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Landfalling typhoons can cause great damage in East and Southeast Asian countries. An analysis of bias-corrected data sets reveals that the proportion of the strongest landfalling typhoons has at least doubled over the past decades.
The carbon abundance in the Earth’s mantle is enhanced relative to sulfur. Experiments suggest that the accretion of a differentiated planetary body to the growing Earth could explain the silicate Earth’s carbon and sulfur budgets.
The composition of subduction zone lavas varies systematically. Numerical simulations and geochemical analysis of lavas from the Chilean Southern Volcanic Zone suggest that the thermal structure of the mantle wedge controls lava composition.
Increasing groundwater abstraction in the Indo-Gangetic Basin poses a threat to groundwater supplies. In situ observations reveal that sustainable groundwater in much of the region is limited more by contamination than depletion.
Convective precipitation may change in a changing climate. Large eddy simulations of convection with a realistic diurnal cycle suggest that interactions between convective systems and precipitation extremes are influenced by temperature.
Atmospheric CO2 concentrations rose during the last deglaciation, but the carbon sources are unclear. Climate and carbon cycle simulations suggest that permafrost melting was the main source of carbon between 17,500 and 15,000 years ago.
Warming thaws permafrost, releasing carbon that can cause more warming. Radiocarbon, soil carbon, and remote sensing data suggest that 0.2–2.5 Pg of carbon has been emitted from permafrost as CO2 and CH4 around Arctic lakes since the 1950s.
The Himalaya grow as the Indian Plate is thrust beneath Tibet. Analysis of surface deformation caused by the 2015 Gorkha earthquake suggests slip on smaller-scale faults at the foot of the high Himalaya help build Earth’s highest peaks.
Biomass turnover time is a key parameter in the global carbon cycle. An analysis of global land-use data reveals that biomass turnover is almost twice as fast when the land is used to enhance terrestrial ecosystem services.
Most oceanic crust is subducted back into Earth’s mantle within 200 million years of formation. Analysis of magnetic data from the eastern Mediterranean reveals oceanic crust formed up to 340 million years ago, as part of an ancient ocean basin.
The Moon has a tenuous exosphere and dust-sized particles have been detected. Analysis of spectral observations by the LADEE spacecraft suggests that the Moon also has a spatially and temporally variable exosphere of nanodust particles.
Rivers transport terrestrial organic carbon. Ancient molecular markers of methanogens and radiocarbon data from offshore sediments suggest that much of this carbon in the Congo River is aged, and that hydrology controls the amount transported.
Whether fast and slow earthquakes nucleate in the same way is unclear. Laboratory simulations of fast and slow slip reveal similar precursor seismic signals for both modes, suggesting the same physical mechanisms may govern both types of slip.
Rivers crossing zones of active uplift can bevel broad alluvial platforms. Experiments suggest that competition between lateral channel mobility and uplift rate controls the ability of a river to flatten the landscape.
The origin of large-scale mantle heterogeneities remains enigmatic. Experiments show that different oxygen fugacities lead to density differences in lower-mantle materials, which lead to a heterogeneously oxidized mantle in simulations.
Subduction zones consume seafloor carbonates. Laboratory experiments on carbonate fault gouge from the Costa Rican subduction zone show that carbonates weaken with increasing temperature and pore-fluid pressure, and may nucleate earthquakes.
Land carbon uptake reduced atmospheric CO2 levels during the Little Ice Age. Numerical simulations of atmospheric carbonyl sulfide levels and ice-core carbon isotope data reveal that temperature change, not land-cover change, was responsible.
Global mean surface temperature change over the past 120 years resembles a rising staircase. Simulations with a coupled ocean–atmosphere model reveal that the tropical Pacific Ocean is the pacemaker of variable warming rates.
Sea surface temperature estimates from the early Eocene indicate an unusually flat meridional temperature gradient. A re-evaluation of the proxy used to derive these temperatures argues against this interpretation.
Laurentide ice-sheet retreat continued into the mid-Holocene. Speleothem-based precipitation records suggest the cessation of melt led to the establishment of the present precipitation patterns associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation.