Increased reflection of incoming sunlight by clouds led one current-generation climate model to predict unrealistically cold temperatures during the last ice age.
Climate dynamics
Protected Areas Are Not Safe from Climate Change
A new study showing the most vulnerable protected areas—the poles and the subtropics—could help prioritize their care.
New Special Collection: Fire in the Earth System
Papers are invited for a new cross-journal special collection presenting advances in understanding the physical and biogeochemical processes associated with landscape fires and their impacts.
New England Winters Are “Losing the Cold”
As extreme cold days wane, the northeastern United States has experienced an increase in mud days.
The Unpredictability of Floods, Erosion, and Channel Migration
A new algorithm incorporates randomness into stream channel formation and suggests the approach represents regions with variable flood magnitudes better than standard models.
Peruvian Mountain Birds Take an “Escalator to Extinction”
As the climate warms, tropical birds living in the mountains are retreating to higher elevations to avoid the heat. What happens when they run out of mountain slope to escape to?
Icy Interactions
Complex interactions between ice sheets and other components of the Earth system determine how ice sheets contribute to sea level rise.
The Long Reach of El Niño’s Broom
Both the El Niño Southern Oscillation and natural variations in tropical Pacific weather conditions impact surface air quality in the Eastern United States.
Ocean Wind Satellites Observe an Amazonian Drought
Satellites designed to observe ocean winds can also be used to map both forest structure and water content, allowing researchers to disentangle factors of carbon loss due to drought in the Amazon.
Is Global Warming Suppressing Canonical El Niño?
A study explores the relationship between diverse El Niño events and the background state of the tropical Pacific.