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| Open AccessSediment discharge from Greenland’s marine-terminating glaciers is linked with surface melt
As Greenland’s huge calving glaciers melt, they pump sediment deep into biologically rich fjords. In this study, the quantity and path of this sediment is tracked and an empirical relationship is found between sediment and the amount of surface melt on the glacier.
- Camilla S. Andresen
- , Nanna B. Karlsson
- & Ida E. Gundel
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Article
| Open AccessPolar bear energetic and behavioral strategies on land with implications for surviving the ice-free period
Declining Arctic sea ice is increasing polar bear land use. Here, the authors follow 20 different polar bears on land over 3 years and measure daily energy expenditure finding that despite behavioural and diet plasticity the bears are at risk of starvation.
- Anthony M. Pagano
- , Karyn D. Rode
- & Charles T. Robbins
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| Open AccessPlant invasion and naturalization are influenced by genome size, ecology and economic use globally
Plant invasion and naturalisation threaten native biodiversity. Here, the authors conduct a global multi-factor and multi-stage analysis, showing that genome size and economic factors influence plant invasion and naturalisation.
- Kun Guo
- , Petr Pyšek
- & Wen-Yong Guo
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Article
| Open AccessHuman-triggered magnification of erosion rates in European Alps since the Bronze Age
Using a lake sediment core taken from the European Alps and combining a source-sink approach with isotope geochemistry, it has been established that the effects of human activities have outweighed those of climate on erosion for more than 3800 years.
- William Rapuc
- , Charline Giguet-Covex
- & Fabien Arnaud
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Article
| Open AccessSustainable conversion of alkaline nitrate to ammonia at activities greater than 2 A cm−2
Alkaline nitrate electroreduction to ammonia is restricted by insufficient H+ supply. Here, the authors propose a halogen-mediated H+ feeding strategy, by triggering dangling O-H water dissociation and fast *H desorption for *NO intermediate hydrogenation, to enhance the formation of ammonia.
- Wanru Liao
- , Jun Wang
- & Min Liu
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Article
| Open AccessA slow-fast trait continuum at the whole community level in relation to land-use intensification
Although co-occurring species may differ widely in their response traits, coordinated functional trait shifts may emerge at the community level in response to environmental factors. Here, the authors use data from 150 grassland sites to identify a coordinated slow-fast strategy response to land-use intensification across above- and belowground taxa.
- Margot Neyret
- , Gaëtane Le Provost
- & Peter Manning
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Article
| Open AccessMapping the global distribution of C4 vegetation using observations and optimality theory
Due to fundamental anatomical and biochemical differences, C3 and C4 plant species tend to differ in their biogeography and response to climate change. Here, the authors use global observations and optimality theory to map patterns and temporal trends in C4 species distribution and the contribution of C4 plants to global photosynthesis.
- Xiangzhong Luo
- , Haoran Zhou
- & Christopher J. Still
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Article
| Open AccessDansgaard-Oeschger cycles of the penultimate and last glacial period recorded in stalagmites from Türkiye
Abrupt millennial-scale climate variability, known as Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) events, characterized the last glacial. Stalagmite data from northern Türkiye show D-O events for the penultimate glacial period, though they were less frequent.
- F. Held
- , H. Cheng
- & D. Fleitmann
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Article
| Open AccessHybrid AI-enhanced lightning flash prediction in the medium-range forecast horizon
In this work, authors propose a synergistic approach combining state-of-the-art deterministic forecasting model with artificial intelligence for predicting lightning occurrences. The strategy shows efficient predictive capabilities at medium-range forecast horizons.
- Mattia Cavaiola
- , Federico Cassola
- & Andrea Mazzino
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Article
| Open AccessExperimental warming accelerates positive soil priming in a temperate grassland ecosystem
Soil priming could release large amounts of soil C into the atmosphere. Here the authors show that experimental warming boosts soil priming and CO2 emissions in grasslands potentially due to microbial changes. Model accuracy could be improved by incorporating these mechanisms.
