Featured
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Article |
Emergent constraint on Arctic Ocean acidification in the twenty-first century
Sea surface density observations in the Arctic Ocean reveal a relationship between the present-day surface water density and the anthropogenic carbon inventory and coincident acidification, suggesting that recent acidification projections are underestimates.
- Jens Terhaar
- , Lester Kwiatkowski
- & Laurent Bopp
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Article |
Millennial-scale hydroclimate control of tropical soil carbon storage
Over the past 18,000 years, the residence time and amount of soil carbon stored in the Ganges–Brahmaputra basin have been controlled by the intensity of Indian Summer Monsoon rainfall, with greater carbon destabilization during wetter, warmer conditions.
- Christopher J. Hein
- , Muhammed Usman
- & Valier V. Galy
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Article |
The fate of carbon in a mature forest under carbon dioxide enrichment
Carbon dioxide enrichment of a mature forest resulted in the emission of the excess carbon back into the atmosphere via enhanced ecosystem respiration, suggesting that mature forests may be limited in their capacity to mitigate climate change.
- Mingkai Jiang
- , Belinda E. Medlyn
- & David S. Ellsworth
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Article |
Preindustrial 14CH4 indicates greater anthropogenic fossil CH4 emissions
Isotopic evidence from ice cores indicates that preindustrial-era geological methane emissions were lower than previously thought, suggesting that present-day emissions of methane from fossil fuels are underestimated.
- Benjamin Hmiel
- , V. V. Petrenko
- & E. Dlugokencky
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Article |
Marine Proteobacteria metabolize glycolate via the β-hydroxyaspartate cycle
Marine Proteobacteria use the β-hydroxyaspartate cycle to assimilate glycolate, which is secreted by algae on a petagram scale, providing evidence of a previously undescribed trophic interaction between autotrophic phytoplankton and heterotrophic bacterioplankton.
- Lennart Schada von Borzyskowski
- , Francesca Severi
- & Tobias J. Erb
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Article |
California’s methane super-emitters
Emission of methane from ‘point sources’—small surface features or infrastructure components—is monitored with an airborne spectrometer, identifying possible targets for mitigation efforts.
- Riley M. Duren
- , Andrew K. Thorpe
- & Charles E. Miller
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Perspective |
The technological and economic prospects for CO2 utilization and removal
Ten pathways for the utilization of carbon dioxide are reviewed, considering their potential scale, economics and barriers to implementation.
- Cameron Hepburn
- , Ella Adlen
- & Charlotte K. Williams
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Article |
Two-million-year-old snapshots of atmospheric gases from Antarctic ice
Analysis of two-million-year-old ice from Antarctica provides a direct comparison of atmospheric gas levels before and after the shift from glacial cycles of 100 thousand years to 40-thousand-year cycles around one million years ago.
- Yuzhen Yan
- , Michael L. Bender
- & John A. Higgins
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Review Article |
Subducting carbon
The processes that control the movement of carbon from microfossils on the seafloor to erupting volcanoes and deep diamonds, in a cycle driven by plate tectonics, are reviewed.
- Terry Plank
- & Craig E. Manning
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Letter |
Diversity decoupled from ecosystem function and resilience during mass extinction recovery
After the Cretaceous/Palaeogene mass extinction event, nannoplankton communities exhibited volatility for 1.8 million years before a more stable community emerged, coinciding with restoration of the carbon cycle and a fully functioning biological pump between the surface and deep sea.
- Sarah A. Alvarez
- , Samantha J. Gibbs
- & Andy Ridgwell
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Letter |
Increasing wildfires threaten historic carbon sink of boreal forest soils
Soil radiocarbon dating reveals that combusted ‘legacy carbon’—soil carbon that escaped burning during previous fires—could shift the carbon balance of boreal ecosystems, resulting in a positive climate feedback.
