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| Open AccessDistributed acoustic sensing of microseismic sources and wave propagation in glaciated terrain
In this study, Walter and colleagues deploy a 1 km long fiber optics cable on a glacier surface. Via the use of distributed acoustic sensing, the authors are capable of monitoring glacier dynamics and Alpine mass movements.
- F. Walter
- , D. Gräff
- & A. Fichtner
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| Open AccessMassive peatland carbon banks vulnerable to rising temperatures
One-third of Earth’s carbon is sequestered in peatlands, and its stability in the face of climate change is unknown. Here the authors show that warming leads to the release of carbon as methane, but only the most prolonged warming leads to the breakdown and release of deep, old carbon.
- A. M. Hopple
- , R. M. Wilson
- & S. D. Bridgham
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| Open AccessDrought and climate change impacts on cooling water shortages and electricity prices in Great Britain
The impacts of power plant water shortage during drought on electricity prices are understudied. Here the authors show that on extreme days, almost 50% (7 GWe) of the freshwater thermal capacity is unavailable in the Great Britain and annualized cumulative costs on electricity prices are in the range of £29-95m per year.
- Edward A. Byers
- , Gemma Coxon
- & Jim W. Hall
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| Open AccessThe role of calcium in regulating marine phosphorus burial and atmospheric oxygenation
Previous work suggests that marine oxygen levels and bioturbation are important factors that shape phosphorus burial and the size of the marine biosphere. Here the authors show that seawater calcium concentration is a key factor in controlling marine P burial, and thus the global oxygen cycle.
- Mingyu Zhao
- , Shuang Zhang
- & Noah Planavsky
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| Open AccessFast response of cold ice-rich permafrost in northeast Siberia to a warming climate
Siberian Arctic permafrost contains vast stores of carbon, the fate of which is dependent on the climate. Here the authors use models of future scenarios to show that under the direst climate changes up to 2/3 of the stored organic carbon could thaw.
- Jan Nitzbon
- , Sebastian Westermann
- & Julia Boike
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| Open AccessSkillful multiyear predictions of ocean acidification in the California Current System
Threats to marine ecosystems are increasing due to ocean acidification, but trends are spatiotemporally difficult to monitor or predict. Here the authors use an Earth system model to accurately predict surface pH changes in the economically and ecologically important California Current System.
- Riley X. Brady
- , Nicole S. Lovenduski
- & Keith Lindsay
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| Open AccessExceptionally high biosphere productivity at the beginning of Marine Isotopic Stage 11
Biosphere productivity is an important component of the CO2 cycle, but how it has varied over past glacial-interglacial cycles is not well known. Here, the authors present new data that shows that global biosphere productivity was 10 to 30% higher during Termination V compared to younger deglaciations.
- Margaux Brandon
- , Amaelle Landais
- & Thomas Blunier
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| Open AccessAssessing the impact of ETS trading profit on emission abatements based on firm-level transactions
Carbon emission trading is an important market-based policy instrument to reduce GHG emission using reward-punishment mechanism. Here the authors show that the EU emission trading schemes operate at its designed purpose and there is a positive and linear relationship between firm profits and the firms’ efforts in abatement.
- Jianfeng Guo
- , Fu Gu
- & Ying Fan
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| Open AccessThe intensification of Arctic warming as a result of CO2 physiological forcing
Plants respond to increasing CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere by stomatal closure which causes a reduction of evapotranspiration and thus latent heat flux. Here, the authors show that this CO2 physiological forcing strengthens Arctic warming through increasing sea ice loss and local feedbacks.
- So-Won Park
- , Jin-Soo Kim
- & Jong-Seong Kug
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| Open AccessMarine resource abundance drove pre-agricultural population increase in Stone Age Scandinavia
How the development of human societies is influenced through their ecological environment and climatic conditions has been the subject of intensive debate. Here, the authors present multi-proxy data from southern Scandinavia which suggests that pre-agricultural population growth there was likely influenced by enhanced marine production.
