Climate sciences articles from across Nature Portfolio

The impacts of permafrost thaw are widespread across tundra landscapes. Now, research across a series of thermokarst landscapes on the Tibetan Plateau shows that abrupt permafrost thaw increases plant-available phosphorus, alters the vegetation community and tips the balance of belowground nutrient competition.

Glacier microclimates can decouple glacier temperatures from ongoing climatic warming, slowing down melting. However, these microclimates will decay as glaciers retreat. A statistical model indicates that by the latter half of the twenty-first century, the temperature of glaciers will be increasingly sensitive to fluctuations in atmospheric temperature.

We devised two deployment schemes for renewable-fuelled plant factories to meet the dietary vegetable demand across China’s 369 city-level regions. Our results indicate that renewable-fuelled plant factories ensure sufficient vegetable supply and offer multifaceted benefits, such as land saving and pollutant reduction, but also increase greenhouse gas emissions, highlighting the need for a low-carbon transition.

Geochemical evidence from past environmental conditions preserved in fluid inclusions provides insights into ancient Earth’s evolution, its climate conditions, and the flourishing of life, according to a review of insights achieved from analyzing fluid inclusions trapped in ancient hydrothermal minerals.

The Southern Ocean carbon sink is predicted to decline under climate change. This study explores why this is yet to be seen in observations, finding that recent surface freshening increases stratification and traps the CO₂-rich water in the subsurface layer, which prevents atmospheric outgassing.

Mid-depth warming in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean serves as a fingerprint of a slowdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation on decadal scales, according to ocean model experiments, and has emerged from natural variability in the early 2000s.

Damages such as crevasses or cracks can be early indicators of ice shelf weakening. Here, the authors quantify changes in damage structures in Antarctic ice sheets, which show sensitivity to warming

Marta Koch explains how stakeholder asset-mapping can help identify emerging climate action technology solutions in the Arctic.

The global ocean faces unprecedented challenges from overfishing, pollution, and climate change. The Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement is a rare, if not unprecedented, example of precautionary action in marine management. Further action is needed to address other forms of industrial activity in the region. Done well, this example can provide a model for sustainable ocean management around the world, based on sound evidence, inclusive governance, and long-term thinking.

The impacts of permafrost thaw are widespread across tundra landscapes. Now, research across a series of thermokarst landscapes on the Tibetan Plateau shows that abrupt permafrost thaw increases plant-available phosphorus, alters the vegetation community and tips the balance of belowground nutrient competition.

Glacier microclimates can decouple glacier temperatures from ongoing climatic warming, slowing down melting. However, these microclimates will decay as glaciers retreat. A statistical model indicates that by the latter half of the twenty-first century, the temperature of glaciers will be increasingly sensitive to fluctuations in atmospheric temperature.

The idea that emissions can be offset through projects that claim to avoid releases or to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is fatally flawed.

We devised two deployment schemes for renewable-fuelled plant factories to meet the dietary vegetable demand across China’s 369 city-level regions. Our results indicate that renewable-fuelled plant factories ensure sufficient vegetable supply and offer multifaceted benefits, such as land saving and pollutant reduction, but also increase greenhouse gas emissions, highlighting the need for a low-carbon transition.