News & Views

Emerging evidence indicates that groundwater flow significantly impacts the distribution and characteristics of subsea permafrost, as well as the geomorphology of the subarctic seafloor.

As climate change accelerates, fire regimes are increasingly disrupting ecosystems and carbon storage. A modelling study reveals that fire is already acting to substantially weaken global carbon sinks, potentially undermining efforts to limit warming.

The processes that control the deformation and eventual destruction of Earth’s oldest continental crust are unclear. Mantle flow models suggest subduction played a role in the deformation of the North China Craton.

Tracking biodiversity potential is time-sensitive under climate change, especially in the most remote areas. A new analysis fulfils a long-standing need to map the terrestrial vegetation across Antarctica — a crucial step to identify carbon and nutrient cycling hotspots.

Surface meltwater plays a key role in ice shelf stability, and consequently, Antarctica’s sea level contributions. New satellite observations suggest there is substantially more surface meltwater than previously thought, and models are underestimating it.

The fate of water carried by subducted slabs to the deep Earth remains unclear. Experiments suggest that water is unlikely to escape the slabs when they reach the core–mantle boundary despite high pressures and temperatures.

A field experiment in Uganda shows how potassium and phosphorus keep leaves functioning during times of water scarcity, highlighting the need to consider ecosystem-scale processes in studying the response of forests to nutrient limitation.

Ongoing climate warming is heating the subsurface. Projections suggest that by the end of the century millions of people will live in areas where groundwater exceeds the highest threshold for drinking water temperatures.

The Arctic has warmed almost four times faster than the global average over the past four decades. This fourfold rate of warming is an extraordinary manifestation of natural climate variability and anthropogenic climate change.

Observations, theory, and modelling reduce the uncertainty in high cloud feedbacks, suggesting a higher climate sensitivity than previously thought.

The trace-element compositions of mantle-derived basalts suggest that the asthenosphere has two distinct melt layers, with unique chemical compositions and physical properties.

Pollution by per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) is widespread in global water resources and likely to be underestimated, according to global analysis of available PFAS data.

The Moon’s primordial solidification is believed to have produced a layer of dense ilmenite cumulates beneath the crust. Remnants of this layer have now been detected under the lunar nearside.

Volcanism after large, caldera-forming eruptions is thought to be muted. Exploration of the partially submerged caldera of Santorini reveals that large explosive eruptions have occurred since the caldera formed.

Canal networks in Southeast Asian peatlands are zones of rapid, light-driven biogeochemical cycling. The canals increase carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere and decrease organic carbon export to the ocean.

Megathrust earthquakes along subduction zones present significant hazards. Evidence from the South Chile subduction zone suggests that the structure and fluid distribution of the megathrust interface governs the size and timing of large earthquakes.

Marine microfossil assemblages refine sea surface temperature patterns and yield insights into discrepancies between paleoclimate models of the last ice age and observations.

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.

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.

Identifying the metal micronutrients required by early life could help to illuminate how primitive organisms arose, but which metals were biologically available in ancient seawater has not been determined. A new experimental framework suggests how the precipitation of iron minerals from seawater reduced the availability of key metals, particularly zinc, copper and vanadium.