditions of Earth’s interior, with implications for compositions and conductivity of the core-mantle boundary region.
- Wai-Ga D. Ho
- , Peng Zhang
- & Vasilije V. Dobrosavljevic
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| Open AccessMetabolic coupling between soil aerobic methanotrophs and denitrifiers in rice paddy fields
Microbial denitrification in rice paddy fields reduces N use efficiency. Here, the authors use field samples from major rice producing areas in China and identify microbial taxa involved in the metabolic couplings between aerobic CH4 oxidation and denitrification in rice paddy fields.
- Kang-Hua Chen
- , Jiao Feng
- & Yu-Rong Liu
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Article
| Open AccessPublic perceptions on carbon removal from focus groups in 22 countries
Global public expectations for carbon removal governance are: engagement beyond acceptance research; regulating industry beyond incentivizing innovation; systemic coordination; and prioritizing underlying and interrelated causes of unsustainability.
- Sean Low
- , Livia Fritz
- & Benjamin K. Sovacool
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Article
| Open AccessOcean cavity regime shift reversed West Antarctic grounding line retreat in the late Holocene
Using ice sheet model and glacio-isostatic adjustment model simulations and paleoclimate proxies, this work demonstrates that the most likely cause of past West Antarctic grounding-line reversal was a regime shift from a warm to cold ocean cavity.
- Daniel P. Lowry
- , Holly K. Han
- & Robert M. McKay
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| Open AccessStrong linkage between benthic oxygen uptake and bacterial tetraether lipids in deep-sea trench regions
Xiao et al. uncover a strong linkage between marine bacterial tetraether lipids and benthic oxygen uptake in deepsea trench regions, indicating their potential for assessing microbial diagenetic activity and organic carbon degradation.
- Wenjie Xiao
- , Yunping Xu
- & Ronnie N. Glud
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Article
| Open AccessPhysiography, foraging mobility, and the first peopling of Sahul
The speed and route by which Homo sapiens colonised Sahul is an ongoing topic of research. Here, the authors model the physical environment as it changes through time in combination with Lévy walk foraging patterns to suggest a wave of dispersal following coastlines and rivers.
- Tristan Salles
- , Renaud Joannes-Boyau
- & Manon Lorcery
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| Open AccessResponses of marine trophic levels to the combined effects of ocean acidification and warming
Marine organisms are increasingly exposed to both ocean acidification and warming. Here, the authors report a meta-analysis of fully factorial experiments with both acidification and warming treatments, finding that synergistic interactions are less common than expected.
- Nan Hu
- , Paul E. Bourdeau
- & Johan Hollander
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Article
| Open AccessOrbital- and millennial-scale Asian winter monsoon variability across the Pliocene–Pleistocene glacial intensification
Persistent millennial Asian winter monsoon variability is shown to be superposed on orbital 41-kyr and 100-kyr cycles across the Pliocene–Pleistocene glacial intensification using a paleomagnetically dated high-resolution Chinese Loess Plateau grain size record.
- Hong Ao
- , Diederik Liebrand
- & Peng Zhang
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| Open AccessSpeed of environmental change frames relative ecological risk in climate change and climate intervention scenarios
Hueholt et al. find that considering how the rate of temperature change contributes to ecosystem risk helps inform future hypothetical design of climate intervention scenarios
- Daniel M. Hueholt
- , Elizabeth A. Barnes
- & Ariel L. Morrison
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Comment
| Open AccessShining light on dinoflagellate photosystem I
Dinoflagellates are ecologically important and essential to corals and other cnidarians as phytosymbionts, but their photosystems had been underexplored. Recently, photosystem I (PSI) of dinoflagellate Symbiodinium sp. was structurally characterized using cryo-Electron Microscopy (cryo-EM). These analyses revealed a distinct organization of the PSI supercomplex, including two previously unidentified subunits, PsaT and PsaU, and shed light on interactions between light harvesting antenna proteins and the PSI core. These results have implications with respect to the evolution of dinoflagellates and their association with cnidarians.
- Senjie Lin
- , Shuaishuai Wu
- & Arthur R. Grossman
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Article
| Open AccessIron alloys of volatile elements in the deep Earth’s interior
Many volatile elements are depleted in the bulk silicate Earth. Here, the authors found that these volatile elements tend to react with Fe under pressure and may be sequestered within Earth’s core by forming substitutional Fe alloys.
