Browse Articles

The terrestrial carbon flux—sources and sinks—under land-use change (LUC) is difficult to quantify. Here, using a LUC dataset drawing on remote sensing and forest inventory data, the authors show that in China the carbon sink from LUC (such as afforestation) may be underestimated.

Many climate models overestimate the snow amount in the Northern Hemisphere despite strong warming. Here the authors find that light snowfall and snow melting processes drive this mismatch and use these relationships to constrain future projections of snow water resources.

This study quantifies and values the carbon stored in the ocean due to biological processes. With uptake in the order of 2.8 Gt per year, valued at around US$1 trillion annually (at a carbon price of US$90 per ton of CO₂), this service should be included in the global stocktake and climate actions.

Analysis of satellite observations and in situ phenology records revealed a delayed onset of spring after drought in northern ecosystems. These delays are regulated by both endogenous memory within plants and exogenous memory of the environment, with the latter having a dominant role.

Under climate warming, increased microbial carbon emissions could diminish the vast carbon stores held in northern peatlands. This large-scale experimental study reveals that warming amplifies carbon uptake by peatland microalgae and partially offsets warming-related increases in microbial carbon emissions.

Cities have historically benefitted from coastal access, but sea-level rise may turn this advantage into a vulnerability. Government investment should account for future climate risks.

Governments around the world have pledged to reduce fossil fuel subsidies, yet the actual implementation has not been measured. With a unique dataset and approach, researchers find since 2016 there are more frequent reforms, yet most of them do not survive over 12 months.

Drought predictability has a large impact on climate adaptation plans, but its future changes are often unknown. A drought predictability model reveals that increases in global temperatures of 2 °C or 3 °C would cause a significant (p < 0.1) decrease in the dynamic predictability of agricultural drought in more than 70% of the global land area.

Limiting global warming to 1.5 °C requires aggressive climate pledges, but their impact on land-use strategies remains underexplored. Now, a study reveals that these commitments may drive large-scale cropland loss, intensifying food security risks, especially in the global south.

Many countries are relying on land-based strategies to meet the climate targets set out in the Paris Agreement, putting pressure on land resources. Here the authors show a global reduction in cropland area under current climate pledges, with implications for trade and food security.

The Hague in the Netherlands was the first city in the world to enact a law prohibiting advertisements for fossil fuel products and services. Although the ban is restricted to The Hague’s jurisdiction, the decision to implement the ban challenges norms and conventions that drive fossil-fuel consumption worldwide and sets an example for other governments to follow.

Climate change is causing rapid shrinkage of high-latitude glaciers, fundamentally altering the nature of Arctic landscapes. Now, research quantifies the substantial, yet under-reported, development of new coastlines and islands that are revealed as marine-terminating glaciers fall back from the sea.

As marine-terminating glaciers retreat, they reveal new coastlines in many regions. Here the authors use satellite data to quantify these changes for the Northern Hemisphere, finding that between 2000 and 2020, a total of 2,466 km of new coastline has been uncovered.

The authors investigate the impacts of drought legacy on springtime leaf unfolding and green-up. They show that drought delays springtime phenology, primarily through exogenous environmental memory effects, and suggest that future spring advances may be dampened by increasing drought.

The authors use experimental and modelling approaches to understand the response of microbial photosynthesis to peatland warming. They show that warming amplifies microbial photosynthesis, which could offset rising CO₂ emissions from northern peatlands by 6.0–13.7% in 2100 (SSP 2-4.5–SSP 5-8.5).

Heatwaves are expected to become more frequent with warming, but how their spatial patterns change is not well understood. Here the authors show that heatwave hotspots in the Northern Hemisphere have shifted westwards over the past few decades.

Soil moisture droughts can have severe impacts on agriculture, which makes forecasting them crucial. Here the authors show that the dynamic predictability of these agricultural droughts decreases with climate change in many regions.