Rising temperatures that reduce snow cover leave soils vulnerable to frost, reducing silicon uptake by trees, with potential effects on downstream ecosystems.
Research Spotlights
Research spotlights are plain-language summaries of recent articles published in AGU’s suite of 24 journals.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Arctic Ice Affects Gas Exchange Between Air and Sea
Scientists begin to fill a major data gap by investigating carbon dioxide dynamics in a remote region of the Arctic Ocean.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Better Estimates of Clouds' Climate Effects Are on the Horizon
A recent update to an algorithm for processing satellite data could improve understanding of the variable climate effects of clouds composed of different amounts of ice and liquid.
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What Led to the Largest Volcanic Eruption in Human History?
A mineral-dating project at the Toba caldera in Indonesia sheds light on the science of supereruptions.
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How "Godzilla" El Niño Affected Tropical Fish in Low-Oxygen Zone
A warm period unexpectedly boosted some species of fish larvae off the coast of Mexico.
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Mysterious Intraseasonal Oscillations in Monsoons
The unpredictable cycles of rainfall during India's summerlong monsoon have stymied scientists for decades.
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Mushrooms Could Provide a Record of Grassland History
Scientists measured carbon isotopes in certain types of fungi to assess whether the organisms can track how climate change is affecting grasses.
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Big Storms Pump Mediterranean Water Far into the Black Sea
For the first time, scientists provide a sea-wide view of what happens to Mediterranean waters that flow into the Black Sea through the Bosporus Strait.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
For Magnetic Reconnection Energy, O—not X—Might Mark the Spot
A new analysis of satellite data could upend conventional wisdom about how solar storms produce their dangerous radiation—not from X-shaped mergers of magnetic field lines but from swirling vortices.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A Mountain Range's History Preserved in Ocean Sediments
Fission track dating core samples from the Gulf of Alaska demonstrates that offshore sediments can be used to reconstruct a mountain range's changing exhumation patterns.