- Yifan Tian
- , Peiyu Zhang
- & Hanyu Liu
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Article
| Open AccessSustained increase in suspended sediments near global river deltas over the past two decades
River sediments play a critical role in sustaining coastal ecosystems. This study examines patterns of coastal suspended sediment concentration (SSC) for 349 deltas worldwide via satellite images and investigated the possible driving factors.
- Xuejiao Hou
- , Danghan Xie
- & Jaap H. Nienhuis
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Article
| Open AccessTowards establishing a fungal economics spectrum in soil saprobic fungi
Challenges in obtaining empirical trait data hinder the development of trait-based frameworks for soil microbes. Here, the authors analyse traits of saprobic fungal isolates from a grassland site to propose a fungal economics spectrum, suggesting a general trait framework for soil fungi.
- Tessa Camenzind
- , Carlos A. Aguilar-Trigueros
- & Matthias C. Rillig
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| Open AccessWeakened western Indian Ocean dominance on Antarctic sea ice variability in a changing climate
The authors show that the influence of the western Indian Ocean on Antarctic sea ice variability in austral spring has been weakening under greenhouse global warming.
- Li Zhang
- , Xuya Ren
- & Lixin Wu
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| Open AccessBioadhesive interface for marine sensors on diverse soft fragile species
It is useful to be able to equip marine animals with sensors, but it can be challenging to attach these to soft marine organisms. Here, the authors use an adhesive hydrogel to achieve rapid attachment of sensors to marine life including jellyfish, squid and lobster.
- Camilo Duque Londono
- , Seth F. Cones
- & Xuanhe Zhao
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| Open AccessGlacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost
A pan-Arctic estimate of past and future subsea permafrost including solid Earth effects causes local sea level to differ from the global mean. Future subsea permafrost disappears faster under high than low emissions scenarios.
- Roger C. Creel
- , Frederieke Miesner
- & Pier Paul Overduin
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| Open AccessDiversity and potential host-interactions of viruses inhabiting deep-sea seamount sediments
Little is known about viral communities in deep-sea seamounts. In this study, the authors performed metagenomic and virome analysis from sediments in the western Pacific Ocean and characterize the diversity, distribution and potential ecological roles of viruses in deep-sea seamount sediments.
- Meishun Yu
- , Menghui Zhang
- & Min Jin
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Article
| Open AccessContinuous and low-carbon production of biomass flash graphene
It is challenging to produce biomass FG continuously due to the lack of an integrated device. Here, we create an integrated automatic system with energy requirement-oriented allocation to achieve continuous biomass FG production with a much lower carbon footprint.
- Xiangdong Zhu
- , Litao Lin
- & Yong-Guan Zhu
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Comment
| Open AccessAll-inclusive nitrifiers in Antarctic soils
Multidisciplinary culture-dependent and -independent techniques elucidate the unique microbial nitrogen cycle in nutrient-poor coastal Antarctica soils and reveal the contribution of novel key microbes to their nitrogen budget.
- Maximiliano Ortiz
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| Open AccessUnveiling unique microbial nitrogen cycling and nitrification driver in coastal Antarctica
This study reveals a unique microbial nitrogen cycling process in Antarctica’s coastal regions, with nitrification playing a significant role. The research notably identifies comammox Nitrospira clade B as a key driver of this process.
- Ping Han
- , Xiufeng Tang
- & Guitao Shi
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Article
| Open AccessEnhanced atmospheric oxidation toward carbon neutrality reduces methane’s climate forcing
Atmospheric chemistry-climate model projections reveal an increase in global hydroxyl radical concentrations on the path toward carbon neutrality in the 21st century. This consequently benefits methane mitigation.
- Mingxu Liu
- , Yu Song
- & Tong Zhu
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Article
| Open AccessIntegrating social vulnerability into high-resolution global flood risk mapping
The study introduces a method of integrating gridded estimates of social vulnerability into high-resolution global flood risk maps demonstrating new insights into the geography of flood risk within and between countries.
- Sean Fox
- , Felix Agyemang
- & Jeffrey Neal
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Article
| Open AccessThe deepwater oxygen deficit in stratified shallow seas is mediated by diapycnal mixing
Oxygen deprivation in the marine environment is likely to be exacerbated by climate change. We present data to show the potential impact of changing weather patterns in the development of a seasonal oxygen deficit in seasonally stratifying shelf seas.
