The 2015 Langtang Avalanche in Nepal was exacerbated by deep snow cover and warm temperatures, amplifying the mobility, destructive force, and lubricating effect of melt water on the flowing mass, according to analysis of avalanche runout under various air temperature and snow depth conditions.

Humans must be represented within digital twins of the Earth, but they also play a role outside to govern development and access and guide usage, argues a perspective based on interdisciplinary scientific expert viewpoints.

2023 temperatures fall in line with historical trends, with warm anomalies typical of El Niño, indicating dominance of sea surface temperature variability and regional forcing, according to an analysis for isolating the 2023 global surface contribution from various ocean basins.

The application of mild electric stimulations to marine soils produces artificial calcareous cementation and has the potential to mitigate coastal erosion by reinforcing vulnerable marine soils, according to electrochemical laboratory experiments

About 6000 to 7000 years ago, upwelling and precipitation were highly seasonal in East China; summers were likely wetter, while winter dry seasons were longer compared to current conditions, based on high-resolution geochemical records of oyster shells from the Yangtze River delta, China.

The Antarctic ice sheet meltwater impacts Atlantic meridional overturning circulation by cooling surface and shifting Intertropical Convergence Zone northward, causing increased precipitation, lower salinity, and reduced circulation strength in the northern tropical Atlantic, according to results from an ocean-atmosphere coupled general circulation model.

The formation of bioavailable phosphorous under moderate and high-temperature metamorphic conditions was a potential pathway for the synthesis of organic molecules necessary for the origin of life, according to laboratory experiments and thermodynamic modeling.

Single-crystal paleointensity measurements of Apollo samples suggest that if the Moon’s core produced a magnetic field, it disappeared by 4.36 billion years ago, possibly allowing a record of Earth’s Hadean atmosphere to be preserved in the lunar regolith.

Saphire mining at Bemainty, Madagascar in 2016, had limited impacts on the surrounding forest loss and degradation relative to other threats, according to an analysis combining mapping method with informal miners’ interviews and survey of lemurs.

The Barium to Calcium ratio is an ideal proxy for studying rainfall-driven prior carbonate precipitation in slow growing aragonite speleothems, suggests a high-resolution geochemical study of drip water samples from Grotte de Piste, Morocco.

Obituaries of scientists are much more often about men than women. At Communications Earth & Environment, we are initiating a series of articles highlighting the lives and work of women scientists, aiming to inspire the next generation with their stories and career paths.

An adventurous ecologist, Cheryl Ann Palm brought together agriculture, forest and social science experts and pioneered interdisciplinary approaches to reduce deforestation and enhance food security.

Achieving the long-term temperature goal of the Paris Agreement relies on every actor maximising their effort to reduce emissions. Generic targets claiming a basis in science have been used to justify inequitable efforts that insufficiently stretch the ambition of the best-resourced countries and companies.

A combination of anthropogenic warming and natural variability led to another record-breaking year of warmth in 2023. Global mean temperatures in 2023 nearly exceeded the 1.5 °C threshold, making it both a scientific and societal imperative to understand the underlying reasons for this warmth.

Attribution of the record-shattering global annual heat in 2023 to human and/or natural factors is fundamentally required for reliable predictions of upcoming global warming and its impacts. An observation-model comparison of global hot areas supports a key role for human-induced climate change, with a small contribution from El Niño.

In northern China and the Korean Peninsula, air pollution has worsened over the past ten years, but the two countries have not cooperated efficiently to resolve the problem. China and Korea must separate environmental negotiations and diplomatic actions to address the transboundary nature of air pollution.