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Quality requirements for water differ by intended use. Sustainable management of water resources for different uses will not only need to account for demand in water quantity, but also for water temperature and salinity, nutrient levels and other pollutants.
Developments in attribution science are improving our ability to detect human influence on extreme weather events. By implication, the legal duties of government, business and others to manage foreseeable harms are broadening, and may lead to more climate change litigation.
Reconstructions of Earth's past are much more than benchmarks for climate models. They also help us comprehend risk by providing concrete narratives for diverse climates.
The terrestrial water cycle is often assessed annually at catchment scale. But water stored in catchments is poorly mixed, and at timescales often well beyond the calculation of annual water balance.
Mining the deep seabed is fraught with challenges. Untapped mineral potential under the shallow, more accessible continental shelf could add a new dimension to offshore mining and help meet future mineral demand.