- Xuanyu Tao
- , Zhifeng Yang
- & Jizhong Zhou
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Article
| Open AccessShear margins in upper half of Northeast Greenland Ice Stream were established two millennia ago
The flow of ice streams leaves traces in the stratigraphy of the ice sheets. Made visible by radar, they reveal the history of the upper North East Greenland Ice Stream. The ice stream is found to have existed in its current form for only about the last 2000 years.
- Daniela Jansen
- , Steven Franke
- & Paul D. Bons
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Article
| Open AccessContribution of climate change to the spatial expansion of West Nile virus in Europe
West Nile Virus is emerging as an important pathogen in Europe, likely driven by recent climate and land-use changes. Here, the authors estimate the extent of the climate change-driven impact by modelling the change in West Nile Virus ecological suitability across the continent in the absence of climate change.
- Diana Erazo
- , Luke Grant
- & Simon Dellicour
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Article
| Open AccessProcess-evaluation of forest aerosol-cloud-climate feedback shows clear evidence from observations and large uncertainty in models
This study shows that trees are likely to change clouds in the future and reveals that climate models struggle to accurately represent the relevant processes of aerosol-cloud-climate interactions over forests.
- Sara M. Blichner
- , Taina Yli-Juuti
- & Ilona Riipinen
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Article
| Open AccessLarge-scale groundwater flow and sedimentary diagenesis in continental shelves influence marine chemical budgets
New mass-balance calculations show that the bulk chemistry of the ocean is strongly influenced by flow of seawater through sediments deep within continental shelves, with implications for global carbon budgets.
- Alicia M. Wilson
- , Andrew Osborne
- & Scott M. White
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| Open AccessA triple increase in global river basins with water scarcity due to future pollution
Here the authors find one third of global sub-basins will face severe clean water scarcity in 2050. Nitrogen pollution aggravates water scarcity in >2,000 sub-basins thus 3 billion more people will be posed with severe water scarcity in 2050.
- Mengru Wang
- , Benjamin Leon Bodirsky
- & Maryna Strokal
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| Open AccessMonitoring ocean currents during the passage of Typhoon Muifa using optical-fiber distributed acoustic sensing
Using microseismic noise observed by distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) with a submarine cable, this study measures the magnitude and direction of ocean currents during the passage of typhoon Muifa and estimates the ocean wave propagation.
- Jianmin Lin
- , Sunke Fang
- & Wen Xu
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Article
| Open AccessAvoiding ecosystem and social impacts of hydropower, wind, and solar in Southern Africa’s low-carbon electricity system
Avoiding the most damaging land use and freshwater impacts of solar PV, wind, and hydropower development while halving carbon emissions by 2040 in the Southern Africa region is not only possible but incurs only modest (3-6%) system cost increases.
- Grace C. Wu
- , Ranjit Deshmukh
- & Kudakwashe Ndhlukula
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Article
| Open AccessExploring negative emission potential of biochar to achieve carbon neutrality goal in China
Authors analyze the potential of biochar in China, revealing it could sequester up to 0.92 billion tons of CO2 per year with an average net cost of US$90 per ton of CO2 in a sustainable manner, supporting carbon neutrality goal by 2060.
- Xu Deng
- , Fei Teng
- & Pan Wang
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| Open AccessStringent sustainability regulations for global supply chains are supported across middle-income democracies
Citizens in middle-income countries (Brazil, India, Indonesia) support aligning local sustainability rules with new laws originating in OECD nations. People favor stricter regulations, driven by optimistic expectations of the benefits outweighing potential costs.
