Volume 12 Issue 1, January 2022

To date, values are not widely acknowledged or discussed within physical climate science. Yet, effective management of values in physical climate science is required for the benefit of both science and society.

Flooding-adaptation studies often ignore unique social, cultural and institutional drivers. Now, research illuminates the drivers that are unique versus shared across socio-cultural contexts and adaptations, which vary in ease of implementation.

The climate system may respond in different ways to reductions in atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. Work now shows a delayed recovery (hysteresis) of the tropical rainbelt, with widespread implications for water resources.

As temperatures rise, plants unfold their leaves earlier in spring, but whether plant roots respond similarly is seldom quantified. Now, a meta-analysis suggests that leaf and root phenology do not respond to warming in the same way, even within the same plant types.

Climate change is threatening coral-reef-associated ecosystem services and people’s well-being. Addressing direct and indirect coral reef stressors while developing pathways towards recovery and adaptations could mitigate negative impacts, especially in coastal developing countries.

Net-zero emissions is more than a concept of physical climate science. It is implemented in social, political and economic contexts. This Perspective proposes seven attributes that are critical for the practical and effective implementation of net zero.

Border carbon adjustments are appraised as a measure to address carbon leakage and competitiveness concerns. This Review Article discusses the possible impacts, as well as practical challenges for implementation.

The context and motivation around adaptation are influenced by local culture and institutions. In the United States, China, Indonesia and the Netherlands, some factors (such as perceived costs) have similar influences on household adaptation to flooding, but others (such as flood experience) differ between countries.

Evaluation of mitigation actions often focuses on cost and overlooks the direct effects on well-being. This work shows demand-side measures have large mitigation potential and beneficial effects on well-being outcomes.

In idealized model experiments where CO₂ increases four-fold before returning to its original level, temperature and precipitation show almost linear responses to CO₂ forcing. In contrast, the response of the Intertropical Convergence Zone lags behind CO₂ changes, associated with delayed energy exchanges.

Antarctic sea ice extent is thought to be stable or increasing, in contrast to Arctic declines. Estimates of seasonal Antarctic sea ice from reconstructions show that increases are confined to the satellite era, post-1979, with substantial decreases in the early and mid-twentieth century.

Climate change has led to increased fire activity in parts of the globe due to observed increases in fire weather extremes. These trends are driven predominantly by decreasing relative humidity and increasing temperature.

Land degradation in drylands impacts livelihoods and productivity and is affected by biocrusts that stabilize the soil. Long-term experiments show that biocrust recovery from disturbance is faster than expected, but stopped under warming, with warming alone causing loss of biocrust groups and soil stability.

The authors incorporate intraspecific variation into a dynamic range model to predict the consequences of twenty-first century warming on six European alpine plants. As well as overall range loss, their model predicts a decrease in the frequency of warm-adapted haplotypes in five out of six species.

The authors develop a high-resolution model of coral larval dispersal for the southern Great Barrier Reef. They show that 2 °C of warming decreases larval dispersal distance and connectivity of reefs, hampering post-disturbance recovery and the potential spread of warm-adapted genes.

There is a balance in mitigation pathway design between economic transition cost and physical climate threats. This study provides a comprehensive framework to assess the near- and long-term risks under various warming scenarios globally and in particular regions.

The authors conduct a meta-analysis to reveal mismatches in above- and belowground plant phenological responses to warming that differ by plant type (herbaceous versus woody). The work highlights a need for further research and consideration of under-represented belowground phenological changes.