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| Open AccessThe color of environmental noise in river networks
The color of environmental noise, or degree of predictability in environmental variation, has important implications for ecosystem conservation and management. This study investigates the patterns and drivers of noise color across the US rivers.
- Tongbi Tu
- , Lise Comte
- & Albert Ruhi
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| Open AccessSatellites reveal hotspots of global river extent change
Rivers are among the most diverse, dynamic, and productive ecosystems on Earth. Here, using Landsat imagery, the authors provide a global attribution of the recent changes in river regime to morphological dynamics, dam-induced widening, and hydrological signals.
- Qianhan Wu
- , Linghong Ke
- & Chunqiao Song
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| Open AccessNon-monotonic changes in Asian Water Towers’ streamflow at increasing warming levels
This study discovered non-monotonic variations in river flows for seven rivers originating from the Tibetan Plateau at warming levels of 1.5 °C, 2.0 °C, and 3.0 °C, which then resulted in different consequences for riparian countries
- Tong Cui
- , Yukun Li
- & Fuqiang Tian
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| Open AccessSoil moisture-evaporation coupling shifts into new gears under increasing CO2
When soil moisture is within the transitional regime that is neither too dry nor too wet, its variation affects evaporation and thus climate. This study shows that, under global warming, more areas will experience a transitional regime.
- Hsin Hsu
- & Paul A. Dirmeyer
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| Open AccessMilankovitch-paced erosion in the southern Central Andes
Fisher et al. combine sediment geochemistry and climate modelling to reveal long-term synchrony between erosion rates and orbitally-driven climate oscillations in the tectonically-active southern Central Andes.
- G. Burch Fisher
- , Lisa V. Luna
- & Lucas J. Lourens
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| Open AccessVelocity-dependent heat transfer controls temperature in fracture networks
Heat transfer in a fracture network is heterogeneous as it depends pre-dominantly on flow velocity and fracture aperture. This finding has direct implications for the heat distribution and exploitation in geothermal and associated natural systems.
- Thomas Heinze
- & Nicola Pastore
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| Open AccessInteraction between dry and hot extremes at a global scale using a cascade modeling framework
This study quantifies the scope, time scale, and physical mechanisms underlying the cascade effects of drying on heating and vice versa across the various ecosystems of the world.
- Sourav Mukherjee
- , Ashok Kumar Mishra
- & Dara Entekhabi
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| Open AccessGlobal droughts connected by linkages between drought hubs
This study shows prominent synchronous co-evolution of drought events in drought hubs in sub-tropical regions, influenced by sea surface temperature patterns and teleconnections. Such simultaneous occurrence of droughts may have detrimental impacts.
- Somnath Mondal
- , Ashok K. Mishra
- & Benjamin Cook
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| Open AccessClay hydroxyl isotopes show an enhanced hydrologic cycle during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
Novel measurements of clay hydroxyl isotopic composition show an enhanced hydrological cycle during a period of intense global warming at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary 55.9 million years ago.
- Gregory L. Walters
- , Simon J. Kemp
- & David A. Hodell
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| Open AccessTracking westerly wind directions over Europe since the middle Holocene
Combined with other westerly-sensitive records, a new stalagmite hydroclimate record from northern Italy reveals changing westerly wind directions over the past 6500 years that correspond to a migration of the North Atlantic centres of action.
- Hsun-Ming Hu
- , Valerie Trouet
- & Chuan-Chou Shen
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| Open AccessGroundwater depletion in California’s Central Valley accelerates during megadrought
Liu et al. used the NASA GRACE/FO missions to show that since 2019, groundwater depletion in California’s Central Valley has accelerated by 31% compared to recent droughts, and has increased by a nearly a factor of 5 compared to the 60-year average.
- Pang-Wei Liu
- , James S. Famiglietti
- & Matthew Rodell
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| Open AccessSteps dominate gas evasion from a mountain headwater stream
Emissions from local steps dominate the CO2 evasion of mountain river networks, owing to the pronounced turbulence in correspondence of each plunging jet and the low spacing between steps typical of high energy streams.
- Gianluca Botter
- , Anna Carozzani
- & Nicola Durighetto
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| Open AccessRecent global decline in rainfall interception loss due to altered rainfall regimes
Canopy rainfall interception (Ei) is a key component of global water cycle. Here, the authors quantify Ei using flux tower data and machine learning, and find that rainfall gets less partitioned into Ei as it gets more intense and less frequent.
