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Fires related to Amazonian deforestation are a large source of particulate matter emissions. Satellite measurements and models reveal that reductions in deforestation and fire emissions since 2001 have prevented hundreds of premature deaths each year.
Decomposition of soil organic matter could be an important positive feedback to climate change. Geochemical properties of soils can help determine what fraction of soil carbon may be protected from climate-induced decomposition.
The Moon was once thought to be depleted in volatile elements. Analyses of the carbon contents of lunar volcanic glasses reveal that carbon monoxide degassing could have produced the fire-fountain eruptions from which these glasses were formed.
Evidence for a Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth in the sedimentary record has been controversial. A weathered horizon preserved in sedimentary rocks from Svalbard may provide a rare signature of prolonged global glaciation.
The material properties of the Earth’s core have been better constrained by recent technical and computational advances. The properties imply that the core was once hot, but is cooling quickly, and the inner core is young.
Braided channels are rare on ocean floors, but abundant on land. Experiments and theory suggest that deeper flows and rapid overbank deposition restrict braiding in underwater rivers relative to their terrestrial counterparts.
Saturn's F ring is chaperoned on both sides by the tiny moons Prometheus and Pandora. Numerical simulations show that this celestial ballet can result from the collision of two aggregates that evolved out of Saturn's main rings.
Sea surface temperatures have varied over the past 2,000 years. A synthesis of surface-temperature reconstructions shows ocean surface cooling from ad 1 to 1800, with much of the trend from 800 to 1800 driven by volcanic eruptions.
Tropospheric ozone is generated from precursor pollutants, but can be blown far afield. Satellite observations show rising ozone levels over China — and almost stable levels over western North America despite stricter regulations.
On 25 April 2015 northern Nepal shifted up to 7 m southward and Kathmandu was raised by 1 m. The causal earthquake failed to fully rupture the main fault beneath the Himalaya and hence a large earthquake appears to be inevitable in Nepal's future.
Slow earthquakes have recently been discovered on the shallow parts of some subduction zones. A review of the conditions under which these quakes form reveals that they could be common in most subduction zones globally.
Earth's composition differs from its meteoritic precursors. An evaluation of the evidence suggests that some material could have been lost to space during collisions, which may explain Earth's unusual plate tectonic regime and habitable climate.
Antarctic Ice Sheet change during the last glacial cycle is unclear. The timing of moraine development in the Ross basin suggests that the ice sheet reached maximum thickness under the warming temperatures of the last termination.
Anthropogenic climate change alters the risk of some extreme weather events. High-resolution computer simulations suggest that Black Sea warming made the devastating 2012 Krymsk flood possible — a virtually impossible event just 30 years ago.
The ocean is an important source of the potent greenhouse gas N2O. Measurements in the tropical South Pacific have revealed a massive efflux of N2O from the coastal upwelling zone.
Earth's crust was thought to deform uniformly over most of the seismic cycle. Analysis of two centuries of nautical surveys from Chile reveals temporal variability that complicates our view of time-dependent seismic hazards.
The continents are archives of Earth's evolution. Analysis of the isotopic signature of continental crust globally suggests that buoyant, silicic continents began to form 3 billion years ago, possibly linked to the onset of plate tectonics.