- Xanthe J. Walker
- , Jennifer L. Baltzer
- & Michelle C. Mack
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Letter |
Mineral protection regulates long-term global preservation of natural organic carbon
Broadening activation energy distributions and increasing radiocarbon ages reveal the global importance of mineral protection in promoting organic carbon preservation.
- Jordon D. Hemingway
- , Daniel H. Rothman
- & Valier V. Galy
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Article |
Forearc carbon sink reduces long-term volatile recycling into the mantle
In the forearc regions of Costa Rica, helium and carbon isotope data reveal that about 20 per cent less carbon is being transported into the deep mantle than previously thought.
- P. H. Barry
- , J. M. de Moor
- & K. G. Lloyd
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Letter |
Five decades of northern land carbon uptake revealed by the interhemispheric CO2 gradient
Measurements of the interhemispheric gradient of atmospheric carbon dioxide show that the Northern Hemisphere carbon land sink remained stable between the 1960s and the late 1980s, then increased during the 1990s and 2000s.
- P. Ciais
- , J. Tan
- & P. Tans
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Letter |
Wetland carbon storage controlled by millennial-scale variation in relative sea-level rise
Wetlands exposed to rapid sea-level rise over the late Holocene contain more soil carbon than those that experienced a long period of sea-level stability.
- Kerrylee Rogers
- , Jeffrey J. Kelleway
- & Colin D. Woodroffe
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Letter |
Greenland melt drives continuous export of methane from the ice-sheet bed
Subglacially produced methane of microbial origin is flushed to the ice margin of the Greenland ice sheet by meltwater, contributing to a previously unaccounted for methane flux to the atmosphere.
- Guillaume Lamarche-Gagnon
- , Jemma L. Wadham
- & Marek Stibal
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Article |
Abiotic synthesis of amino acids in the recesses of the oceanic lithosphere
High-resolution imaging techniques show that aromatic amino acids such as tryptophan formed abiotically and were subsequently preserved at depth beneath the Atlantis Massif of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, supporting the hydrothermal theory for the origin of life.
- Bénédicte Ménez
- , Céline Pisapia
- & Matthieu Réfrégiers
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Letter |
CO2 storage and release in the deep Southern Ocean on millennial to centennial timescales
Analysis of deep-sea coral boron isotope data, as a proxy for pH and thus CO2 chemistry, provides evidence of CO2 storage in the deep Southern Ocean during the last ice age, and its rapid release on millennial to centennial timescales during deglaciation.
- J. W. B. Rae
- , A. Burke
- & B. J. Taylor
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Letter |
Glacial expansion of oxygen-depleted seawater in the eastern tropical Pacific
A downward expansion of oxygen depletion in the eastern Pacific Ocean during the last ice age suggests an increase in the respired carbon reservoir, contributing to the lower levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide during this period.
- Babette A. A. Hoogakker
- , Zunli Lu
- & Eric Galbraith
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Letter |
Widespread seasonal compensation effects of spring warming on northern plant productivity
Widespread but contrasting delayed responses of ecosystem productivity to spring warmth across northern ecosystems is inferred from satellite data, with higher areal fractions of adverse effects than beneficial effects.
- Wolfgang Buermann
- , Matthias Forkel
- & Andrew D. Richardson
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Letter |
Sensitivity of atmospheric CO2 growth rate to observed changes in terrestrial water storage
The growth rate of global atmospheric CO2 concentration is faster in drier years, independently of temperature; this relationship is underestimated in current carbon cycle models.
- Vincent Humphrey
- , Jakob Zscheischler
- & Sonia I. Seneviratne
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Letter |
Reverse weathering as a long-term stabilizer of marine pH and planetary climate
Elevated rates of reverse weathering within silica-rich oceans led to enhanced carbon retention within the ocean–atmosphere system, promoting a stable, equable ice-free climate throughout Earth’s early to middle ages.