- Xu Lian
- , Wenli Zhao
- & Pierre Gentine
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Comment
| Open AccessThe unknown biogeochemical impacts of drying rivers and streams
Rivers and streams are increasingly drying with climate change and biogeochemical impacts may be important. In this comment the authors discuss the challenges to the biogeochemistry of non-perennial rivers and streams, and what can be done to tackle them.
- Margaret A. Zimmer
- , Amy J. Burgin
- & Jacob Hosen
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| Open AccessQuantification of human contribution to soil moisture-based terrestrial aridity
Historical latitudinal and seasonal trends in global soil moisture aridity are attributable to greenhouse gas emissions.
- Yaoping Wang
- , Jiafu Mao
- & Yongjiu Dai
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| Open AccessBeaver dams overshadow climate extremes in controlling riparian hydrology and water quality
Beaver dams increase water flow gradients and nitrate removal far more than seasonal climate extremes. An expanding beaver range is an ecosystem feedback to climate change which could improve water quality.
- Christian Dewey
- , Patricia M. Fox
- & Scott Fendorf
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| Open AccessNetwork motifs shape distinct functioning of Earth’s moisture recycling hubs
By using network motifs, a new view of the global hydrological cycle is offered. With them, it is revealed that the Amazon rainforest is a one-of-a-kind moisture recycling hub, which shows that the ecosystem may be subject to increased vulnerability
- Nico Wunderling
- , Frederik Wolf
- & Arie Staal
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| Open AccessThe extent to which soil hydraulics can explain ecohydrological separation
Soil physics simulations show water isotope ratios can differ among drainage, mobile and immobile storages due to transport processes alone, but effects were smaller than field data implying unrepresented processes underly ecohydrologic separation.
- Catherine E. Finkenbiner
- , Stephen P. Good
- & Salini Sasidharan
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| Open AccessThe impact of phosphorus on projected Sub-Saharan Africa food security futures
New research finds future rock fertiliser use as a contributor towards food security in Sub-Saharan Africa can be achieved with both sustainability-driven and fossil-fuel-driven economic growth.
- Daniel Magnone
- , Vahid J. Niasar
- & Sheida Z. Sattari
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| Open AccessReconstructed eight-century streamflow in the Tibetan Plateau reveals contrasting regional variability and strong nonstationarity
A new study reconstructs eight-century streamflow over the South and East Tibetan Plateau, showing that observations underestimate the full range of long-term streamflow variability and revealing contrasting regional variability in streamflow between south and north study regions.
- Yenan Wu
- , Di Long
- & Chunhong Hu
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| Open AccessGlobal thermal spring distribution and relationship to endogenous and exogenous factors
Data from 6000 geothermal areas worldwide are analyzed with a machine learning approach. The analysis suggests and confirms a dominant role of the terrestrial heat flow, topography, volcanism and extensional tectonics.
- G. Tamburello
- , G. Chiodini
- & C. Masciantonio
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Article
| Open AccessTidewater-glacier response to supraglacial lake drainage
The effect of increasing surface melt on annual discharge is unknown for the Greenland Ice Sheet. Here, the authors find that Greenland’s largest single-glacier contributor to sea-level rise accommodates basal floods following supraglacial lake-drainage events with limited impact on ice flow.
- Laura A. Stevens
- , Meredith Nettles
- & Aaron Stubblefield
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| Open AccessMapping global lake dynamics reveals the emerging roles of small lakes
Lakes are essential components of the hydrological and biogeochemical cycles. Here, Pi et al develop a global lake dataset called GLAKES via high-resolution satellite images and deep learning to examine global lake changes over four decades.
- Xuehui Pi
- , Qiuqi Luo
- & Brett A. Bryan
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| Open AccessDiminishing seasonality of subtropical water availability in a warmer world dominated by soil moisture–atmosphere feedbacks
Here, the authors find increased dry–season and decreased wet–season water availability over subtropical regions and the Amazon. This is caused by seasonally varying soil moisture–atmosphere feedbacks under global warming.
- Sha Zhou
- , A. Park Williams
- & Pierre Gentine
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| Open AccessBlack carbon and dust alter the response of mountain snow cover under climate change
Black carbon and dust deposition advanced the end of the snow season by 17 days on average over the last 40 years in the French Alps and the Pyrenees. The warming-induced snow cover decline was partly offset by decreases in black carbon deposition observed since the 1980s.
