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| Open AccessLand tenure drives Brazil’s deforestation rates across socio-environmental contexts
How land-tenure regimes affect deforestation remains ambiguous. This study shows how deforestation in Brazil is land-tenure dependent, and how strategies to effectively reduce deforestation can range from strengthening poorly defined rights to strengthening conservation-focused regimes.
- Andrea Pacheco
- & Carsten Meyer
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Article
| Open AccessCement substitution with secondary materials can reduce annual global CO2 emissions by up to 1.3 gigatons
In this paper we report the maximum potential for cement substitution with secondary materials to reduce CO2 emissions globally (1.3 Gt CO2-eq. in 2018) and on a country-by-country basis.
- Izhar Hussain Shah
- , Sabbie A. Miller
- & Rupert J. Myers
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Article
| Open AccessEolian chronology reveals causal links between tectonics, climate, and erg generation
Modeling cosmogenic nuclides concentrations from Kalahari Desert Sand reveals the time of sand introduction into the landscape. This coincides with morphotectonic and climatic changes that could have triggered sand production and its impact on the environment.
- Shlomy Vainer
- , Ari Matmon
- & Karim Keddadouche
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| Open AccessBiodegradation of poly(butylene succinate) in soil laboratory incubations assessed by stable carbon isotope labelling
This study applies stable carbon isotope labelling to study polymer biodegradation in soils. This labelling enables accurate and precise tracking of polymer carbon during biodegradation and, thereby, provides a holistic picture of this process.
- Taylor F. Nelson
- , Rebekka Baumgartner
- & Michael Sander
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Article
| Open AccessRapid vertical exchange at fronts in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
Vertical exchange in the ocean is an important conduit connecting the surface to the deep and influences the distributions of gases, nutrients, pollutants, and other tracers. Here the authors using high-resolution observations and numerical simulations of the ocean fronts in the Northern Gulf of Mexico reveal that the interaction between the fronts and land-sea breeze creates slantwise pathways for water parcels and induces significant subduction of surface water and upwelling of bottom water.
- Lixin Qu
- , Leif N. Thomas
- & Jonathan D. Nash
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Article
| Open AccessTropical modulation of East Asia air pollution
In this study, it is suggested that the daily PM10 level in East Asia is remotely controlled by the convection over the equatorial Indian Ocean and western Pacific. This tropical modulation explains up to 15% of daily PM10 variability in the region.
- Myung-Il Jung
- , Seok-Woo Son
- & Deliang Chen
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| Open AccessThe effect of carbon fertilization on naturally regenerated and planted US forests
The CO2 fertilisation effect in forests remains controversial. Here, the authors disentangle the effect of CO2 on forest wood volume from other environmental factors, showing that elevated CO2 had a positive effect on wood volume in planted and natural US temperate forests.
- Eric C. Davis
- , Brent Sohngen
- & David J. Lewis
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| Open AccessDiesel soot photooxidation enhances the heterogeneous formation of H2SO4
Potential source of H2SO4 remains unclear in the atmosphere. This work first demonstrates that the formation of photoinduced •OH radical can directly promote the heterogeneous conversion of SO2 to H2SO4 on real diesel soot under light irradiation, extending the known sources of atmospheric H2SO4.
- Peng Zhang
- , Tianzeng Chen
- & Hong He
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Article
| Open AccessThe emerging role of drought as a regulator of dissolved organic carbon in boreal landscapes
Long-term records from boreal streams indicate strong seasonal redistributions of dissolved organic carbon concentrations and quality linked to the severity of summer drought conditions
- Tejshree Tiwari
- , Ryan A. Sponseller
- & Hjalmar Laudon
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Article
| Open AccessCo-benefits of CO2 emission reduction from China’s clean air actions between 2013-2020
China’s clean air action stimulated a net accumulative reduction of 2.43 Gt CO2 emission from 2013-2020. Phase-out and upgrades of outdated, polluting, and inefficient combustion facilities have promoted the transition of the country’s energy system.
- Qinren Shi
- , Bo Zheng
- & Qiang Zhang
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Article
| Open AccessTowards critical white ice conditions in lakes under global warming
Under continued global warming, lakes will increasingly be covered by white ice, in particular towards the end of the ice cover season when fatal winter drownings occur most often and light limits the growth and reproduction of primary producers.
- Gesa A. Weyhenmeyer
- , Ulrike Obertegger
- & Roman Zdorovennov
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| Open AccessDestabilisation of the Subpolar North Atlantic prior to the Little Ice Age
Bivalves reveal that the subpolar North Atlantic destabilised and shows signs of having crossed a tipping point during the transition into the Little Ice Age.