- J. P. Lewis
- , D. B. Ryves
- & S. Juggins
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| Open AccessSelf-organizing maps of typhoon tracks allow for flood forecasts up to two days in advance
Tropical cyclones can cause severe flooding when making landfall, but these water flows can often only be forecasted a few hours before. Here, the authors present a new approach using self-organizing maps and flow characteristic curves to predict tropical cyclone related runoff up to two days in advance.
- Li-Chiu Chang
- , Fi-John Chang
- & Edwin E. Herricks
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| Open AccessRecent hemispheric asymmetry in global ocean warming induced by climate change and internal variability
Observations of global ocean heat content during 2005–2015 have shown a strong hemispheric asymmetry, and the southern hemisphere accounts 92% of the total heat gain. Here, the authors show that the rate of observed global ocean warming is consistent with a forced symmetric climate change signal and an asymmetric climate variation for this period.
- Saurabh Rathore
- , Nathaniel L. Bindoff
- & Ming Feng
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| Open AccessPhysical drivers of the summer 2019 North Pacific marine heatwave
Marine heatwaves are threatening ocean ecosystems with increasing frequency, but their seasonal drivers are unknown. Here, the authors determine that summertime blobs of warm temperature anomalies in the Pacific occur as a result of prolonged weakening in the North Pacific High-Pressure System.
- Dillon J. Amaya
- , Arthur J. Miller
- & Yu Kosaka
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| Open AccessFire decline in dry tropical ecosystems enhances decadal land carbon sink
In recent history the amount of carbon captured by terrestrial systems has increased, but the processes driving this process has remained poorly constrained. Here the authors use a global carbon model to show that a decrease in wildfires has caused the land carbon sink to increase in the past few decades.
- Yi Yin
- , A. Anthony Bloom
- & David Schimel
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| Open AccessRedrawing the Iceland−Scotland Overflow Water pathways in the North Atlantic
Global ocean circulation overturns and starts anew in the North Atlantic, propagating climate signals to the rest of the oceans. Using drifter data, Zou and colleagues re-map the spreading pattern for one of the deep water masses and show the impact of mesoscale processes on that pattern.
- Sijia Zou
- , Amy Bower
- & Xiaobiao Xu
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| Open AccessSediment controls dynamic behavior of a Cordilleran Ice Stream at the Last Glacial Maximum
Tidewater glaciers in fjords can advance/retreat independent of climate due to stabilization by sediments at their termini. We show that an Alaskan paleo-ice stream behaved similarly on an open shelf, suggesting that increased sediment flux may delay catastrophic retreat of outlet glaciers in a warming world.
- Ellen A. Cowan
- , Sarah D. Zellers
- & Stewart J. Fallon
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| Open AccessPersistent global marine euxinia in the early Silurian
The Late Ordovician mass extinction has been attributed to extended marine anoxia. Here, the authors use a metal isotope mass balance model and find the marine anoxic event lasted over 3 million years, notably longer than the anoxic event associated with the Permian-Triassic extinction and Cretaceous ocean anoxic events.
- Richard G. Stockey
- , Devon B. Cole
- & Erik A. Sperling
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| Open AccessDrought alters the biogeochemistry of boreal stream networks
High latitude droughts are increasing, but their effects on freshwater systems are poorly understood. Here the authors investigate Sweden’s most severe drought in the last century and show that these dry conditions induce hypoxia and elevated methane production from streams.
- Lluís Gómez-Gener
- , Anna Lupon
- & Ryan A. Sponseller
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| Open AccessClimate change rapidly warms and acidifies Australian estuaries
Estuaries are diverse and important aquatic ecosystems, yet we lack information on their response to climate change. Here, the authors show that east Australian estuaries are warming and acidifying faster than predicted by ocean or atmospheric models; a trend that is magnified in shallow estuaries.
- Elliot Scanes
- , Peter R. Scanes
- & Pauline M. Ross
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| Open AccessInvasive earthworms unlock arctic plant nitrogen limitation
Arctic plant growth is predominantly nitrogen limited, where the slow nitrogen turnover in the soil is commonly attributed to the cold arctic climate. Here the authors show that the arctic plant-soil nitrogen cycling is also constrained by the lack of larger detritivores like earthworms.