- E. Keith Smith
- , Dennis Kolcava
- & Thomas Bernauer
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| Open AccessEast Antarctic warming forced by ice loss during the Last Interglacial
Climate simulations of the Last Interglacial show that Antarctic ice loss induces warming of East Antarctica. Meltwater equivalent to the ice loss induces warming of the subsurface. Both effects can further enhance Antarctic ice sheet deterioration
- David K. Hutchinson
- , Laurie Menviel
- & Andrew McC. Hogg
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Article
| Open AccessLoess deposits in the low latitudes of East Asia reveal the ~20-kyr precipitation cycle
Earth’s orbit has tuned the variations of the East Asian summer monsoon. Here, a low latitude loess palaeoclimate record provides evidence that variation in monsoon rainfall is dominated by the precession cycle.
- Xusheng Li
- , Yuwen Zhou
- & Huayu Lu
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Article
| Open AccessSustainability benefits of transitioning from current diets to plant-based alternatives or whole-food diets in Sweden
The authors found that replacing animal source foods with plant-based alternatives would lead to substantial reductions in environmental impacts, while meeting most nutrition recommendations and being cost-competitive with the current average Swedish diet.
- Anne Charlotte Bunge
- , Rachel Mazac
- & Line Gordon
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Comment
| Open AccessOpening the door to multi-year marine habitat forecasts
Combining ocean predictions with physiological understanding yields the ability to forecast habitat multiple years into the future for a wide variety of marine organisms. However, several challenges remain before we see the regular production and use of marine habitat forecasts.
- Mark R. Payne
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| Open AccessSkillful multiyear prediction of marine habitat shifts jointly constrained by ocean temperature and dissolved oxygen
Here, the authors show that multiyear prediction of marine habitat shifts can be skillfully accomplished by combining trait based aerobic habitat constraints with a suite of initialized retrospective Earth System Model temperature forecasts.
- Zhuomin Chen
- , Samantha Siedlecki
- & Curtis A. Deutsch
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Article
| Open AccessIncreased nitrous oxide emissions from global lakes and reservoirs since the pre-industrial era
Modeling shows that N2O emissions from global lakes and reservoirs have doubled since the pre-industrial era, this was mainly caused by widespread agricultural nitrogen application.
- Ya Li
- , Hanqin Tian
- & Shufen Pan
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Article
| Open AccessNominally identical microplastic models differ greatly in their particle-cell interactions
Microplastics research is often based on commercial model particles. Here, the authors show that nominally identical particles may differ significantly in their properties and thus in their interactions with cells.
- Simon Wieland
- , Anja F. R. M. Ramsperger
- & Holger Kress
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Article
| Open AccessNanoconfinement-triggered oligomerization pathway for efficient removal of phenolic pollutants via a Fenton-like reaction
Traditional mineralization of organic pollutants requires an excessive input of chemicals and causes undesirable carbon emissions. Here, authors report a nanoconfinement strategy to alter the carbon transfer pathway of phenol removal from ring opening route to oligomerization route.
- Xiang Zhang
- , Jingjing Tang
- & Bingcai Pan
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Article
| Open AccessA rechargeable Ca/Cl2 battery
The development of practical Ca metal batteries has been hindered by the cathode chemistry. Here, the authors report a rechargeable Ca/Cl2 battery, which involves the reversible cathode redox reaction between CaCl2 and Cl2.
- Shitao Geng
- , Xiaoju Zhao
- & Hao Sun
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Article
| Open AccessAtmospheric deposition and river runoff stimulate the utilization of dissolved organic phosphorus in coastal seas
Increasing deposition of dissolved inorganic nitrogen in coastal oceans through the atmosphere and rivers exacerbate the deficiency of phosphate which stimulates the utilization of dissolved organic phosphorus by phytoplankton.
- Haoyu Jin
- , Chao Zhang
- & Huiwang Gao
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Article
| Open AccessElectron scale coherent structure as micro accelerator in the Earth’s magnetosheath
Both particle and wave energy exist in plasma and energy transfer leads to many interesting phenomena like turbulence, particle acceleration. Here the authors show electron-scale coherent structure resulting from energy transfer in magnetosheath using a model and data from Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission.
