Ocean sciences articles within Nature Climate Change

Featured

  • Article |

    Projections of Arctic warming have large uncertainties. Here the authors consider ocean heat transport and its contribution to Arctic warming; high-resolution model results show increased Bering Strait transport compared with lower-resolution results, with implications for projected warming rates.

    • Gaopeng Xu
    • , M. Cameron Rencurrel
    •  & Qiuying Zhang

  • News & Views |

    The ocean stores about 30% of the carbon emitted by human activities, regulating atmospheric CO2 levels and the Earth’s climate. Research suggests that this uptake of CO2 has strengthened much faster in coastal ocean waters than in the open ocean due to enhanced biological activity.

    • Laure Resplandy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The coastal ocean is a dynamic environment, and CO2 uptake is increasing faster than in the open ocean. Incorporating coastal processes into a global model shows that biological responses to climate-induced circulation changes and riverine nutrient inputs are key to the enhanced uptake.

    • Moritz Mathis
    • , Fabrice Lacroix
    •  & Corinna Schrum

  • Article |

    It is important to detect human influence on the climate, but natural variability can hide signals of change. Here the authors show the anthropogenic signal has emerged for sea surface temperature seasonality, primarily driven by greenhouse gas increases, and with geographical differences in change.

    • Jia-Rui Shi
    • , Benjamin D. Santer
    •  & Susan E. Wijffels

  • Article |

    Carbon sequestration in mangroves has been proposed as a mitigation strategy for climate change, yet the benefits of carbon burial may be offset by methane emissions. This study shows that methane offsets are small in saline and tropical mangroves, leading to greater net carbon sequestration.

    • Luiz C. Cotovicz Jr
    • , Gwenaël Abril
    •  & Isaac R. Santos

  • News & Views |

    Oceans, covering more than 70% of Earth’s surface, play a vital role in regulating the climate by absorbing heat and carbon dioxide. Now research shows oceans have warmed by more than 1.5 °C since the beginning of the industrial era, challenging previous estimates and emphasizing the urgency of global action.

    • Wenfeng Deng

  • Research Briefing |

    Tropical instability waves (TIWs) are an important component of the equatorial Pacific climate. An analysis of satellite observations, in situ measurements and ocean circulation models indicates that TIW activity has intensified in the central equatorial Pacific by approximately 12 ± 6% per decade since the 1990s.

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ocean eddies impact circulation, heat and gas fluxes between the ocean and the atmosphere. Modelling how warming will alter their occurrence in the Arctic shows that sea ice decline and increased baroclinic instability drive an increase in eddy kinetic energy.

    • Xinyue Li
    • , Qiang Wang
    •  & Thomas Jung

  • Article |

    Oxygen loss has been observed in the world’s oceans, due mainly to warming temperatures that reduce oxygen solubility and increase stratification. This study shows climate-induced salinity changes also impact oxygen patterns with effects either accelerating or counteracting warming-driven changes.

    • Allison Hogikyan
    • , Laure Resplandy
    •  & Gabriel Vecchi

  • News & Views |

    The collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is a worrying climate tipping point, with the potential to raise global sea level by up to 5.3 metres. Now, an assessment of future climate scenarios suggests that accelerated melting of ice shelves in West Antarctica is locked in, even for the most ambitious emissions reduction scenarios.

    • Taimoor Sohail

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Projections of ocean heat transport show a decrease which is driven by a decline in overturning circulation. Such a decrease in ocean heat transport can dampen the global warming signal in Northwest Europe.

    • Jennifer V. Mecking
    •  & Sybren S. Drijfhout

  • Article |

    Autonomous sampling enables increased data collection in the ocean to understand circulation and water property changes. This study uses data from underwater gliders and profiling floats to show a shoreward lateral shift in Gulf Stream waters, which have warmed and become lighter since 2001.

    • Robert E. Todd
    •  & Alice S. Ren

  • Comment |

    Ice melt processes that take place at the ice–ocean boundary of Greenland and Antarctic glaciers play a pivotal role in their evolution and contribution to sea-level rise, but widespread observations in these regions are lacking. A major observational initiative will be necessary to drastically reduce uncertainties in projections and better prepare society for sea-level rise.

