News & Views in 2018

For years, theory and model simulations have strongly disagreed on whether global warming will lead to scarcer or more plentiful water supplies. An elegant study now supplies the missing theoretical piece, strengthening the case that global water resources will increase in a warmer world.

Correcting misperceptions provides an opportunity to reduce household GHG emissions across multiple domains. Now research shows that consumers greatly underestimate emissions from foods, but these misperceptions can be successfully corrected with carbon labelling.

Recent, rapid and (in many cases) unprecedented climate changes in the Arctic continue to outpace all other regions. New research argues that local, not remote, mechanisms are responsible for amplifying polar climate change.

Urban development induces local warming in addition to climate change. New research shows that urban growth, climate change and urban adaptation interact nonlinearly and diurnally.

Observations show that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is slowing down, and this is predicted to continue in response to climate change. This isn’t the only change expected; tracing ocean circulation within a climate model now shows that the locations where water sinks to the deep ocean to feed the AMOC will also shift in the future.

Winter snow conditions influence which plants grow where in the Arctic. Now, a modelling study built on observational data of plant occurrence and snow conditions suggests that declines in snow cover will result in the loss of plant species.

Recent years have seen increased melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet, contributing to accelerated rates of sea-level rise. New research suggests that this melting occurred due to an increased frequency of atmospheric rivers, narrow filaments of moist air moving polewards.

A new estimate of the costs of CO₂ emissions at the country level identifies the winners and losers under climate change.

Earth’s future climate depends, in part, on rapid soil microbial processes that may add up to long-term impacts. Observations from a geothermal gradient reveal decadal increases in soil-carbon loss due to persistent increases in microbial activity.

The 2014 IPCC Assessment expresses doubt that the global surface temperature increase will remain within the 2 °C target without deploying risky carbon-capturing or solar radiation-deflecting technologies. New behavioural research suggests that, if the IPCC is right, citizens and policymakers will support such risk-taking.

Large-scale coastal flood risk models are evolving to include more physical processes. New research utilizing these models suggests that we face a tremendous challenge in limiting future flood risk.

On average, El Niño events have weakened and the centre of maximum sea surface temperature anomalies has shifted to the west over the past two decades. New research suggests that the strengthening of cross-equatorial winds in the eastern Pacific can cause these changes.

The coincident reduction of Arctic sea ice with increasing mid-latitude wintertime extremes has motivated much research on Arctic–mid-latitude linkages. A new study reveals that projected Antarctic sea-ice loss could also impact the Southern Hemisphere mid-latitudes through perturbations to the strength and position of the westerly winds.

Protecting and restoring forests to mitigate climate change also promises to help protect tropical biodiversity and ecosystem services. Analysis now shows that optimizing for carbon can come at the expense of protecting biodiversity, but there are ways to effectively pair the two.

Will the Southern Ocean’s relentless waves undo Antarctica’s ecological isolation? The discovery of a wayward piece of kelp and a simple numerical experiment set new expectations for the potential invasion of Earth’s most isolated continent.

Political crises may exacerbate environmental conflicts by shifting conservation priorities. Research now shows that increased carbon emissions from deforestation in Brazil may compromise its goals under the Paris Agreement.

Plant transpiration is the largest continental water flux. Research now shows that climate and water availability projections are highly sensitive to the ways that plant responses to changing atmospheric conditions are represented.

The race against time to mitigate climate change has increasingly focused on the development and deployment of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. New research shows that negative-emissions hydrogen production is potentially a cost-effective alternative.