- Zi-Kang Xie
- , Qiu-Gang Zong
- & Per-Arne Lindqvist
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Article
| Open AccessMicrobiome convergence enables siderophore-secreting-rhizobacteria to improve iron nutrition and yield of peanut intercropped with maize
Intercropping has the potential to improve plant nutrition and crop yield. Here, the authors intercrop peanut and maize and show that Pseudomonas secreted siderophore pyoverdine play an important role in plant iron nutrition.
- Nanqi Wang
- , Tianqi Wang
- & Yuanmei Zuo
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Article
| Open AccessSustainable biomimetic solar distillation with edge crystallization for passive salt collection and zero brine discharge
Conventional desalination processes generate clean water and reject brine to sea, which is harmful to the aquatic life. Here, the authors propose a low- cost scalable and foldable mangrove-mimetic device for solar thermal distillation and passive salt collection without brine discharge.
- Mohamed A. Abdelsalam
- , Muhammad Sajjad
- & TieJun Zhang
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Article
| Open AccessRising rainfall intensity induces spatially divergent hydrological changes within a large river basin
Increasing rainfall intensity produces opposite hydrological effects across a large river basin in South China (drying in the uplands vs. wetting in the lowlands) due to spatially contrasting interactions between rainfall intensification and topography.
- Yiping Wu
- , Xiaowei Yin
- & Decheng Zhou
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Article
| Open AccessLast millennium hurricane activity linked to endogenous climate variability
The authors present two independent reconstructions and a model simulations of Atlantic hurricane activity over the last millennium and show that it is mainly driven by internal climate variability instead of external forcings.
- Wenchang Yang
- , Elizabeth Wallace
- & Tyler S. Winkler
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Article
| Open AccessConsistent stoichiometric long-term relationships between nutrients and chlorophyll-a across shallow lakes
Nutrient limitation is a well-known control of phytoplankton growth, but predicting specific responses in individual lakes based on nutrient data alone has proven challenging. Here, the authors show that long-term signals of chlorophyll-a dynamics in shallow lakes can be captured based on stoichiometric effects of N and P concentrations along a continuum of total N:total P ratios.
- Daniel Graeber
- , Mark J. McCarthy
- & Thomas A. Davidson
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Article
| Open AccessGlobal distribution of surface soil organic carbon in urban greenspaces
Using observed data, Guo et al. present a comprehensive assessment of soil organic carbon density and stock in global urban greenspaces. This study elucidates the global distribution of soil organic carbon in urban greenspaces and provides a baseline for future projection.
- Hongbo Guo
- , Enzai Du
- & Robert B. Jackson
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Article
| Open AccessIntensifying rice production to reduce imports and land conversion in Africa
Here the authors demonstrate that cropland expansion following the historical trend together with closing the current exploitable yield gap by half or more across Africa reduces the continent’s reliance on land conversions and imports by 2050.
- Shen Yuan
- , Kazuki Saito
- & Patricio Grassini
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Article
| Open AccessHigh-spatial resolution functional chemistry of nitrogen compounds in the observed UK meteorite fall Winchcombe
Important biomolecules from the birth of our Solar System such as amino acids and polyaromatic hydrocarbons were analysed in the UK meteorite fall Winchcombe by synchrotron and electron microscopy techniques with unique high energy resolution.
- Christian Vollmer
- , Demie Kepaptsoglou
- & Quentin M. Ramasse
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| Open AccessMicrobial decomposition of biodegradable plastics on the deep-sea floor
It is unclear whether microbes can efficiently degrade biodegradable plastics in the extreme environmental conditions of the seafloor. Here, Omura et al. show that biodegradable plastics can be degraded by the action of microorganisms on the deep-sea floor, although with much less efficiency than in coastal settings.