- Terry T. Isson
- & Noah J. Planavsky
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Letter |
Global land change from 1982 to 2016
Satellite data for the period 1982–2016 reveal changes in land use and land cover at global and regional scales that reflect patterns of land change indicative of a human-dominated Earth system.
- Xiao-Peng Song
- , Matthew C. Hansen
- & John R. Townshend
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Letter |
Extensive loss of past permafrost carbon but a net accumulation into present-day soils
Comparing the northern permafrost region of the Last Glacial Maximum with the same area today shows that the soil carbon stock has now increased, suggesting that permafrost carbon made no net contribution to preindustrial atmospheric carbon.
- Amelie Lindgren
- , Gustaf Hugelius
- & Peter Kuhry
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Letter |
Globally rising soil heterotrophic respiration over recent decades
Global soil respiration is rising, probably in response to environmental changes, suggesting that climate-driven losses of soil carbon are occurring worldwide.
- Ben Bond-Lamberty
- , Vanessa L. Bailey
- & Rodrigo Vargas
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Letter |
Triple oxygen isotope evidence for limited mid-Proterozoic primary productivity
Triple oxygen isotope measurements of 1.4-billion-year-old sedimentary sulfates reveal a unique mid-Proterozoic atmosphere and demonstrate that gross primary productivity in the mid-Proterozoic was between 6% and 41% of pre-anthropogenic levels.
- Peter W. Crockford
- , Justin A. Hayles
- & Boswell A. Wing
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Letter |
Atmosphere–soil carbon transfer as a function of soil depth
This study of whole-soil carbon dynamics finds that, of the atmospheric carbon that is incorporated into the topmost metre of soil over 50 years, just 19 per cent reaches the subsoil, in a manner that depends on land use and aridity.
- Jérôme Balesdent
- , Isabelle Basile-Doelsch
- & Christine Hatté
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Review Article |
Antarctic and global climate history viewed from ice cores
A discussion of past Antarctic and global climate history as seen from Antarctic ice cores, with an outlook on future goals and drilling priorities.
- Edward J. Brook
- & Christo Buizert
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Letter |
Carbon dioxide addition to coral reef waters suppresses net community calcification
In situ carbon dioxide enrichment experiments show that ocean acidification poses a threat to coral reefs by reducing the saturation state of aragonite and the concentration of carbonate ions and that this impairs community calcification.
- Rebecca Albright
- , Yuichiro Takeshita
- & Ken Caldeira
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Brief Communications Arising |
Predicting soil carbon loss with warming
- Natasja van Gestel
- , Zheng Shi
- & Bruce A. Hungate
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Brief Communications Arising |
Crowther et al. reply
- T. W. Crowther
- , M. B. Machmuller
- & M. A. Bradford
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Letter |
Fire frequency drives decadal changes in soil carbon and nitrogen and ecosystem productivity
A meta-analysis and field data show that frequent fires in savannas and broadleaf forests decrease soil carbon and nitrogen over many decades; modelling shows that nitrogen loss drives carbon loss by reducing net primary productivity.
- Adam F. A. Pellegrini
- , Anders Ahlström
- & Robert B. Jackson
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Letter |
Large emissions from floodplain trees close the Amazon methane budget
Methane fluxes from the stems of Amazonian floodplain trees indicate that the escape of soil gas through wetland trees is the dominant source of methane emissions in the Amazon basin.
- Sunitha R. Pangala
- , Alex Enrich-Prast
- & Vincent Gauci
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Letter |
Early trace of life from 3.95 Ga sedimentary rocks in Labrador, Canada
The authors provide evidence for the existence of life on Earth in the earliest known sedimentary rocks and suggest that the presence of organic carbon, and low stable-isotope values of graphite from sedimentary rocks in Labrador pushes back the existence of organic life to beyond 3.95 billion years.
- Takayuki Tashiro
- , Akizumi Ishida
- & Tsuyoshi Komiya
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Letter |
Very large release of mostly volcanic carbon during the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum
Boron and carbon isotope data, used in an Earth system model, show that the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum was associated with a much greater release of carbon than thought, most probably triggered by volcanism in the North Atlantic.