- Gesche Blume-Werry
- , Eveline J. Krab
- & Jonatan Klaminder
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| Open AccessDeep CO2 in the end-Triassic Central Atlantic Magmatic Province
Many major mass extinction events have been associated with large volcanic eruption events, with the argument that large volumes of volcanic degassing could trigger past global climate changes. Here, the authors find that during the end-Triassic extinction event volcanic pulses emitted large amounts of CO2 comparable to projected anthropogenic emissions for the 21st century in the future 2 °C warming scenario.
- Manfredo Capriolo
- , Andrea Marzoli
- & Csaba Szabó
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| Open AccessThe critical role of humidity in modeling summer electricity demand across the United States
Cooling demand project largely ignores the role of humidity. Here the authors show that in many of the high energy consuming states, projections based on air temperature alone underestimates cooling demand by as much as 10–15% under both present and future climate scenarios, due to the neglected role of humidity.
- Debora Maia-Silva
- , Rohini Kumar
- & Roshanak Nateghi
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| Open AccessAccelerated dryland expansion regulates future variability in dryland gross primary production
Earth’s drylands are expected to expand due to climate change, but how this will affect vegetation remains unclear. Here the authors use models to show that despite expansion, primary productivity in drylands is likely to increase through the 21st Century.
- Jingyu Yao
- , Heping Liu
- & Xingyuan Chen
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| Open AccessEast Siberian Arctic inland waters emit mostly contemporary carbon
The release of ancient carbon from thawing permafrost is thought to have an important impact on global biogeochemistry through positive feedbacks. Here Dean and colleagues show that in Siberian permafrost, warming could liberate more contemporary carbon relative to aged counterparts.
- Joshua F. Dean
- , Ove H. Meisel
- & A. Johannes Dolman
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| Open AccessIdentifying a human signal in the North Atlantic warming hole
Most of the North Atlantic has seen strong increase in surface temperatures in recent decades, except for one region, which has been called the North Atlantic warming hole. Here, the authors employ detection and attribution techniques to show that this temperature pattern in recent decades is being caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.
- Rei Chemke
- , Laure Zanna
- & Lorenzo M. Polvani
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| Open AccessThe nature of deep overturning and reconfigurations of the silicon cycle across the last deglaciation
Global atmospheric CO2 varies between glacial–interglacial cycles. Here, the authors study these changes using Si records and how the Si flux and ocean circulation changes controlled the global Si distribution across the last deglaciation, based on high-resolution Si-isotope records from the Indian Sector Southern Ocean.
- M. Dumont
- , L. Pichevin
- & R. Ganeshram
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| Open AccessQuantifying contributions of chlorofluorocarbon banks to emissions and impacts on the ozone layer and climate
Following international agreements, the use of chlorofluorocarbons in production is supposed to be phased out. Here, the authors present a new estimate of these products already in use and their emissions and show that they are larger than expected and that not recovering these banks leads to a substantial delay in the polar ozone hole recovery.
- Megan Lickley
- , Susan Solomon
- & Kane Stone
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| Open AccessCausal networks for climate model evaluation and constrained projections
Algorithms to assess causal relationships in data sets have seen increasing applications in climate science in recent years. Here, the authors show that these techniques can help to systematically evaluate the performance of climate models and, as a result, to constrain uncertainties in future climate change projections.
- Peer Nowack
- , Jakob Runge
- & Joanna D. Haigh
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| Open AccessUltra-high open-circuit voltage of tin perovskite solar cells via an electron transporting layer design
Despite the lower device efficiency, tin perovskite based solar cells are preferred choices compared to lead-based counterparts due to much lower toxicity. Here Jiang et al. use a fullerene derivative to greatly suppress carrier interface recombination and obtain record high cell efficiency of 12%.
- Xianyuan Jiang
- , Fei Wang
- & Zhijun Ning
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| Open AccessGlobal lake thermal regions shift under climate change
Water temperature is a critical variable for lakes, but its spatial and temporal patterns are not well characterised globally. Here, the authors use surface temperature dynamics to define lake thermal regions that group lakes with similar patterns, and show how these regions shift under climate change.
