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Research into the impacts of climate change on coastal wetlands has tended to focus on sea-level rise. Now modelling of Gulf of Mexico wetland plant community responses to climate change projects transformative ecological changes this century.
Satellite and atmospheric observations show that the rate of net biome productivity has accelerated over the warming ‘hiatus’ period (1998–2012). This net gain results from reduced respiration, rather than increased primary productivity.
Carbon dioxide emission scenarios rely on a number of assumptions about how societies will develop in the future, creating uncertainty in projections. Now, research reveals the sensitivity of emission estimates to some of these assumptions.
Human activity is changing Earth's climate. Now that this has been acknowledged and accepted in international negotiations, climate research needs to define its next frontiers.
Socioeconomic scenarios of climate change contain a number of assumptions, which lead to uncertainty in projections. Emission estimates in the scenarios are found to be most sensitive for assumptions about energy intensity and economic growth.
Extreme rainfall is predicted to increase with warming; however observations show differing rates of change. This study shows rainfall-associated cooling reduces the observed scaling rate. Projections show increased scaling rates in the future particularly for the strongest extremes.
A holistic and transdisciplinary approach is urgently required to investigate the physical and socio-economic impacts of collapsing coastlines in the Arctic nearshore zone.
Donald Trump's actions during the election and his first weeks as US president-elect send a strong message about his belief in climate change, or lack thereof. However, these actions may reflect polarization of climate change beliefs, not climate mitigation behaviour.
How clouds respond to warming remains the greatest source of uncertainty in climate projections. Improved computational and observational tools can reduce this uncertainty. Here we discuss the need for research focusing on high-resolution atmosphere models and the representation of clouds and turbulence within them.
The global North dominates climate change research, but contributions from the South are needed to address this global issue. This Perspective examines the North–South divide and proposes actions, across a range of scales and actors, that may help bridge the divide.
This Review assesses the reasons for concern framework, a key component of IPCC assessments which communicates risk associated with climate change. The study identifies limitations as well as points to extensions which would offer additional metrics.
An in-depth review of five major integrated assessment models from an industrial ecology perspective reveals differences between the fields regarding the modelling of linkages in the industrial system.