- Tom Rippeth
- , Sijing Shen
- & Jonathan Sharples
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Article
| Open AccessAmundsen Sea circulation controls bottom upwelling and Antarctic Pine Island and Thwaites ice shelf melting
On-shelf circulation modulates vertical velocity via bottom Ekman dynamics, controlling thermocline depth and melting of Amundsen Sea ice shelves. This mechanism does not support the widely believed linkage between off-shelf wind and on-shelf heat.
- Taewook Park
- , Yoshihiro Nakayama
- & SungHyun Nam
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Article
| Open AccessMaximizing carbon sequestration potential in Chinese forests through optimal management
The authors show China’s forests can sequester 172.3 million tons of carbon per year in biomass by 2100, with an additional 28.1 million tons from improved management practices, but neglecting wood harvest impacts will distort long-term future projections.
- Zhen Yu
- , Shirong Liu
- & Evgenios Agathokleous
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| Open AccessContrasting carbon cycle along tropical forest aridity gradients in West Africa and Amazonia
This study finds that West African ecosystems are generally more productive than equivalent ecosystems in Amazonia. It also suggests that a semi-deciduous forest site in Ghana is the world’s most productive forest measured to date.
- Huanyuan Zhang-Zheng
- , Stephen Adu-Bredu
- & Yadvinder Malhi
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Article
| Open AccessGlobal energy use and carbon emissions from irrigated agriculture
The global energy and carbon footprint of irrigation remain uncertain. Here, the authors show that energy consumption and carbon emissions from irrigation are primarily driven by groundwater pumping and are significant in major agricultural nations.”
- Jingxiu Qin
- , Weili Duan
- & Lorenzo Rosa
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Matters Arising
| Open AccessReply to: Rectifying misinformation on the climate intervention potential of ocean afforestation
- Lennart T. Bach
- , Veronica Tamsitt
- & Philip W. Boyd
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Matters Arising
| Open AccessRectifying misinformation on the climate intervention potential of ocean afforestation
- Victor Smetacek
- , Mar Fernández-Méndez
- & Jiajun Wu
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Article
| Open AccessMeta-analysis indicates better climate adaptation and mitigation performance of hybrid engineering-natural coastal defence measures
This meta-analysis compares the performance of hard, hybrid, soft and natural coastal defence measures. Results show that all measures have a positive economic return over 20 years yet hybrid measures perform best for climate adaptation and mitigation.
- Lam Thi Mai Huynh
- , Jie Su
- & Alexandros Gasparatos
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Article
| Open AccessEuropium in plagioclase-hosted melt inclusions reveals mantle melting modulates oxygen fugacity
Distributions of the multivalent element Europium are used to recover the partial pressure of oxygen from basaltic mantle melt inclusions trapped in plagioclase crystals, suggesting Earth’s mantle is reduced by partial melting.
- Nicholas Dygert
- , Gokce K. Ustunisik
- & Roger L. Nielsen
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Article
| Open AccessLandslide hazard cascades can trigger earthquakes
While earthquakes are known to trigger landslides and initiate hazard cascades, the authors show that landslide hazard cascades can instead trigger earthquakes by increasing stresses on faults through direct loading and pore pressure diffusion.
- Zhen Zhang
- , Min Liu
- & Jinrong Su
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Article
| Open AccessThermodiffusive desalination
Current desalination technologies are energy intensive and suffer from membrane degradation and fouling. Here, authors propose and explore the potential of thermodiffusion as a means of membrane-free, single-phase thermal desalination. A pathway towards a feasible thermodiffusive desalination is provided.
- Shuqi Xu
- , Alice J. Hutchinson
- & Juan F. Torres
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Comment
| Open AccessIntegrating science and the arts to deglobalise climate change adaptation
Setting goals that are context-specific, relevant, and collectively shared is critical in adaptation. As necessary elements in target setting, imaginaries for adaptation and the language connected to them remain vague. Visuals produced through art-science collaborations can be great allies to (de)construct imaginaries and deglobalise discourses of adaptation.