- Taku Omura
- , Noriyuki Isobe
- & Tadahisa Iwata
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Article
| Open AccessStructure and elasticity of CaC2O5 suggests carbonate contribution to the seismic anomalies of Earth’s mantle
Based on first-principle simulations of the properties of CaC2O5 under high pressure, the authors suggest that carbonates may contribute to the origins of the seismic velocity anomalies in Earth’s mantle and transport within the deep carbon cycle.
- Hanyu Wang
- , Lei Liu
- & Shide Mao
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Article
| Open AccessRevealing the hidden carbon in forested wetland soils
A large proportion of wetland extent is not mapped in currently available national datasets. Incorporating newly revealed wetlands into soil carbon mapping methods increases estimates of wetland soil carbon stock by 482%.
- Anthony J. Stewart
- , Meghan Halabisky
- & L. Monika Moskal
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Article
| Open AccessArchaean continental crust formed from mafic cumulates
Earth’s early continental crust formed by the melting of plagioclase-cumulates. Melting of these rocks, and subsequent crustal delamination and remelting, can explain the growth and differentiation of the continental crust during the Archaean.
- Matthijs A. Smit
- , Kira A. Musiyachenko
- & Jeroen Goumans
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Article
| Open AccessSalinity causes widespread restriction of methane emissions from small inland waters
Small inland water bodies are widely seen as important sources of methane to the atmosphere. This study demonstrates that hardwater ecosystems emit less of this potent greenhouse gas than predicted due to complex biogeochemical controls
- Cynthia Soued
- , Matthew J. Bogard
- & Paige Kowal
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Article
| Open AccessRecent intensified erosion and massive sediment deposition in Tibetan Plateau rivers
Climate change intensifies erosion and sediment transport in rivers of the Tibetan Plateau. Satellite data unveil unprecedented patterns of sediment deposition in rivers. Pronounced spatiotemporal heterogeneities within and across basins are found.
- Jinlong Li
- , Genxu Wang
- & Dongfeng Li
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Article
| Open AccessGreenhouse gas emissions from US irrigation pumping and implications for climate-smart irrigation policy
This study demonstrates the energy use of US pump irrigation produced 12.6 million tonnes CO2e in 2018, with spatial variability modulated by water source and fuel choice. These county-level estimates can inform strategic irrigation expansion and emissions reduction efforts.
- Avery W. Driscoll
- , Richard T. Conant
- & Nathaniel D. Mueller
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Article
| Open AccessPatterns of tropical forest understory temperatures
This study reveals the spatial and temporal patterns of temperature buffer inside the tropical forests. It provides insights into the forests’ microclimate that controls the functioning of living organisms residing under the forest canopy.
- Ali Ismaeel
- , Amos P. K. Tai
- & Eduardo Eiji Maeda
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Perspective
| Open AccessThe principles of natural climate solutions
Natural climate solutions can mitigate climate change but misunderstandings about what constitutes a natural climate solution generate unnecessary confusion and controversy. This Perspective distills five foundational principles of natural climate solutions and fifteen operational principles for practical implementation.
- Peter Woods Ellis
- , Aaron Marr Page
- & Susan C. Cook-Patton
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Article
| Open AccessPersistent warm-eddy transport to Antarctic ice shelves driven by enhanced summer westerlies
The offshore heat supplied to the Antarctic continental shelves by warm eddies has a potential impact on the melting of ice shelves. Here, how warm eddies form and intrude onto the continental shelf and play an important role in ice shelf melting is shown.
- Libao Gao
- , Xiaojun Yuan
- & Guy D. Williams
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Article
| Open AccessQuantifying coastal freshwater extremes during unprecedented rainfall using long timeseries multi-platform salinity observations
In 2022, record rainfall in Australia impacted coastal salinity and circulation. In this paper, the authors used ocean gliders to track extreme low salinity conditions that lasted months and extended over 70 km offshore.
- Neil Malan
- , Moninya Roughan
- & Tim Ingleton