- Marion Réveillet
- , Marie Dumont
- & Paul Ginoux
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| Open AccessModern groundwater reaches deeper depths in heavily pumped aquifer systems
Decades-old groundwater is vulnerable to pollution from land uses. This work shows that decades old groundwater flows to deep depths where groundwater pumping is more intense, implying that groundwater pumping can endanger deep groundwater quality.
- Melissa Thaw
- , Merhawi GebreEgziabher
- & Scott Jasechko
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| Open AccessClimate and land management accelerate the Brazilian water cycle
Increasing floods and droughts are raising concerns of an accelerating water cycle. A new study shows that the terrestrial water cycle in Brazil has been mostly drying or accelerating, aligned with changes in rainfall, water use, and forest cover.
- Vinícius B. P. Chagas
- , Pedro L. B. Chaffe
- & Günter Blöschl
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| Open AccessThe emerging role of drought as a regulator of dissolved organic carbon in boreal landscapes
Long-term records from boreal streams indicate strong seasonal redistributions of dissolved organic carbon concentrations and quality linked to the severity of summer drought conditions
- Tejshree Tiwari
- , Ryan A. Sponseller
- & Hjalmar Laudon
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| Open AccessInequality of household water security follows a Development Kuznets Curve
A new study considering data from 7603 households across 28 sites in 22 low- and middle-income countries show that inequality of household water security follows a Development Kuznets Curve.
- Feng Mao
- , Joshua D. Miller
- & Zeina Jamaluddine
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Article
| Open AccessCompeting effects of vegetation density on sedimentation in deltaic marshes
Wetland vegetation is typically considered only in terms of enhancing sediment accretion and positively impacting land-building. Here, the authors show that the degree of enhancement has a strong dependence on vegetation density through the influence on sediment supply and retention.
- Yuan Xu
- , Christopher R. Esposito
- & Heidi M. Nepf
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| Open AccessSpace-time monitoring of groundwater fluctuations with passive seismic interferometry
Characterization of groundwater systems is important for sustainable freshwater management. Here, the authors map the distribution of groundwater storage changes at several hundred meters below the metropolitan Los Angeles during 2000–2020, by developing a cost-effective method using ambient ground vibrations recorded by seismometers.
- Shujuan Mao
- , Albanne Lecointre
- & Michel Campillo
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| Open AccessLimited influence of irrigation on pre-monsoon heat stress in the Indo-Gangetic Plain
Pre-monsoon irrigation over the Indo-Gangetic Plain is often misrepresented in model-driven hypothesis. Using actual census-based data and realistic model simulations, the authors show that irrigation has limited role in enhancing heat stress in the region.
- Roshan Jha
- , Arpita Mondal
- & Subimal Ghosh
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| Open AccessConstrained CMIP6 projections indicate less warming and a slower increase in water availability across Asia
Reduction of uncertainty in climate projections is a key issue for climate change adaptation. Here the authors show that an applying an emergent constraint effectively reduces projection uncertainty across Asia, and reveals less warming and a slower increase in water availability than previously estimated.
- Yuanfang Chai
- , Yao Yue
- & Guojie Wang
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| Open AccessRising ecosystem water demand exacerbates the lengthening of tropical dry seasons
Changing precipitation pattern has been suggested to expand tropical dry seasons. Here, the authors show that this lengthening can be even more severe when accounting for the simultaneous rise of ecosystem water demand in a warmer climate.
- Hao Xu
- , Xu Lian
- & Shilong Piao
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Article
| Open AccessStructure induced laminar vortices control anomalous dispersion in porous media
Most porous systems comprise structures characterized by dead-end and transmitting pores. Here, authors show that macroscopic transport through such porous medium is controlled by structure-induced laminar vortices inside each dead-end pore, and such cannot be explained by diffusion alone.
- Ankur Deep Bordoloi
- , David Scheidweiler
- & Pietro de Anna
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| Open Access86Kr excess and other noble gases identify a billion-year-old radiogenically-enriched groundwater system
Noble gases confirm billion-year groundwater residence times and external fluxes in deep crustal settings globally with implications for subsurface habitability and economic reservoir formation over planetary timescales both on Earth and beyond
- O. Warr
- , C. J. Ballentine
- & B. Sherwood Lollar
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| Open AccessThe timing of unprecedented hydrological drought under climate change
Significant regional disparities exist in the time left to prepare for unprecedented drought and how much we can buy time depending on climate scenarios. Specific regions pass this timing by the middle of 21st century even with stringent mitigation.