- Stephen C. Maberly
- , Ruth A. O’Donnell
- & Andrew N. Tyler
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| Open AccessClimate adaptation by crop migration
Extreme high temperature events are increasing in frequency and severity, threatening the capacity for crops and farmers alike to adapt. Here Sloat and colleagues track the movement of cereal crops over the past 40 years, finding a global migration away from warming climates.
- Lindsey L. Sloat
- , Steven J. Davis
- & Nathaniel D. Mueller
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| Open AccessComparative performance of rural water supplies during drought
The authors compared the performance of a range of rural water supply types during drought in Ethiopia. They show that prioritising access to groundwater via multiple improved water sources and technologies, such as hand-pumped and motorised boreholes, supported by monitoring and proactive operation and maintenance increases rural water supply resilience.
- D. J. MacAllister
- , A. M. MacDonald
- & R. Calow
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| Open AccessVertical eddy iron fluxes support primary production in the open Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean is an important sink of carbon via the biological pump. Here authors run high-resolution physical/biogeochemical simulations of an open-Southern Ocean ecosystem forced with a realistic seasonal cycle and confirm that (sub)mesoscale iron transport across the mixing-layer base sustains primary productivity.
- Takaya Uchida
- , Dhruv Balwada
- & Marina Lévy
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| Open AccessMeasured greenhouse gas budgets challenge emission savings from palm-oil biodiesel
Palm oil biofuels are touted as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. Meijide and colleagues use greenhouse gas measurements to update life cycle assessments of oil palm growth scenarios and show that despite the promise, emission savings do not meet sustainability standards.
- Ana Meijide
- , Cristina de la Rua
- & Alexander Knohl
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| Open AccessPredominant regional biophysical cooling from recent land cover changes in Europe
Land cover change contributes to regional climate trends. Here, the authors use high-resolution land cover maps and state-of-the-art climate modelling to assess land cover change effects across Europe over 1992-2015, showing widespread cooling after agricultural abandonment but also different, region-specific effects.
- Bo Huang
- , Xiangping Hu
- & Francesco Cherubini
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| Open AccessAsian dust-storm activity dominated by Chinese dynasty changes since 2000 BP
How the Asian monsoon, earth surface processes and human development interact is not well known. Here, a new record of dust storm intensity shows a relationship between the stability of dynasties and dust storm activity for the last ~2200 years, which argues for a strong human control of dust storms in East Asia over this time.
- Fahu Chen
- , Shengqian Chen
- & Jianbao Liu
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| Open AccessEvapotranspiration depletes groundwater under warming over the contiguous United States
New hydrological simulations show for the first time how sensitive groundwater and surface water connections are to systematic warming across the continental United States. The authors here show a clear reduction in subsurface water storage under a warming climate and intensified aridification of north America.
- Laura E. Condon
- , Adam L. Atchley
- & Reed M. Maxwell
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| Open AccessAnthropogenically-driven increases in the risks of summertime compound hot extremes
Compound hot extremes that combine day- and nighttime heat have particularly strong impacts. Here, the authors show that anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases have made compound hot extremes increasingly frequent and intense, and project that under future emissions four to eight times as many people will be affected by them by 2100.
- Jun Wang
- , Yang Chen
- & Jiangjiang Xia
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| Open AccessCarbon footprint of global natural gas supplies to China
The carbon footprints of natural gas supplies at the field level are unclear. Here the authors analysed the GHG intensities of gas supplies from 104 fields and show that their GHG intensities range from 6.2 to 43.3 g CO2eq MJ-1.
- Yu Gan
- , Hassan M. El-Houjeiri
- & Michael Wang
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| Open AccessThe empirical basis for modelling glacial erosion rates
Glaciers have profoundly shaped Earth’s surface, but glacial erosion models lack a strong empirical basis. Cook et al. have compiled a dataset that illustrates how the speed at which glaciers move controls the rate at which they erode, and that climate is crucial in modulating glacier sliding speed and erosion rates.