- Marta Olazabal
- , Maria Loroño-Leturiondo
- & Josune Urrutia
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Article
| Open AccessThe effect of a political crisis on performance of community forests and protected areas in Madagascar
The effectiveness of community-based land protection compared to traditional top-down protection is debated. Here, the authors show that both community-managed forests and traditional protected areas in Madagascar experienced deforestation during a political crisis but the former were especially vulnerable in the post-crisis period.
- Rachel A. Neugarten
- , Ranaivo A. Rasolofoson
- & Amanda D. Rodewald
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| Open AccessA mechanism for reconciling the synchronisation of Heinrich events and Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles
In this study, an atmospheric perturbation mechanism is introduced that reconciles the synchronisation of Heinrich events and Dansgaard-Oeschger Cycles.
- Clemens Schannwell
- , Uwe Mikolajewicz
- & Florian Ziemen
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| Open AccessContamination of 8.2 ka cold climate records by the Storegga tsunami in the Nordic Seas
Tsunamis can disturb sea floor sediments. This study shows that climate records of the famous 8200-year-old cold spell inferred from Norwegian Sea sediments are likely contaminated by tsunami waves from the giant Storegga Landslide.
- Stein Bondevik
- , Bjørg Risebrobakken
- & Finn Løvholt
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Article
| Open AccessIncrease in concerns about climate change following climate strikes and civil disobedience in Germany
Climate movements aim to raise public awareness of climate change through protests, but their efficacy is debated. Here, the authors show that concerns about climate change increased in Germany after climate strikes and non-violent acts of civil disobedience.
- Johannes Brehm
- & Henri Gruhl
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Article
| Open AccessBat species assemblage predicts coronavirus prevalence
Human encroachment into nature alters species communities and can lead to changes in disease dynamics. Here, Meyer et al. find that coronavirus prevalence increased in less diverse bat communities, which were dominated by susceptible host species.
- Magdalena Meyer
- , Dominik W. Melville
- & Simone Sommer
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Article
| Open AccessA genome-centric view of the role of the Acropora kenti microbiome in coral health and resilience
This study provides insights into the functional roles of microbial symbionts within the reef-building coral Acropora kenti. The findings reveal molecular mechanisms underpinning coral health and adaptation to local environmental stressors, which may support host resilience in the face of anthropogenic climate change and pollution.
- Lauren F. Messer
- , David G. Bourne
- & Gene W. Tyson
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Article
| Open AccessLate Paleozoic oxygenation of marine environments supported by dolomite U-Pb dating
A proxy is developed for oxygen levels in seawater, based on U-Pb dating of dolomite. It shows a step-increase in O2 400 million years ago, suggesting that oceans were largely oxygen-limited at the ‘dawn’ of animal life.
- Michal Ben-Israel
- , Robert M. Holder
- & Uri Ryb
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Article
| Open AccessIce shelf basal channel shape determines channelized ice-ocean interactions
Interactions between meltwater flow and ice shelf basal channels are studied using a 3D boundary current model. Deep channels are found to significantly enhance channelized basal melting, meltwater channeling, and warming and salinization of channel flow.
- Chen Cheng
- , Adrian Jenkins
- & Chengyan Liu
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Article
| Open AccessNortheast Pacific warm blobs sustained via extratropical atmospheric teleconnections
Atmospheric wave trains, triggered by increased rainfall over the Mediterranean and decreased rainfall over the North Atlantic, can induce a high-pressure anomaly over the Northeast Pacific, which is crucial for warm blob development in the cold season.
- Jian Shi
- , Hao Huang
- & Xiaopei Lin
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Article
| Open AccessDecreased Indian Ocean Dipole variability under prolonged greenhouse warming
This study shows that the variability of the Indian Ocean Dipole robustly weakens due to long-term warming. The findings provide compelling evidence for an anthropogenic influence on the Indian Ocean Dipole intensity.
- Soong-Ki Kim
- , Hyo-Jin Park
- & Jong-Seong Kug
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| Open AccessDefect-induced triple synergistic modulation in copper for superior electrochemical ammonia production across broad nitrate concentrations
Converting nitrate to ammonia in wastewater with a wide range of nitrate concentrations remains a challenging task. Here the authors report defect-rich Cu nanowire electrocatalyst which can achieve 50 to 1100 mA cm−2 and over 90% Faradaic efficiency using 1–100 mM nitrate wastewater.
- Bocheng Zhang
- , Zechuan Dai
- & Genqiang Zhang