- Beatriz Arellano-Nava
- , Paul R. Halloran
- & Timothy M. Lenton
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Article
| Open AccessHuman expansion into Asian highlands in the 21st Century and its effects
Most of the intensive human activities usually occur in lowlands. Here the authors report that human activity expansions also were widely distributed in Asian highlands in the 21st century and held dual effects, which provides new insights for regional human activity expansions.
- Chao Yang
- , Huizeng Liu
- & Guofeng Wu
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| Open AccessAnionic nanoplastic exposure induces endothelial leakiness
In this study, the authors report that anionic nanoplastics can harness the paracellular space of endothelial cells and puncture blood vasculature ex vivo and in vivo, thereby entailing new environmental and health implications.
- Wei Wei
- , Yuhuan Li
- & Pu Chun Ke
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Article
| Open AccessSpace-time monitoring of groundwater fluctuations with passive seismic interferometry
Characterization of groundwater systems is important for sustainable freshwater management. Here, the authors map the distribution of groundwater storage changes at several hundred meters below the metropolitan Los Angeles during 2000–2020, by developing a cost-effective method using ambient ground vibrations recorded by seismometers.
- Shujuan Mao
- , Albanne Lecointre
- & Michel Campillo
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| Open AccessContrasting inequality in human exposure to greenspace between cities of Global North and Global South
Through an analysis of global differences in human exposure to greenspace, a new study identifies a contrasting pattern of greenspace exposure between Global South and North cities and finds seasonal variations in greenspace exposure inequality.
- Bin Chen
- , Shengbiao Wu
- & Peng Gong
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| Open AccessTracing the origin of lithium in Li-ion batteries using lithium isotopes
Rechargeable Li-ion batteries play a key role in the energy transition towards clean energy. It is challenging for end users to ensure that Li comes from environmentally and responsible sources. Here the authors show that Li isotope ‘fingerprints’ are a useful tool for determining the origin of Li in battery.
- Anne-Marie Desaulty
- , Daniel Monfort Climent
- & Catherine Guerrot
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Article
| Open AccessWin-win opportunities combining high yields with high multi-taxa biodiversity in tropical agroforestry
Resolving ecological-economic trade-offs is a challenge in agriculture. Here, Wurz et al. find that in Malagasy vanilla agroforests, vanilla yield is generally not related to tree, herbaceous plant, bird, amphibian, reptile and ant biodiversity, creating opportunities for conservation outside protected areas.
- Annemarie Wurz
- , Teja Tscharntke
- & Ingo Grass
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| Open AccessResponding to eruptive transitions during the 2020–2021 eruption of La Soufrière volcano, St. Vincent
The 2020 – 2021 eruption of La Soufrière volcano transitioned from an effusive to explosive eruption style. Here the authors show that input from multiple monitoring datasets and an evolving conceptual model were key to anticipating and responding to the eruptive transition at the La Soufrière volcano, St. Vincent, in a resource-constrained setting.
- E. P. Joseph
- , M. Camejo-Harry
- & R. S. J. Sparks
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Article
| Open AccessEstuarine plastisphere as an overlooked source of N2O production
The roles of marine plastisphere in global nitrogen cycling are largely unknown. Here, the authors indicate that the plastisphere could act as a potential source of N2O production, which is mainly regulated by the biotic denitrification
- Xiaoxuan Su
- , Leyang Yang
- & Yong-guan Zhu
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| Open AccessThe inequality labor loss risk from future urban warming and adaptation strategies
New study investigates heat-induced labor loss in 231 Chinese cities, finding that lower-paid sectors could be disproportionately affected in coming decades, although adaptation measures may mitigate inequality related impacts.
- Cheng He
- , Yuqiang Zhang
- & Haidong Kan
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| Open AccessAccelerated western European heatwave trends linked to more-persistent double jets over Eurasia
Europe is a heatwave hotspot exhibiting three-to-four times faster upward trends compared to the rest of the northern midlatitudes. Here, this accelerated trend is linked to the increased persistence of Eurasian double jets in the upper troposphere.
- Efi Rousi
- , Kai Kornhuber
- & Dim Coumou
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| Open AccessAssociations between long-term drought and diarrhea among children under five in low- and middle-income countries
Increased droughts are associated with climate change. Here, the authors reveal an association between long-term drought and an elevated risk of diarrhea in children under five in low- and middle income countries, and suggest that improving water quality, sanitation, and hygiene practices might reduce the risk.
- Pin Wang
- , Ernest Asare
- & Kai Chen
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| Open AccessEnvironmental trade-offs of direct air capture technologies in climate change mitigation toward 2100
New study concludes that environmental tradeoffs of direct air capture and sequestration technologies are linked to the energy system in which they will operate, and their deployment should not equate to a relaxation of decarbonization or resource use efficiency targets.
