Volume 5 Issue 1, January 2015

A sustainable global ocean observation system requires timely implementation of the framework for ocean observing. The recent Qingdao Global Ocean Summit highlighted the need for a more coherent institutional response to maintain an integrated ocean-observing system.

The impacts of extreme events are triggering action and reaction — sometimes in unexpected ways. Confronted by 'adaptation emergencies', the private sector is rapidly innovating climate risk management, but governments must also fulfil their responsibilities.

Climate change is full of uncertainty and the messengers of climate science are not getting the uncertainty narrative right. To communicate uncertainty one must first understand it, and then avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

Focusing on policies and effort costs rather than emissions may facilitate climate negotiations and improve the chances of reaching a successful agreement. The effort costs of a country comprise investments in low-carbon technologies, in addition to direct mitigation costs.

Reflection on the rapidly growing field of ocean acidification research highlights priorities for future research on the changing ocean.

The chinese carbon market is up and running, but private finance has not been fully utilized. Finance-friendly policies are needed to help the world's largest greenhouse-gas emitter to harness market forces for climate change mitigation.

Emissions pledges from the United States and China have re-energized the push for a global climate agreement. Anna Petherick considers how serious the promises are.

Global models highlight that environmental change in marine ecosystems is caused by multiple stressors. Now a study puts these projections into a biogeographical framework suitable for integration with wider biological understanding and more robust impact assessment.

Constraining climate sensitivity is a top priority for climate science. Now research shows that the details of how stratospheric ozone is represented in models can have a strong influence on warming projections.

Those concerned with human responses to climate-related impacts increasingly use resilience as a framing concept. This Perspective critiques dominant approaches to resilience building and advocates a human livelihoods-based path.

Tropical forests provide many ecosystem and climatic services. This Review provides a synthesis of the effects of tropical deforestation on climate and implications for agriculture, both in the tropics and worldwide.

It is commonly assumed that pro-environmental behaviour can be triggered by offering an extrinsic reward. Now research shows that acting pro-environmentally elicits positive feelings and leads people to feel warmer. In experiments, people who learn they act in an environmentally friendly way feel good about themselves and perceive a higher room temperature than people who learn their behaviour is environmentally unfriendly.

Climate models include many processes that may be simplified to save computational time. This work shows that model representation of upper atmosphere ozone can impact on the projected climate sensitivity.

In 2003, Europe experienced a summer heatwave that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. This study uses observation and model data to show that human influence is increasing the probability of extremely hot summers in Europe, with events now expected to occur twice a decade, compared with predictions of twice a century in the early 2000s.

Melt lakes form each year on the surface of the Greenland ice sheet but currently occur in regions with good subglacial drainage. An investigation of the impacts of the warming climate finds that the lakes will expand to higher elevations where ice-sheet drainage is not as efficient, which could result in enhanced lubrication and warming of the base of the ice.

Parameterization of the temperature sensitivity of decomposition and efficiency of microbial carbon use represent large sources of uncertainty in soil carbon–climate responses. Now research shows that interactions between temperature, microbial biogeochemistry and mineral surface sorptive reactions could result in variable but weaker soil carbon–climate feedbacks compared with conventional substrate characterization with static temperature sensitivity.

Acclimation, a form of physiological plasticity, is the capacity for organisms to physiologically adjust to temperature variation. Such changes can potentially reduce climate change impacts on animal populations. Research synthesizing the current state of knowledge about physiological plasticity in ectotherms shows that freshwater and marine animals seem to have a greater capacity for acclimation than terrestrial ones.

The release of carbon from decomposing Arctic soils, following permafrost thaw, is a potentially important climate feedback. Research now shows how shrub cover protects permafrost carbon reservoirs. Manipulative experiments show that the loss of shrub cover leads to a transition of the tundra to waterlogged methane-emitting conditions.

Modelling studies of climate change impacts on phytoplankton typically consider individual properties, which ignores the complex nature of the marine environment. This work undertakes regional assessments using multiple properties, including interactions, and finds shifts of <20–300% in phytoplankton physiological rates.

The ocean is absorbing large amounts of anthropogenic heat and carbon. This is altering many ocean properties, which will influence the viability and health of marine biota. At the base of the foodchain are phytoplankton, the primary producers, which not only support the marine ecosystem but sequester carbon to the deep ocean. In this web focus we present a variety of original research and opinion pieces that highlight the pressures on marine phytoplankton under climate change and suggest directions for future research.