- Simon J. Cook
- , Darrel A. Swift
- & Richard I. Waller
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| Open AccessEnhanced eddy activity in the Beaufort Gyre in response to sea ice loss
The freshwater content of the Beaufort Gyre in the Western Arctic Ocean has increased in response to almost two decades of persistent anti-cyclonic winds. Here, the authors found that dramatic loss of sea ice and acceleration of surface currents after 2007 led to a net annual wind energy input to the Beaufort Gyre, and anticipate that continued sea ice decline will lead to an increasingly energetic Beaufort Gyre.
- Thomas W. K. Armitage
- , Georgy E. Manucharyan
- & Andrew F. Thompson
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| Open AccessInitiation of a stable convective hydroclimatic regime in Central America circa 9000 years BP
What drives hydroclimate changes in tropical regions is not well known. Here, the authors present a 12,000 year long precipitation record from Guetemala which shows that exceeding a threshold in sea surface temperatures caused Central American rainfall to change from a dry to an active convective regime around 9000 years ago.
- Amos Winter
- , Davide Zanchettin
- & Carla Taricco
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| Open AccessTropical cyclone rainbands can trigger meteotsunamis
Tropical cyclones can cause severe damage, in particular through flooding of coastal areas. Here, the authors show that in addition to known impacts, tropical cyclone rainbands can cause meteotsunami waves that can contribute significantly to the total water levels and hence flooding risks.
- Luming Shi
- , Maitane Olabarrieta
- & John C. Warner
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| Open AccessGlobal meta-analysis shows pervasive phosphorus limitation of aboveground plant production in natural terrestrial ecosystems
Plants are thought to be limited by phosphorus (P) especially in tropical regions. Here, Hou et al. report a meta-analysis of P fertilization experiments to show widespread P limitation on plant growth across terrestrial ecosystems modulated by climate, ecosystem properties, and fertilization regimes
- Enqing Hou
- , Yiqi Luo
- & Dazhi Wen
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| Open AccessOcean circulation causes the largest freshening event for 120 years in eastern subpolar North Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation is important to the global climate system. Here the authors show that eastern subpolar North Atlantic underwent extreme freshening during 2012 to 2016, with a magnitude never seen before in 120 years of surface measurements.
- N. Penny Holliday
- , Manfred Bersch
- & Igor Yashayaev
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| Open AccessFingerprint of rice paddies in spatial–temporal dynamics of atmospheric methane concentration in monsoon Asia
The role of paddy rice agriculture in the spatial and temporal dynamics of atmospheric methane concentration remains unclear. Here, Zhang et al. show that regions with dense rice paddies have high satellite-based column averaged CH4 concentrations (XCH4), and that seasonal dynamics of XCH4 mirror those of paddy rice growth.
- Geli Zhang
- , Xiangming Xiao
- & Berrien Moore III
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| Open AccessSoil structure is an important omission in Earth System Models
The effect of soil structure is not included in most Earth System Models. The authors here introduce and evaluate the consequences at local and global scale of modifying hydraulic properties of soils in response to biological activity—a process significantly changing soil structure.
- Simone Fatichi
- , Dani Or
- & Roni Avissar
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| Open AccessLearning algorithms allow for improved reliability and accuracy of global mean surface temperature projections
The ensemble spread of climate models is often interpreted as the uncertainty of the projection, but this is not always justified. Applying learning algorithms to an ensemble of climate predictions allows for a significant uncertainty reduction of projected global mean surface temperatures compared to the ensemble spread.
- Ehud Strobach
- & Golan Bel
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| Open AccessNo detectable Weddell Sea Antarctic Bottom Water export during the Last and Penultimate Glacial Maximum
The Southern Ocean plays a key role in glacial-interglacial transitions and today, Weddell Sea derived Antarctic Bottom Water is one of the most important deep water masses. New records show that in contrast to today, no Weddell Sea water was exported during the last two glacial maxima, providing new insights towards the condition of Antarctic Bottom Water formation in extreme climate states.
- Huang Huang
- , Marcus Gutjahr
- & Gerhard Kuhn