- Yang Qiu
- , Patrick Lamers
- & Sangwon Suh
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Article
| Open AccessSolving groundwater depletion in India while achieving food security
Using optimization models with climate, crop & economic data, the authors show that India can stop groundwater depletion, reduce energy use and meet food/nutrition targets by changing where it sources crops for its food procurement and distribution system.
- Naresh Devineni
- , Shama Perveen
- & Upmanu Lall
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Comment
| Open AccessThe delusive accuracy of global irrigation water withdrawal estimates
Miscalculating the volumes of water withdrawn for irrigation, the largest consumer of freshwater in the world, jeopardizes sustainable water management. Hydrological models quantify water withdrawals, but their estimates are unduly precise. Model imperfections need to be appreciated to avoid policy misjudgements.
- Arnald Puy
- , Razi Sheikholeslami
- & Andrea Saltelli
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| Open AccessAmplification of downstream flood stage due to damming of fine-grained rivers
Dams constructed on fine-grained rivers cause an increase in flow resistance downstream, thereby amplifying, rather than reducing, flood stage.
- Hongbo Ma
- , Jeffrey A. Nittrouer
- & Baosheng Wu
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Article
| Open AccessThe streaming of plastic in the Mediterranean Sea
Plastic pollution in seas is widespread, but some areas lack the high concentrations of plastic debris. Here the authors identified places where large amounts of plastic debris pass in the Mediterranean Sea thus helping to study plastic dispersion in regions where plastic debris does not accumulate, and a tool for mitigation strategies.
- Alberto Baudena
- , Enrico Ser-Giacomi
- & Maria Luiza Pedrotti
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Matters Arising
| Open AccessMarine abundance and its prehistoric past in the Baltic
- Niklas Hausmann
- , Harry K. Robson
- & Geoff Bailey
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Article
| Open AccessDrought assessment has been outpaced by climate change: empirical arguments for a paradigm shift
Climate has changed over the last century, yet this change is seldom accounted for in drought assessment. This study quantifies drought bias due to climate change and suggests adjustment to align monitoring with contemporary risk.
- Zachary H. Hoylman
- , R. Kyle Bocinsky
- & Kelsey G. Jencso
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Article
| Open AccessHuman-ignited fires result in more extreme fire behavior and ecosystem impacts
‘Human-caused fires and natural fires could have different impacts. Here the authors report a geospatial analysis of lightning-ignited and human-ignited fires in California between 2012 and 2018, finding that the latter were more likely to develop under extreme conditions with larger ecosystem impacts.’
- Stijn Hantson
- , Niels Andela
- & James T. Randerson
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Comment
| Open AccessCrowd-sourcing observations of volcanic eruptions during the 2021 Fagradalsfjall and Cumbre Vieja events
This study explores the scientific potential of crowdsourced observations during volcanic eruptions, using the 2021 Fagradalsfjall (Iceland) and Cumbre Vieja (Canary Islands) events as case studies.
- Fabian B. Wadsworth
- , Edward W. Llewellin
- & Alejandro Polo Santabárbara
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Article
| Open AccessHuman and planetary health implications of negative emissions technologies
This paper assesses the co-benefits and side-effects of DACCS and BECCS for human health and the planet. The health burden avoided by removing 5.9 Gtonne/yr CO2 is substantial, but only DACCS has a low impact on the Earth system.
- Selene Cobo
- , Ángel Galán-Martín
- & Gonzalo Guillén-Gosálbez
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| Open AccessPotential fire risks in South America under anthropogenic forcing hidden by the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation
Fire emissions in South America consistently decreased in 2003–2019, although anthropogenic forcing could exacerbate drought and fire risks. Here the authors find that the decreasing fires were associated with climatic conditions unfavorable for intensifying and spreading fires, led by the phase transition of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation.
- Yanfeng Wang
- & Ping Huang
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Article
| Open AccessJet stream position explains regional anomalies in European beech forest productivity and tree growth
Here the authors show that extremes in the summer jet stream position over Europe create a beech forest productivity dipole between northwestern and southeastern Europe and can result in regional anomalies in forest carbon uptake and growth.
- Isabel Dorado-Liñán
- , Blanca Ayarzagüena
- & Valerie Trouet
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Article
| Open AccessElectrifying passenger road transport in India requires near-term electricity grid decarbonisation
India’s plans to electrify transport is complicated by its reliance on coal-power. Here the authors call for diverse policy and technology solutions, including a focus on cleaner grids, electric 2-wheelers, and hybrid 4-wheelers in the near-term.