    • Eric Rignot

  • Research Briefing |

    An insight into the global patterns of marine heatwaves from the surface to depths of 2,000 m reveals that subsurface events are more intense and long-lasting than surface ones. Biodiversity exposure to the effects of marine heatwaves is higher at depths of 50–250 m, suggesting that subsurface biodiversity could be at considerable risk.

  • Article |

    The authors estimate the intensity, duration and number of global marine heatwaves from 1993 to 2019, from the surface to 2,000 m. They show generally higher intensity of marine heatwaves at 50–200 m, but increased duration with depth, and predict ocean regions of higher biodiversity exposure.

    • Eliza Fragkopoulou
    • , Alex Sen Gupta
    •  & Jorge Assis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Recent decades have seen the increasing frequency of multiyear La Niña events. Here the authors find that there are two different types of multiyear La Niña that are each linked to different mechanisms related to warming in the western equatorial Pacific.

    • Bin Wang
    • , Weiyi Sun
    •  & Jian Liu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Using 25 years of satellite chlorophyll a data, the authors demonstrate significant and widespread changes in the amplitude, timing, duration and seasonality of Southern Ocean phytoplankton blooms. Such changes threaten ecosystem services and can impact global climate by altering natural CO2 uptake.

    • Sandy J. Thomalla
    • , Sarah-Anne Nicholson
    •  & Marié E. Smith

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors used an autonomous biophysical observatory to estimate the light intensity triggering seasonal zooplankton vertical migration under Arctic sea ice. Considering this trigger, they project future reductions in time spent in the under-ice habitat, with implications for Arctic ecosystems.

    • Hauke Flores
    • , Gaëlle Veyssière
    •  & Julienne Stroeve

  • Perspective |

    Satellite radar altimetry enables the detection of sea-level changes by collecting data that have exceeded early expectations. This Perspective discusses potential advances that would enhance the data, allowing regional detection and attribution of sea-level change and improving ocean heat uptake estimates.

    • Benoit Meyssignac
    • , Michael Ablain
    •  & Nadya Vinogradova

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Climate models show large differences in simulating Atlantic Ocean circulation and associated carbon uptake. Here the authors use sea surface salinity as an emergent constraint of these processes to show that Northern Hemisphere surface temperatures warm more slowly than expected.

    • In-Hong Park
    • , Sang-Wook Yeh
    •  & Sang-Ki Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Dense-water formation around Antarctica could be reduced as climate change alters sea-ice formation and circulation patterns. This study shows there has been an over 40% reduction in dense-water formation in the Weddell Sea since 1992, which could affect global overturning circulation.

    • Shenjie Zhou
    • , Andrew J. S. Meijers
    •  & Svein Østerhus

  • News & Views |

    The deepest reaches of the ocean are ventilated by sinking of cold and relatively saline seawater around Antarctica. Observations from the Australian sector of the Southern Ocean reveal a decline in sinking and abyssal ventilation, linked to dropping ocean salinity on the Antarctic shelf.

    • Casimir de Lavergne

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Antarctic bottom water (AABW), a key component of ocean circulation, provides oxygen to the deep ocean. This work shows that AABW transport reduced over the past decades in the Australian Antarctic Basin, weakening the abyssal overturning circulation and decreasing deep ocean oxygen.

    • Kathryn L. Gunn
    • , Stephen R. Rintoul
    •  & Melissa M. Bowen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Using a trait-based model that resolves key zooplankton groups, the authors reveal future shifts to food webs dominated by carnivorous and gelatinous filter-feeding zooplankton. Subsequent decreases in food nutrition are linked to declines in small pelagic fish biomass, particularly in tropical regions.

    • Ryan F. Heneghan
    • , Jason D. Everett
    •  & Anthony J. Richardson

  • Article |

    Sea-level rise poses a considerable threat to many coastal areas as it increases the exceedance probability of local protection infrastructure. Here, the authors propose a method that shows the different timing at which the degree of local protection decreases due to sea-level rise.

    • Tim H. J. Hermans
    • , Víctor Malagón-Santos
    •  & Aimée B. A. Slangen

  • Analysis |

    Using data on oxygen variability taken from 32 representative reef sites, the authors show that hypoxia is already common. Under future scenarios of ocean warming and deoxygenation, the duration, intensity and severity of hypoxia will increase, with nearly one-third of reefs experiencing severe hypoxia.

