News & Views in 2019

Climate change has led to changes in migration patterns for many bird species. A novel application of the US system of weather radars reveals for the first time that climate change advances the timing of bird migration comprehensively at continental scales.

Effective decadal climate prediction is urgently needed, but achieving this is still very challenging. Now research suggests that greenhouse warming may compound these difficulties with less predictable global decadal climate variability.

Food security is uncertain under future climate change, but is there a threat of food system collapse? Now research assesses the probability of weather hazards occurring at the same time in the world’s major breadbaskets and reveals that the weather-related component of this risk could be increasing.

Extreme weather events may provide opportunities to raise public awareness about the effects of climate change. Research now shows that although single events have limited impact on discussion of climate change in affected communities, some communities may be more receptive, particularly if the event can be clearly attributed to climate change.

Migration is an important means to cope with the impacts of climate-related shocks. Research shows that networks of prior migrants aid this crucial adaptation mechanism.

Nitrous oxide is a potent greenhouse gas for which global emission estimates, driven largely by fertilizer input, are highly uncertain. An inversion approach based on atmospheric measurements yields global increases more than twice as high as the IPCC default.

Rising sea level is a principal threat to coastal systems worldwide — but far from being a simple matter of landscapes doomed to drown, the story involves complex feedbacks with the same processes that threaten them. Now a modelling study shows that the size and shape of tidal estuaries may determine their fate — proffering a perspective for mitigation against future sea-level rise.

Observations reveal recent Arctic warming, but future societal impacts are poorly understood. Now research identifies potential abrupt thaw-driven soil moisture shifts, with consequences for northern development including more intense wildfires and rainfall.

The effects of global warming are felt earlier in Arctic regions than elsewhere in the world. Now research shows that Arctic marine food webs can adapt to climate change — but the study authors warn that this impression of resilience may be false in the long term.

Warming in the Arctic is causing soils to decompose more rapidly, even during winter. Now, estimates of winter carbon dioxide loss indicate that it can offset carbon gains during the growing season, meaning that the region is a source of carbon.

The consequences of global warming will be dire, but the full extent of these effects on society is unknown and includes uncertainties. Research now suggests that how scientists communicate about the uncertainty over such climate change impacts can influence the public’s trust and acceptance of this information.

Predicting coral bleaching is critical to better manage and preserve coral reefs from global warming. An impressive coordination of surveys across oceans now offers new metrics to help to predict coral bleaching events on a global scale.

Climate change is expected to severely impact farming in sub-Saharan Africa. Now research shows that crop wild relatives might be able to secure Africa’s existing cropping practices by providing the genetic diversity needed to adapt crops to climates that they have never seen before.

Within a single species, different populations can show strikingly varied responses to climate – often attributed to genetic differences of geographically separated populations. Now an elegant analysis, weaving together modelling with large-scale empirical data, demonstrates that ecoregion explains spatial variation in climate responses of the American pika.

In recent years, the tropical Indian Ocean has experienced persistent warming larger than any other basin. Now research suggests that this may exert a stabilizing effect on the meridional overturning circulation in the north Atlantic Ocean by attenuating its recent weakening, with implications for climate change worldwide.

The Southern Ocean is a major carbon sink, but knowledge of its variability is limited, especially in the coastal Antarctic. Now, results based on 25 years of observations in the West Antarctic Peninsula show that the carbon sink is increasing rapidly, driven by summertime biological production linked to sea ice dynamics.

New research finds that global inefficiencies in power transmission and distribution infrastructure result in nearly a gigatonne of CO₂-equivalent annually. Countries can use this overlooked mitigation opportunity in their transition to a clean power sector.

Climate scientists cannot agree on what caused a recent spate of severe winters over North America and Eurasia. Now, a simple yet powerful physics-based approach makes it clear that record-low Arctic sea ice coverage was not the root cause.

Randomized control trials are a potentially useful research design for identifying the causal effects of capacity-building interventions in the context of environmental development. But new research suggests that short-term capacity-building projects do not increase the rate at which local water districts in Costa Rica adopt climate adaptation strategies.