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Surface water temperatures in Lake Superior have warmed faster than air temperature during the thermally stratified summer season. Analyses of a range of observations show that as a result surface wind speeds above the lake have been increasing by nearly 5% per decade.
Geochemical analyses and climate modelling suggest that 2.5 billion years ago much of the nitrogen now stored in the solid Earth was in the atmosphere, and that the higher atmospheric nitrogen levels would have increased the efficacy of greenhouse gases, thus warming the Earth.
Microbially mediated oxidation of organic carbon is thought to drive the release of arsenic into groundwater. Hydrological and geochemical analyses suggest that pond water is the source of organic carbon in groundwater in Bangladesh.
Earthquakes are far more common along the San Jacinto fault in California than the nearby southern San Andreas fault. An analysis of seismic and geodetic data suggests that the excess seismicity along the San Jacinto fault is due to a creeping motion along the deeper parts of the fault.
The rapid increase in anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases necessitates the consideration of mechanisms for capturing and storing carbon dioxide. Recent work suggests that fluid or gaseous carbon dioxide can be injected into the Earth's crust, and locked up as carbonate minerals to achieve near-permanent and secure sequestration.
Faults that develop in subducting slabs act as conduits for sea water. Numerical modelling indicates that pressure gradients resulting from the bending of slabs may then drive the water deep into their interior.
Sea ice is an integral component of the climate system, but a difficult one to reconstruct. Biochemical tracers preserved in marine sediments now reveal the waxing and waning of sea ice since the Last Glacial Maximum in an Arctic Ocean gateway.
The stratospheric ozone layer has undergone severe depletion as a result of anthropogenic halocarbons. Although the Montreal Protocol has provided relief, anthropogenic emissions of another substance, nitrous oxide, are set to dominate ozone destruction.
Deforestation is the second largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, after fossil fuel combustion. Following a budget reanalysis, the contribution from deforestation is revised downwards, but tropical peatlands emerge as a notable carbon dioxide source.
The use of more realistic parameters in numerical geodynamo simulations tends to generate less Earth-like magnetic fields. This paradox could be resolved by considering uniform heat flux instead of uniform temperature at the core's surface.
Mountain landscapes are shaped by tectonics and climate. A series of laboratory experiments has documented a mechanism by which mountain river networks split as the geometry of a mountain evolves in response to an orographic precipitation gradient.
The El Niño/Southern Oscillation phenomenon is the most prominent source of climate variability. Emerging evidence suggests that its signature is not limited to the lower layers of the atmosphere.
The Slumgullion landslide in the western United States has been moving almost continuously for over 100 years. Observations and numerical modelling show that air pressure changes from atmospheric tides trigger daily movement.
