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While it may feel cold to the touch, Sheng Fan and David Prior explain that ice on Earth is relatively hot. Understanding ‘hot’ ice physics during deformation is critical in determining future sea-level rise.
Methane dissociated from the base of the hydrate stability zone off Mauritania during warm interglacials travelled up to 40 km landward beyond where methane hydrates are typically found before venting out, according to 3D seismic imagery.
Marine microfossil assemblages refine sea surface temperature patterns and yield insights into discrepancies between paleoclimate models of the last ice age and observations.
Spatial changes in planktonic foraminifera species assemblages reveal steeper thermal gradients in the North Atlantic Ocean during the Last Glacial Maximum than simulated by climate models, according to a macroecological analysis of marine sediment cores.
Three decades of meteorological observations show that Himalayan glaciers have been cooling because of intensified downslope winds, in contrast to the warming observed elsewhere in the region.
Spatially distinct ice-sheet growth on the Antarctic Peninsula through the Pleistocene was the result of dynamic topography and pre-glacial landscape evolution, not climate, according to a palaeotopographic reconstruction and ice-sheet modelling.
High-elevation meteorological observations and reanalysis data indicate local cooling and drying near Himalayan glaciers due to enhanced katabatic winds in response to global warming.
Plant diversity stabilizes grassland soil temperature by boosting soil organic carbon and increasing plant leaf area, according to an 18-year plant diversity experiment.
Weathering of mafic and ultramafic lithologies in ophiolites can enhance the preservation of organic carbon through the formation of smectite clays and modulate Earth’s climate, according to a coupled mineral weathering and carbon box model.
A geochemical study of an ancient mass-extinction event shows that only moderate expansion of oxygen-deficient waters along continental margins is needed to decimate marine biodiversity. This finding provides a stark warning of the possible consequences of human-driven ocean deoxygenation on life in Earth’s shallow oceans.
While global ocean redox patterns during the end Triassic were similar to today, pulses of localized anoxia were probably linked to mass extinctions on continental shelves, according to analysis of molybdenum records.
Abrupt changes in atmospheric methane through the last deglaciation were largely the result of tropical sources responding to shifting rainfall patterns, according to a comparison of precisely dated ice cores in Greenland and Antarctica.
The century-scale marine sequestration flux of biogenic inorganic carbon driven by the biological pump over the whole water column may be several times higher than previous estimates.
Analysis of sea temperatures using a four-dimensional spatio-temporal framework has revealed a great number of marine heatwaves occurring globally below the sea surface. These extreme events, which threaten the ecologically important epipelagic zone, have occurred increasingly frequently during the past three decades owing to ocean warming.
Convection-permitting simulations suggest that the radiative impact of aerosol–cloud interactions is enhanced by adjustments to large-scale circulation, which increase cloudiness.