Rupture depth helps explain variations in the size of tsunamis produced by earthquakes, according to numerical modelling and an array of observations.

Ice-shelf surface rivers can form estuaries that promote fracturing and enhance calving, according to observations from the Petermann and Ryder ice shelves in Greenland.

Heat stored in the deep ocean due to salinity stratification contributed to rapid Antarctic warming during middle and late Pleistocene glacial terminations, according to coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation model simulations.

Increased volcanism-related phosphorus delivery to the Late Ordovician ocean helps explain widespread cooling and eutrophication-driven extinctions, as shown by a biogeochemical model incorporating volcanic ash phosphorus and carbon isotope records.

Long-period seismicity at volcanoes may be generated by deformation of weak material in the subsurface, not solely by fluid movement, according to rock deformation experiments.

Interglacial temperature coupling between East Antarctica and the Southern Ocean was set by the position of moisture source regions, according to an 800,000-year-long deuterium-excess ice-core record from East Antarctica.

The Global Methane Pledge is a good start, but larger cuts in emissions are achievable with current technology. More ambition is needed to help limit warming to 1.5 °C.

Colonial relationships with Indigenous land and knowledge in geoscience disciplines must be acknowledged to address harm and change how science is done, argues Max Liboiron.

Leveraging advances in artificial intelligence could revolutionize the Earth and environmental sciences. We must ensure that our research funding and training choices give the next generation of geoscientists the capacity to realize this potential.

The Earth’s climate is a complex system and palaeoclimate reconstructions can be used to test and expand on the knowledge gained from physical models during intervals of rapid climate fluctuations.

Marine microbes have shaped the climate throughout Earth’s history. Integration of microbial carbon cycling dynamics across a range of spatial scales will be critical for understanding the ocean’s impact in light of a changing climate.

We chat with Vincent Ialenti, a University of Southern California Berggruen Fellow, about thinking on geological timescales. Ialenti’s recent book, Deep Time Reckoning (MIT Press, 2020), chronicles his anthropological work on the institution responsible for the long-term safety of a Finnish nuclear waste repository.