Models simulating the nitrogen cycle track its multiple chemical forms but tend to report a subset that can be compared with available field measurements.
Susan Trumbore
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Barnacles Help Reconstruct Drift Path of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370
Careful calibration of isotopes in a barnacle shell growing on ocean debris – in this case an airplane part – informs a new forensic method to identify its most probable drift path.
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A Multidecadal View of Oceanic Storage of Anthropogenic Carbon
A decline in the ratio of ocean carbon accumulation to atmospheric carbon dioxide growth between 1994-2004 and 2004-2014 suggests a reduction in the sensitivity of the ocean carbon sink.
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Rotation of Europa’s Icy Shell Driven by Deep Ocean Currents
A model using currents in the deep ocean to drive rotation of Europa’s ice shell from below can explain why its surface may drift despite being tidally locked.
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Clues from a Subglacial Lake for Holocene Grounding Line Change
Organic carbon sampled in the lake contained radiocarbon, indicating connection to the ocean in the mid-Holocene, when the grounding line was up to 260 kilometers inland of its current position.
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How Can We Sample More Ethically?
Ryan-Davis and Scalice describe a path towards sampling more ethically, going beyond legal permitting requirements to engagement of Indigenous expertise and respect of peoples’ relationship to place.
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A Drier or Wetter Future for Southwestern North America?
Bhattacharya et al. present evidence that expansion of the North American Monsoon explains a wetter southwest in the mid-Pliocene and suggest this mechanism can explain current monsoon variations.
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Origin of Dawnside Subauroral Plasma Flows in Geomagnetic Storms
Geomagnetic storms induce fast plasma flows next to the aurora and affect space weather. Lin et al. explain the origin of a special “dawnside” plasma stream that occurs only during extreme storm events.
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New Tool to Decipher Past Upper Troposphere Temperatures
Small variations in clumped O2 isotopes reflect temperatures in the upper troposphere. Bubbles measured in polar ice cores show the global lapse-rate appears to steepen during the Last Glacial Maximum.
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What Caused the Open Habitat Transition in the West-Central U.S.?
Between 26-15 My ago, forests covering west-central North America gave way to open, grassy habitats. Now, oxygen isotope records suggest this shift is owed to drier winters and increased aridity.