＜Nature＞
1. Ice-free Arctic predicted
Nature 499, 383 (25 July 2013)
doi:10.1038/499383c Published online 24 July 2013
High levels of
greenhouse-gas emissions could drive the annual sea-ice minimum in the Arctic,
which occurs in September, to a level defined as ice-free by around
mid-century.
2. China’s cordgrass plan is ‘overkill’
Jane Qiu 24 July 2013
Experts say
Shanghai sea wall will cripple wetland habitat.
3. Climate science: Vast costs of Arctic change
Gail Whiteman, Chris Hope & Peter
Wadhams
Nature 499, 401–403 (25 July 2013)
doi:10.1038/499401a Published online 24 July 2013
Methane released
by melting permafrost will have global impacts that must be better modelled,
say Gail Whiteman, Chris Hope and Peter Wadhams.
4. Evolutionary biology: Rare bird of evolution
Ben C. Sheldon
Nature 499, 404–405 (25 July 2013)
doi:10.1038/499404a Published online 24 July 2013
5. North Atlantic Ocean control on surface heat flux
on multidecadal timescales
Sergey K. Gulev, Mojib Latif, Noel
Keenlyside, Wonsun Park & Klaus Peter Koltermann
Nature 499, 464–467 (25 July 2013)
doi:10.1038/nature12268 Received 17 March 2013 Accepted 03 May 2013 Published
online 24 July 2013
Long-term time
series of surface ocean-atmosphere heat fluxes show that the mid-latitude North
Atlantic ocean may influence atmospheric variability on multidecadal timescales.
6. High frequency of functional extinctions in
ecological networks
Torbjörn Säterberg, Stefan Sellman & Bo
Ebenman
Nature 499, 468–470 (25 July 2013)
doi:10.1038/nature12277 Received 14 December 2012 Accepted 09 May
2013 Published online 07 July 2013
A modelling study
of the mechanisms of extinction within ecological networks reveals how even a
small reduction in the population size of a species may lead to the loss of its
ecological functionality—that is, to its functional extinction—by causing extinction
of other organisms in the food web, often only indirectly connected to the
focal species, revealing the value of conservation strategies that target a
broader ecological network.
＜Science＞
7. Modern Trackers Decipher Ancient Footsteps
Science 26 July 2013:
Vol. 341 no. 6144 pp.
324-326 DOI: 10.1126/science.341.6144.324-c
The Namibian San
people are renowned trackers, deciphering footprints as a way of life. And
these traditional skills can be a boon to archaeologists seeking expert
opinions on cave footprints.
8. East Antarctic Ice Sheet Not So Stable?
Volume 341, Number 6144, Issue of 26 July
2013
While satellite
observations suggest that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is now losing
mass, the far larger East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) seems more stable. But
data from the Pliocene suggest that the "stable" ice sheet may be
more vulnerable to warming than thought, says Carys Cook, a doctoral student at
Imperial College London.
9. Fragile Wetland Will Test Turkey's Resolve in
Protecting Biodiversity
John Bohannnon
Science 26 July 2013:
Vol. 341 no. 6144 pp. 332-333
DOI: 10.1126/science.341.6144.332-b
Scientists are
trying to document Aras's biodiversity before construction starts on a dam that
will flood the wetlands and imperil species at the long-term ecological
research site.
10. What the Woodpecker Saw
Marissa Weiss
Science 26 July 2013: Vol.
341 no. 6144 p. 348 DOI: 10.1126/science.1240747
11. How Nitrogen Is Lost
Bess B. Ward
Science 26 July 2013:
Vol. 341 no. 6144 pp. 352-353 DOI: 10.1126/science.1240314
The supply and
composition of organic matter control the processes by which fixed nitrogen is
lost from the ocean.
＜PNAS＞
12. Valuable oil sands environmental research raises
several questions
Steve E. Hrudey
PNAS July 23, 2013 vol.
