Volume 14 Issue 2, February 2021

Chloride-rich particulate matter has been identified as a major contributor to air-quality deterioration in cities across India. Identification and reduction of chloride emissions could therefore improve visibility and human health across the region.

Martian atmospheric atoms are implanted in and alter regolith grains on the nearside surface of Phobos, according to an analysis of observations of ion escape from Mars’s atmosphere.

The CO mixing ratio in Mars’s atmosphere increases towards the poles because of downward transport of CO from the upper atmosphere, according to an analysis of data from the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter.

Light rain plays a disproportionate role in aerosol wet removal, according to improved simulations on rain intensity and frequency in global climate models.

Half of the reduced visibility due to haze formation in cities in India is attributed to local emission of gas-phase hydrochloric acid from waste-burning and industry, according to measurements of particulate matter and thermodynamic modelling.

Human-induced warming is responsible for the retreat of Palcaraju glacier and the associated increase in glacial lake outburst flood hazard, according to an analysis of observations and numerical models.

Southern Hemisphere processes largely set Antarctic climate during the last glacial, though events in the Northern Hemisphere strongly impacted short, centennial-scale changes, according to an analysis of high-resolution carbon dioxide and temperature records from an Antarctic ice core.

The presence of large rivers in North Africa critical for Quaternary human migrations were controlled by a combination of orbital forcing and Mediterranean storminess, according to terrestrial proxy records from a marine core off Libya integrated with paleoclimate modelling.

Deformation after large subduction earthquakes reflects the thermal contrast between the mantle wedge and its nose, according to numerical simulations and a synthesis of postseismic uplift data from subduction zones.