- Yusuke Satoh
- , Kei Yoshimura
- & Taikan Oki
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| Open AccessEvaporative water loss of 1.42 million global lakes
While the evaporative water loss from global lakes is invisible, the volume is substantial. In recent decades, lake evaporation volume has been significantly increasing due to enhanced evaporation rate, melting lake ice, and expansion of water extent.
- Gang Zhao
- , Yao Li
- & Huilin Gao
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| Open AccessTropical volcanism enhanced the East Asian summer monsoon during the last millennium
The probability of an El Niño in the winter after large tropical volcanic eruptions increases. When this happens, summer monsoon precipitation over East Asia is enhanced, overwhelming thermodynamic precipitation reduction from volcanic cooling.
- Fei Liu
- , Chaochao Gao
- & Wenjie Dong
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| Open AccessHydrological control of river and seawater lithium isotopes
From modern seasonal to the deep time, global data show that continental hydrology has a direct and consistent effect on river and marine Li isotope compositions, highlighting a crucial role of climate on Earth’s weathering and the carbon cycle.
- Fei Zhang
- , Mathieu Dellinger
- & Zhangdong Jin
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| Open AccessAmplification of downstream flood stage due to damming of fine-grained rivers
Dams constructed on fine-grained rivers cause an increase in flow resistance downstream, thereby amplifying, rather than reducing, flood stage.
- Hongbo Ma
- , Jeffrey A. Nittrouer
- & Baosheng Wu
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| Open AccessDrought assessment has been outpaced by climate change: empirical arguments for a paradigm shift
Climate has changed over the last century, yet this change is seldom accounted for in drought assessment. This study quantifies drought bias due to climate change and suggests adjustment to align monitoring with contemporary risk.
- Zachary H. Hoylman
- , R. Kyle Bocinsky
- & Kelsey G. Jencso
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| Open AccessAmazonian terrestrial water balance inferred from satellite-observed water vapor isotopes
The evolution of the Amazon forest is tightly coupled to its terrestrial water balance. Here, the authors show that forest biomass changes in the Amazon are a driver of the spatiotemporal variation of evapotranspiration, and such changes could have a larger impact on water availability in the dry regions (southern, eastern) of the Amazon.
- Mingjie Shi
- , John R. Worden
- & Joshua B. Fisher
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| Open AccessA new conceptual framework for the transformation of groundwater dissolved organic matter
Dissolved organic matter becomes highly labile in dark anoxic groundwater environments, suggesting that groundwater extraction and subterranean groundwater discharge could be significant sources of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
- Liza K. McDonough
- , Martin S. Andersen
- & Andy Baker
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| Open AccessWidespread and increased drilling of wells into fossil aquifers in the USA
Fossil groundwater has been under the ground for more than ~12 thousand years. Here the authors show that many wells in the United States tap fossil groundwater resources, and that the frequency that wells are drilled into fossil aquifers is increasing, highlighting the importance of safeguarding fossil groundwater quality and quantity to meet present and future water demands.
- Merhawi GebreEgziabher
- , Scott Jasechko
- & Debra Perrone
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Article
| Open AccessExtreme rainstorms drive exceptional organic carbon export from forested humid-tropical rivers in Puerto Rico
Extreme rainfall in Puerto Rico leads to some of the highest particulate organic carbon yields. Here the authors find that global estimates of carbon export may be underestimated by up to 9% because of a lack of studies in the tropics.
- K. E. Clark
- , R. F. Stallard
- & W. H. McDowell
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| Open AccessDouble ridge formation over shallow water sills on Jupiter’s moon Europa
The formation of double ridges on Europa is poorly understood. Here the authors analyze airborne radar observations of an analog feature on the Greenland Ice Sheet to show that the refreezing of shallow water sills may produce such ridges.
- Riley Culberg
- , Dustin M. Schroeder
- & Gregor Steinbrügge
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| Open AccessTrade-off between tree planting and wetland conservation in China
Afforestation and reforestation programs aimed at enhancing carbon sequestration may have unintended effects on non-forest ecosystems and biodiversity. Here the authors use remote sensing and land surface modelling to quantify trade-offs between tree planting and wetland conservation in China
- Yi Xi
- , Shushi Peng
- & Xutao Tang
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| Open AccessA deep learning-based hybrid model of global terrestrial evaporation
Global evaporation is a key climatic process that remains highly uncertain. Here, the authors shed light on this process with a novel hybrid model that integrates a deep learning representation of ecosystem stress within a physics-based framework.
- Akash Koppa
- , Dominik Rains
- & Diego G. Miralles