110 no. 30E2748 doi:10.1073/pnas.1306522110
13. Universal fractal scaling in stream chemistry and
its implications for solute transport and water quality trend detection
James W. Kirchner and Colin Neal
PNAS 2013 110 (30) 12213-12218; published
ahead of print July 10, 2013,doi:10.1073/pnas.1304328110
The chemical
dynamics of lakes and streams affect their suitability as aquatic habitats and
as water supplies for human needs.
14. Downscaling CMIP5 climate models shows increased
tropical cyclone activity over the 21st century
Kerry A. Emanuel
PNAS 2013 110 (30) 12219-12224;
published ahead of print July 8,
2013,doi:10.1073/pnas.1301293110
A recently
developed technique for simulating large [O(104)] numbers of tropical cyclones
in climate states described by global gridded data is applied to simulations of
historical and future climate states simulated by six Coupled Model
Intercomparison Project 5 (CMIP5) global climate models.
15. Evidence for a water system transition beneath
Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica
Dustin M. Schroeder, Donald D.
Blankenship, and Duncan A. Young
PNAS 2013 110 (30) 12225-12228;
published ahead of print July 8,
2013,doi:10.1073/pnas.1302828110
They validate the
approach with radar imaging, showing that substantial water volumes are ponding
in a system of distributed canals upstream of a bedrock ridge that is breached
and bordered by a system of concentrated channels.
＜Nature Communications＞
Nothing relevant
＜Geology＞
16. Size variation of conodonts during the
Smithian–Spathian (Early Triassic) global warming event
Yanlong Chen, Richard J.
Twitchett, Haishui Jiang, Sylvain Richoz, Xulong Lai, Chunbo
Yan, Yadong Sun, Xiaodan Liu, and Lina Wang
Geology, August 2013, v. 41,
p. 823-826, first published on June 28,
2013, doi:10.1130/G34171.1
Size reduction of
conodonts was caused by an episode of global warming, further strengthening the
link between morphological and climatic changes recorded in the fossil record.
17. Concordant monsoon-driven postglacial hydrological
changes in peat and stalagmite records and their impacts on prehistoric
cultures in central China
Shucheng Xie, Richard P.
Evershed, Xianyu Huang, Zongmin Zhu, Richard D. Pancost, Philip
A. Meyers, Linfeng Gong, Chaoyong Hu, Junhua Huang, Shihong
Zhang, Yansheng Gu, and Junying Zhu
Geology, August 2013, v. 41,
p. 827-830, first published on June 28,
2013, doi:10.1130/G34318.1
They present two
new independent proxy records from peatland and stalagmite archives that
indicate a high degree of concordance between monsoon-driven hydrological
changes occurring since the last deglaciation in a broad region of central
China.
18. Intensified Southern Hemisphere Westerlies
regulated atmospheric CO2 during the last deglaciation
C. Mayr, A. Lücke, S.
Wagner, H. Wissel, C. Ohlendorf, T. Haberzettl, M.
Oehlerich, F. Schäbitz, M. Wille, J. Zhu, and B.
Zolitschka
Geology, August 2013, v. 41,
p. 831-834, first published on June 20,
2013, doi:10.1130/G34335.1
A change in
atmosphere-ocean interaction induced by a shift or intensification of Southern
Hemisphere Westerlies (SHW) could have stimulated this process.
19. Restraining bend tectonics in the Santa Cruz
Mountains, California, imaged using 10Be concentrations in river sands
Maria H. Gudmundsdottir, Kimberly
Blisniuk, Yael Ebert, Nathaniel M. Levine, Dylan H. Rood, Alana
Wilson, and George E. Hilley
Geology, August 2013, v. 41,
p. 843-846, first published on June 28,
2013, doi:10.1130/G33970.1
Their results
indicate that 10Be-derived denudation rates can reveal patterns of rock
uplift adjacent to reverse faults over length-scales relevant for
characterizing their seismic hazard potential.
20. Influence of bedrock mineral composition on
microbial diversity in a subglacial environment
Andrew C. Mitchell, Melissa J.
