Articles in 2020

Observational evidence of cyanobacterial activity in the Antarctic Ocean suggests that nitrogen fixation could be a ubiquitous process in the global ocean.

Intensive irrigation in India cools the land surface, but increases the moist heat stress in South Asia, according to an analysis of observational datasets and meteorological models.

The reduced Equator-to-pole temperature gradient during the Eocene greenhouse climate was maintained by elevated atmospheric humidity, according to temperature and precipitation isotope estimates from terrestrial siderite clumped isotopes.

The end-Permian mass extinction was linked with ocean acidification due to carbon degassing associated with Siberian Trap emplacement, according to boron isotopes from fossil shells and reconstruction of the carbon cycle.

Intermediate-depth waters in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans were well equilibrated with the atmosphere through the last deglaciation, according to radiocarbon data from deep-sea corals.

A link between post-thickening lithospheric extension and the differentiation of continental crust is implied by granulite conditions beneath the Rio Grande Rift, inferred from analysis of lower-crustal xenoliths and thermobarometric modelling.

Where there is smoke, there are radiative feedbacks. With wildfires becoming a growing problem in the Anthropocene, we need to better understand the influence of fire on the climate system.

A global carbon cycle perturbation during Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 was probably due to elevated oxygen levels leading to a transient increase in wildfire activity, according to a record of plant biomarkers tracking fire frequency in western North America.

Aged soot particles in the atmosphere enhance future warming through their influence on cloud formation and thus Earth’s radiation balance, according to global climate simulations.

Underground smouldering fires resurfaced early in 2020, contributing to the unprecedented wildfires that tore through the Arctic this spring and summer. An international effort is needed to manage a changing fire regime in the vulnerable Arctic.

Time capsules of fluid, trapped within the oxide minerals from two iron ore deposits reveal an important role for sediment-derived carbonate–sulfate-rich melts in the concentration of iron, a crucial element for humanity’s development.

Land-use and land-cover changes are accelerating. Such changes can homogenize the water cycle and undermine planetary resilience. Policymakers and practitioners must consider water–vegetation interactions in their land-management decisions.

The transitional state between cloudy and clear skies, known as the twilight zone, has a substantial effect on the atmospheric energy budget, according to an analysis of cloud fields using global satellite observations.

Satellite observations reveal that fresh wildfire plumes are a globally important source of nitrous acid, enhancing oxidative plume chemistry and regional ozone levels.

Iron-rich carbonate–sulfate melts are fundamental to the formation of iron oxide–apatite ore deposits, according to a detailed fluid-inclusion study that characterized the mineralizing fluids for two mineralizing systems in the United States.

Environmental factors influence the molecular composition of carbon in soils across continental gradients, according to analyses of North American mineral soils.

Permanent surface deformation caused by the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes has been directly measured, constraining the mechanics of surface damage in earthquakes.

Inelastic failure in the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes was localized and influenced by mylonitic deformation of the fault damage zone, according to an analysis of surface displacements derived from satellite images.

A transition from rate-weakening to rate-strengthening frictional behaviour with increasing slip rate could explain the observed diversity of slow slip events on faults, according to numerical simulations.