Tectonic processes can lead to the formation of semi-enclosed seas and the deposition of extensive salt deposits. This Review explores the drivers and impacts of the Mediterranean Messinian salinity crisis, including previously underconsidered impacts on the global carbon cycle.

The Southern Ocean represents a substantial carbon sink and heavily influences global carbon fluxes. This Review describes how an expanding suite of observations are providing increasing insight into the contribution of biota and plankton to the carbon cycle in the Southern Ocean.

Rainfall events are becoming less frequent but more intense with anthropogenic warming. This Review explores the consequences of these changes on plants and investigates how and why plant responses appear to broadly differ between dry and wet ecosystems.

Global greening continued into 2023, reaching near-record values that were dominated by regional enhancement in the mid-western USA, Europe, northern Australia and parts of equatorial Africa. In contrast, climatic events contributed to browning signals in Russia, Canada, Mexico and tropical drylands.