Lafrenière, Mark L. Skidmore, and Eric S. Boyd
Geology, August 2013, v. 41,
p. 855-858, first published on June 20,
2013, doi:10.1130/G34194.1
Here, using a
combination of in situ mineral incubation and DNA fingerprinting techniques, we
demonstrate that pyrite is the dominant mineralogical control on subglacial
bacterial community structure and composition.
21. How a marsh is built from the bottom up
John R. Gunnell, A.B.
Rodriguez, and B.A. McKee
Geology, August 2013, v. 41,
p. 859-862, first published on June 20,
2013, doi:10.1130/G34582.1
22. Magnetostratigraphic determination of the age of
ancient Lake Qinghai, and record of the East Asian monsoon since 4.63 Ma
Chaofeng Fu, Zhisheng An, Xiaoke
Qiang, Jan Bloemendal, Yougui Song, and Hong Chang
Geology, August 2013, v. 41,
p. 875-878, first published on June 28,
2013, doi:10.1130/G34418.1
Analysis of
lithofacies and depositional environments reveal that the change from eolian to
lacustrine facies occurred at ca. 4.63 Ma, corresponding to a shift from an
arid or semi-arid to a more humid climate, which resulted in the origin of Lake
Qinghai.
23. The anatomy of long-term warming since 15 ka in
New Zealand based on net glacier snowline rise
Michael R. Kaplan, Joerg M. Schaefer, George
H. Denton, Alice M. Doughty, David J.A. Barrell, et al.
Geology, August 2013, v. 41,
p. 887-890, first published on June 20,
2013, doi:10.1130/G34288.1
Glacier snowline
records in New Zealand show generally coherent Late Glacial and Holocene
climate trends.
24. Evidence for Cnidaria-like behavior in ca. 560 Ma
Ediacaran Aspidella
Latha R. Menon, Duncan
McIlroy, and Martin D. Brasier
Geology, August 2013, v. 41,
p. 895-898, first published on June 6, 2013,doi:10.1130/G34424.1
25. Tsunami recurrence revealed
by Porites coral boulders in the southern Ryukyu Islands, Japan
Daisuke Araoka, Yusuke
Yokoyama, Atsushi Suzuki, Kazuhisa Goto, Kunimasa
Miyagi, Keitaro Miyazawa, Hiroyuki Matsuzaki, and Hodaka
Kawahata
Geology, August 2013, v. 41,
p. 919-922, first published on June 20,
2013, doi:10.1130/G34415.1
This study
demonstrates that by reliably dating large numbers of selected coastal boulders
it is possible to ascertain the timing, recurrence interval, and magnitude of
past tsunamis in a location where few adequate survey sites of sandy tsunami
deposits exist.
26. Dynamic polar climates in a greenhouse world:
Evidence from clumped isotope thermometry of Early Cretaceous belemnites
Gregory D. Price and Benjamin H.
Passey
Geology, August 2013, v. 41,
p. 923-926, first published on June 6, 2013,doi:10.1130/G34484.1
We identify a
cooler late Valanginian interval (ca. 134 Ma) with temperatures consistent with
polar regions a few degrees above freezing and also coincident with increased δ
18 O seawater values.
27. A slump in the trench: Tracking the impact of the
2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake
M. Strasser, M. Kölling, C. dos
Santos Ferreira, H.G. Fink, T. Fujiwara, S. Henkel, K.
Ikehara, T. Kanamatsu, K. Kawamura, S. Kodaira, M. Römer,
G. Wefer, R/V Sonne Cruise SO219A, and JAMSTEC Cruise MR12-E01
scientists
Geology, August 2013, v. 41,
p. 935-938, first published on June 20,
2013, doi:10.1130/G34477.1
28. The ephemeral life of a salt marsh
Sergio Fagherazzi
Geology, August 2013, v. 41,
p. 943-944, doi:10.1130/focus082013.1