- Marcus Gutjahr
- , Andy Ridgwell
- & Gavin L. Foster
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Letter |
Minimal geological methane emissions during the Younger Dryas–Preboreal abrupt warming event
Measurements from Antarctic ice suggest that geological methane emissions are much lower than previously thought, and that methane emissions from hydrates and permafrost in response to climate warming are minimal.
- Vasilii V. Petrenko
- , Andrew M. Smith
- & Jeffrey P. Severinghaus
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Letter |
The rise of algae in Cryogenian oceans and the emergence of animals
Steroid biomarkers provide evidence for a rapid rise of marine planktonic algae between 659 and 645 million years ago, establishing more efficient energy transfers and driving ecosystems towards larger and increasingly complex organisms.
- Jochen J. Brocks
- , Amber J. M. Jarrett
- & Tharika Liyanage
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Letter |
Large historical growth in global terrestrial gross primary production
Long-term records of global carbonyl sulfide levels reveal that terrestrial gross primary production (GPP) increased by around 30% during the twentieth century—a finding that may aid understanding of the connection between GPP growth and climate change.
- J. E. Campbell
- , J. A. Berry
- & M. Laine
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Article |
Evidence for early life in Earth’s oldest hydrothermal vent precipitates
Perhaps the earliest known signs of life have been found in Quebec, where features such as haematite tubes suggest that filamentous microbes lived around hydrothermal vents at least 3,770 million years ago.
- Matthew S. Dodd
- , Dominic Papineau
- & Crispin T. S. Little
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Letter |
Recent increase in oceanic carbon uptake driven by weaker upper-ocean overturning
Modelling of ocean carbon uptake for the 1980s to the 2000s shows that stronger upper-ocean overturning caused less carbon to be absorbed by the oceans in the 1990s, but that as the overturning circulation weakens more carbon is now being absorbed.
- Tim DeVries
- , Mark Holzer
- & Francois Primeau
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Letter |
Compensatory water effects link yearly global land CO2 sink changes to temperature
A study of how temperature and water availability fluctuations affect the carbon balance of land ecosystems reveals different controls on local and global scales, implying that spatial climate covariation drives the global carbon cycle response.
- Martin Jung
- , Markus Reichstein
- & Ning Zeng
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Letter |
Quantifying global soil carbon losses in response to warming
A compilation of global soil carbon data from field experiments provides empirical evidence that warming-induced net losses of soil carbon could accelerate climate change.
- T. W. Crowther
- , K. E. O. Todd-Brown
- & M. A. Bradford
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Letter |
An oxidative N-demethylase reveals PAS transition from ubiquitous sensor to enzyme
Characterization of the first Per-ARNT-Sim enzyme, a haem-dependent oxidative N-demethylase.
- Mary Ortmayer
- , Pierre Lafite
- & David Leys
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Letter |
Upward revision of global fossil fuel methane emissions based on isotope database
Revisions in isotopic source signatures reveal that global total fossil fuel methane emissions from industry plus natural geological seepage are much larger than thought.
- Stefan Schwietzke
- , Owen A. Sherwood
- & Pieter P. Tans
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Letter |
Projected land photosynthesis constrained by changes in the seasonal cycle of atmospheric CO2
Analysis of observations and model projections provides large-scale emergent constraints on the extent of CO2 fertilization, with estimated increases in gross primary productivity for both high-latitude and extratropical ecosystems under elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
- Sabrina Wenzel
- , Peter M. Cox
- & Pierre Friedlingstein
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Letter |
Reversal of ocean acidification enhances net coral reef calcification
A manipulative experiment in which a reef is alkalinized in situ shows that calcification rates are likely to be lower already than they were in pre-industrial times because of acidification.
- Rebecca Albright
- , Lilian Caldeira
- & Ken Caldeira