Articles in 2014

The global ocean is a major heat reservoir of the climate system. This study investigates ocean warming for 2005–2013 in the context of global sea-level rise and Earth’s energy budget, and finds that the deep ocean (below 2,000 m) has contributed negligibly to both.

The ocean stores over 90% of the heat due to anthropogenic warming. This study uses satellite observations and climate models to investigate the warming of the upper ocean (0–700 m) and finds that warming is biased low, most likely because of poor Southern Hemisphere sampling. Applying adjustments results in a large increase in upper-ocean heat content estimates.

There is concern that ocean acidification will negatively affect the sensory abilities and behaviour of marine fishes. This study shows that negative impacts of elevated CO₂ on fish behaviour are not diminished by transgenerational acclimation.

The characteristics of the global mean temperature response to bioenergy production systems is explored under different assumptions and emissions scenarios in the context of the 2 °C target.

A systematic analysis shows that China’s climate policy on carbon intensity reduction may not help all Chinese regions to become more efficient and could actually lock the whole nation into a long-term emission-intensive economic structure.

This study shows that the biological impact and footprint of a leakage from a controlled sub-seabed release of carbon dioxide is confined to a few tens of metres, and identifies monitoring strategies for full-scale carbon storage operations.

A project to develop an approach to adaptation to sea-level rise with a local community is described. The result is a theoretically informed, empirically tested and locally supported adaptation pathway.

An analysis of a high-resolution global temperature data set shows that temperate and polar regions are becoming more tropical in their temperature variation profiles, potentially affecting organisms and impacting human agriculture and health.

An understanding of the personal frameworks we use to absorb and contextualize climate change information might help us to have more fruitful exchanges about climate policy.

Climate change mitigation can benefit human health by reducing air pollution. Research now shows that the economic value of health improvements can substantially outweigh mitigation costs, and that more flexible policies could have higher benefits.

Future Earth is a new international research initiative that aims to better prepare society for global environmental change and improve global sustainability. Nature Climate Change spoke to James Syvitski, Chair of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, one of the member organizations.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports provide the most reliable and robust assessment of understanding of the climate system. However, they do not include practitioner-based evidence, which is fundamental to make the reports a relevant source of information for decision-making.