- Amir F. N. Abdul-Manan
- , Victor Gordillo Zavaleta
- & Amer A. Amer
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| Open AccessNew seasonal pattern of pollution emerges from changing North American wildfires
Growing emissions from Pacific Northwest wildfires have increased atmospheric carbon monoxide in August, raising questions about potential health impacts as the seasonal pattern of air quality changes for large regions of North America.
- Rebecca R. Buchholz
- , Mijeong Park
- & Sheryl Magzamen
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Article
| Open AccessMethane emissions from US low production oil and natural gas well sites
Only 6 percent of US oil and natural gas production output is from low production well sites. Here the authors show that total methane emissions from these low producing well sites in the US is substantial, representing about one-half of all production site methane emissions.
- Mark Omara
- , Daniel Zavala-Araiza
- & Steven P. Hamburg
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| Open AccessAttribution of 2020 hurricane season extreme rainfall to human-induced climate change
During the 2020 hurricane season climate change increased the extreme rainfall rates and amounts by 5–10%.
- Kevin A. Reed
- , Michael F. Wehner
- & Colin M. Zarzycki
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Article
| Open AccessCapturing colloidal nano- and microplastics with plant-based nanocellulose networks
Nanoplastic particles in aqueous environments are challenging to quantify and characterize due to a lack of methods to capture and analyze them. Here the authors demonstrate that nanocellulose networks can be used to capture colloidal plastics and quantify them through their fluorescence and adsorption, providing kinetic information on their uptake.
- Ilona Leppänen
- , Timo Lappalainen
- & Tekla Tammelin
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Article
| Open AccessGlobal impacts of future urban expansion on terrestrial vertebrate diversity
Population growth in the coming decades will lead to increasing land conversion to urban areas. Here, the authors use spatially explicit projections of global urban expansion to analyze its effects on habitat changes, and terrestrial mammals, birds and amphibians under the main shared socioeconomic pathways.
- Guangdong Li
- , Chuanglin Fang
- & Xiaoping Liu
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Article
| Open AccessMachine learning–based observation-constrained projections reveal elevated global socioeconomic risks from wildfire
A new study develops a machine learning framework to observationally constrain CMIP6-simulated fire carbon emissions, finding a weaker increase in 21st-century global fires but higher increase in their socioeconomic risks than previously thought.
- Yan Yu
- , Jiafu Mao
- & Eric Pierce
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Article
| Open AccessDeep learning shows declining groundwater levels in Germany until 2100 due to climate change
Future groundwater levels in Germany are expected to decrease considerably under the influence of changing climate, exacerbating the trends and patterns already occurring. Simulations also show substantially reduced effects under stringent mitigation scenarios.
- Andreas Wunsch
- , Tanja Liesch
- & Stefan Broda
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Article
| Open AccessAir quality and health co-benefits of China’s carbon dioxide emissions peaking before 2030
Understanding benefits of carbon mitigation is an important impetus for governments to adopt more ambitious climate targets. Here, the authors show positive air quality and health co-benefits are possible if China’s CO2 emissions peak before 2030.
- Rong Tang
- , Jing Zhao
- & Haikun Wang
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Article
| Open AccessAccounting for interactions between Sustainable Development Goals is essential for water pollution control in China
The UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are highly interrelated. This study finds 319 interactions between SDGs for the case of water pollution in China. Results show that effective pollution control requires accounting for these interactions.
- Mengru Wang
- , Annette B. G. Janssen
- & Carolien Kroeze
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Article
| Open AccessAmazon forests capture high levels of atmospheric mercury pollution from artisanal gold mining
The Peruvian Amazon is facing the highest known input of mercury pollution of any ecosystem globally. Intact forests located near artisanal gold mining are particularly at risk from this toxin.
- Jacqueline R. Gerson
- , Natalie Szponar
- & Emily S. Bernhardt
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Article
| Open AccessCompetition for water induced by transnational land acquisitions for agriculture
Water scarcity associated with large-scale land acquisitions is exacerbated by adoption of water-intensive crops and expansion of irrigation, which in turn increases rival water uses.
- Davide Danilo Chiarelli
- , Paolo D’Odorico
- & Maria Cristina Rulli
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Article
| Open AccessRegional trade agreement burdens global carbon emissions mitigation
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will come into force in January 2022. Here the authors quantify ex ante economic and environmental effects following RCEP tariff reductions.
- Kailan Tian
- , Yu Zhang
- & Shouyang Wang
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Matters Arising
| Open AccessReply to “A resurrection of the Haber-Weiss reaction”
- Yumeng Zhao
- , Meng Sun
- & Menachem Elimelech