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The overflows from the Nordic seas maintain the deep branch of the North Atlantic circulation that is an important part of the global climate system. An analysis of observed ocean temperatures and salinities between 1950 and 2005 shows that the Atlantic water circulating in the Nordic seas is the main source for change in the overflow waters.
The period of relatively warm climate from 11,000 to 5,000 years ago was marked by considerable temporal and spatial variability. Model simulations relate this complexity to the influence of the waning Laurentide ice sheet.
The necessity of establishing boundaries between nationally and internationally administered areas of the sea floor has long been recognized. The UN-approved demarcation line must be scientifically inevitable to gain practical importance.
Iron can stimulate productivity in many regions of the world ocean, but only if it exists in a readily dissolvable form. Chemical analyses of typical aerosol particles show that the mineralogy of iron-containing particles largely determines their solubility.
Atmospheric deposition of nitrogen can, but does not always, speed up the sequestration of carbon in trees and forest soil. This complexity may arise from the spatial variations in each of the three mechanisms by which nitrogen affects carbon storage.
Climate model simulations do not perfectly match observations of Arctic sea-ice decline. Nevertheless, by combining models, observations and physical reasoning, it can be predicted that September sea ice is likely to vanish before the end of the twenty-first century.
In the 2008 Ilulissat Declaration, the five central Arctic states committed themselves to an orderly settlement of any overlapping claims in the Arctic. Nevertheless, the situation in the high north remains a crucial test for the functionality of the law of the sea.
Fabrizio Antonioli, Andrea Dutton and their colleagues prised a stalagmite out of an underwater cave to learn about sea levels during the penultimate interglacial period.
Verena Tunnicliffe, Robert W. Embley and their colleagues sank their remotely operated vehicle into a boiling pool of molten sulphur in their vigour to sample the deep ocean floor.
The St Elias orogen in Alaska is one of the world’s highest coastal mountain ranges. An age analysis of detrital material in active sediment systems in the inaccessible ice-covered valley bottoms reveals localized exhumation that is driven by coupling between erosion and active tectonic rock uplift.
The Earth's mantle constitutes over 80% of the planet's volume and is a key reservoir in global geochemical cycling. An overview of the progress in understanding the generation of mid-ocean-ridge basalt from mantle melt shows that a variety of processes chemically alter mantle signals in the melt generated at depth before its eruption at the sea floor.
Particulate aerosols are thought to be the primary source of iron to the oceans, but the factors determining their solubility, and thus bioavailability, are unclear. X-ray absorption analysis reveals that speciation controls the solubility of iron in three large sources of aerosol iron.
In the northwest Himalaya deeply incised mountain ranges contrast with high-elevation, low-relief areas such as the Deosai plateau in northern Pakistan. Thermochronology data from the Deosai plateau, together with thermal history modelling, suggest that this plateau, along with other morphologically similar surfaces, is a remnant of an Eocene southwestern Tibetan plateau.
Atmospheric particles are thought to initiate the majority of terrestrial precipitation. Field-based measurements of ice-crystal residues, together with controlled environment experiments on artificial clouds, suggest that anthropogenic lead-containing particles are among the most efficient ice-forming substances in the atmosphere.
Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are causing ocean acidification, compromising the ability of some marine organisms to build and maintain support structures. An analysis of mussels from a submarine volcano setting with natural low-pH conditions shows low shell thicknesses and growth rates, but survival over up to four decades.
The penultimate interglacial period was punctuated by three sea-level highstands. Uranium–thorium ages obtained from speleothems in Italian caves show that the relationship between the timing of the peaks in sea level and Northern Hemisphere insolation is dependent on the previous extent of continental ice sheets.