    • Ariel K. Pezner
    • , Travis A. Courtney
    •  & Andreas J. Andersson

  • Brief Communication
    | Open Access

    How the shelf ocean around Antarctica changes with warming is not well known. Here, the authors show that a projected increase in El Niño–Southern Oscillation variability accelerates warming of the Antarctic shelf ocean but slows warming around the sea ice edges, thus influencing ice melt.

    • Wenju Cai
    • , Fan Jia
    •  & Michael J. McPhaden

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Oceanic eastern boundary currents are regions with strong upwelling, which is expected to intensify with global warming through enhanced winds. Here the authors show that geostrophic flow dominates over wind effects on long-term upwelling changes for the major eastern boundary upwelling systems.

    • Zhao Jing
    • , Shengpeng Wang
    •  & Haiyuan Yang

  • Comment |

    When considering how ecosystems will react to climate change the importance of dead matter has been largely overlooked. Here we discuss why dead material is integral to ecosystem form and function, and why its persistence or degradation must be explicitly included in models considering ecosystem futures in a rapidly changing world.

    • Kelsey Archer Barnhill
    • , J. Murray Roberts
    •  & Sebastian J. Hennige

  • Article |

    The authors establish machine learning models to identify multifactor tipping points of global marine phytoplankton. They show that temperature and carbon dioxide dominate risks, and project crossing tipping points in tropical area production (50%) and resistance (41%) by 2100 under high emissions.

    • Zhan Ban
    • , Xiangang Hu
    •  & Jinghong Li

  • Editorial |

    Nearly two years into the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science, research, including some featured in this month’s issue, shows that there is still a wealth of scientific secrets to uncover in the ocean depths.

  • News & Views |

    Our global oceans are already experiencing the effects of a changing climate, including marine heatwaves, species redistributions and increased human–wildlife conflict. Now, researchers use acoustic surveys to project risk for one of the least understood and most abundant habitats on Earth, the ocean’s mesopelagic zone.

    • Elliott L. Hazen

  • News & Views |

    Western boundary currents are narrow, fast-moving ocean flows that are experiencing rapid warming under climate change. Using satellite observations and high-resolution model simulations, two studies now find that this rapid warming is primarily induced by poleward-intensifying ocean eddies.

    • Hu Yang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors investigate the mechanism underlying the multigenerational resilience of a copepod to ocean acidification. They demonstrate that recovery of negative reproductive impacts is linked to epigenetic changes and highlight the need to consider plasticity in estimating future vulnerabilities.

    • Young Hwan Lee
    • , Min-Sub Kim
    •  & Jae-Seong Lee

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Anthropogenic changes in ocean eddies are difficult to distinguish from natural variability due to short satellite records. Here model projections show a poleward shift and intensification of eddy kinetic energy in most eddy-rich regions; however, Gulf Stream eddy activity decreases.

    • Nathan Beech
    • , Thomas Rackow
    •  & Thomas Jung

  • Article |

    Observed warming of the Southern Hemisphere western boundary currents (WBCs) is still under debate. Here poleward shifts, associated with changes in the mid-latitude easterly winds, of the WBCs, not strengthening, are found to drive enhanced eddy generation and ocean warming in their extensions.

    • Junde Li
    • , Moninya Roughan
    •  & Colette Kerry

  • Article |

    The authors use daily data to understand current thermal conditions across ocean depths and project changes under various future scenarios. They show varying responses in thermal range shifts on the basis of depth, highlighting complexities in predicting marine life habitat under global change.

    • Yeray Santana-Falcón
    •  & Roland Séférian

  • Article |

    The authors compile an underwater sonar database to understand the current and future distribution of pelagic fauna in the world’s oceans. They show loss of 3–22% of these fauna in low and mid latitudes under high-emissions scenarios, with impact reduced to less than half if global warming is contained below 2 °C.

    • Alejandro Ariza
    • , Matthieu Lengaigne
    •  & Arnaud Bertrand

  • News & Views |

    The impact of climate change on tropical Atlantic variability has been elusive, partly due to regional biases in climate models. Now, research shows that current models predict a robust weakening of sea surface temperature variance in the eastern tropical Atlantic, with repercussions for precipitation and climate in the area and beyond.

    • Anna-Lena Deppenmeier

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