NATURE, SCIENCE, GEOLOGY, NATURE GEOSCIENCE 16th-23rd April
(updated list, 25th April)
1. Climate models fail to ‘predict’ US droughts
Simulations identify past megadroughts, but at wrong times.
Quirin Schiermeier
Nature 496, 284 (18 April 2013) doi:10.1038/496284a
2. Desert plants reap no rewards
No author cited
Nature 496, 272 (18 April 2013) doi:10.1038/496272a
Original paper published in: Gloabal Change Biology DOI: 10.1111/gcb.12177
SCIENCE
1.Drought and China's Cave Species
Shu-Sen Shu, Wan-Sheng Jiang, Tony Whitten, Jun-Xing Yang, and Xiao-Yong Chen
Science 340, 6130 pp., p.272. (19 April 2013)
doi: 10.1126/science.340.6130.272-a
2. Climate's Dark Forcings
Meinrat O. Andreae and V. Ramanathan
Science 340, 6130 pp., p. 280-281
DOI: 10.1126/science.1235731
3. Fire in the Ocean
Exposure to fire alters the properties of dissolved organic carbon in ways that affect how it decomposes in rivers and in the ocean.
A. C. Masiello1, P. Louchouarn2,3
Science 340, 6130 pp., p. 287-288
DOI: 10.1126/science.1237688
4. Reorganization of Southern Ocean Plankton Ecosystem at the Onset of Antarctic Glaciation
The Southern Ocean plankton ecosystem underwent an abrupt and profound reorganization in the earliest Oligocene.
Alexander J. P. Houben, Peter K. Bijl, Jörg Pross, Steven M. Bohaty, Sandra Passchier, Catherine E. Stickley, Ursula Röhl, Saiko Sugisaki, Lisa Tauxe, Tina van de Flierdt, Matthew Olney, Francesca Sangiorgi, Appy Sluijs, Carlota Escutia, Henk Brinkhuis, and and the Expedition 318 Scientists
Science 340, 6130 pp., p. 341-344. DOI: 10.1126/science.1223646
5. Global Charcoal Mobilization from Soils via Dissolution and Riverine Transport to the Oceans
A larger-than-assumed fraction of charcoal produced by wildfires leaches out of soils and is transported to the oceans
Rudolf Jaffé, Yan Ding, Jutta Niggemann, Anssi V. Vähätalo, Aron Stubbins, Robert G. M. Spencer, John Campbell, and Thorsten Dittmar
Science 340, 6130 pp., p. 345-347. DOI: 10.1126/science.1231476
6. Did You Feel It?
Gregory C. Beroza
In this history of seismology and its impact, Coen focuses on the contributions of human observers—citizens as well as scientists.
Science 340, 6130 pp., p. 274-275
DOI: 10.1126/science.1235758
GEOLOGY
1. Synchronizing Holocene lacustrine and marine sediment records using paleomagnetic secular variation
Sædís Ólafsdóttir, Áslaug Geirsdóttir, Gifford H. Miller, Joseph S. Stoner and James E.T. Channell
Geology, 41 no. 5 p. 535-538
DOI: 10.1130/G33946.1
2. Extremely high temperatures and paleoclimate trends recorded in Permian ephemeral lake halite
James J. Zambito IV and Kathleen C. Benison
Geology, 41, p. 587-590 ,
DOI:10.1130/G34078.1
3. Cenozoic boron isotope variations in benthic foraminifers
Markus Raitzsch and Bärbel Hönisch
Geology, 41, p. 591-594, first published on March 26, 2013, doi:10.1130/G34031.1
4. Imprint of climate and climate change in alluvial riverbeds:
Louise J. Slater and Michael Bliss Singer Continental United States, 1950-2011
Geology, 41, p. 595-598, first published on March 18, 2013, doi:10.1130/G34070.1
5. Marine radiocarbon reservoir age variation in Donax obesulus shells from northern Peru: Late Holocene evidence for extended El Niño
Miguel F. Etayo-Cadavid, C. Fred T. Andrus, Kevin B. Jones, Gregory W.L. Hodgins, Daniel H. Sandweiss, Santiago Uceda-Castillo, and Jeffrey Quilter
Geology, 41, p. 599-602, first published on March 18, 2013, doi:10.1130/G34065.1
6. Climate change increases frequency of shallow spring landslides in the French Alps
Jérôme Lopez Saez, Christophe Corona, Markus Stoffel, and Frédéric Berger
Geology, May 2013, v. 41, p. 619-622, first published on March 18, 2013, doi:10.1130/G34098.1
NATURE GEOSCIENCE
1. Test of a decadal climate forecast
Myles R. Allen, John F. B. Mitchell & Peter A. Stott
p. 243 - 244
doi:10.1038/ngeo1788
2. Little net clear-sky radiative forcing from recent regional redistribution of aerosols
D. M. Murphy
p. 258 - 262
doi:10.1038/ngeo1740
Aerosols scatter and absorb incoming solar radiation, with consequences for the energy balance of the atmosphere. An analysis of satellite data suggests that the regional redistribution of aerosols over the past decade had little net effect on the global radiative forcing of the atmosphere.
3. Increase in the range between wet and dry season precipitation Chia Chou, John C. H. Chiang, Chia-Wei Lan, Chia-Hui Chung, Yi-Chun Liao & Chia-Jung Lee
p.263 - 267
doi:10.1038/ngeo1744
The water vapour content of the atmosphere has increased as a result of global warming, strengthening the hydrological cycle. An analysis of observational data suggests that wet seasons have become wetter, and dry seasons drier, in recent decades.
4. Simulated resilience of tropical rainforests to CO2-induced climate change
Chris Huntingford, Przemyslaw Zelazowski, David Galbraith, Lina M. Mercado, Stephen Sitch, Rosie Fisher, Mark Lomas, Anthony P. Walker, Chris D. Jones, Ben B. B. Booth, Yadvinder Malhi, Debbie Hemming, Gillian Kay, Peter Good, Simon L. Lewis, Oliver L. Phillips, Owen K. Atkin, Jon Lloyd, Emanuel Gloor, Joana Zaragoza-Castells, Patrick Meir, Richard Betts, Phil P. Harris, Carlos Nobre, Jose Marengo & Peter M. Cox
p. 268 - 273
doi:10.1038/ngeo1741
Assessing potential future carbon loss from tropical forests is important for evaluating the efficacy of programmes for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD). An exploration of results from 22 climate models in conjunction with a land surface scheme suggests that in the Americas, Africa and Asia, the resilience of tropical forests to climate change is higher than expected, although uncertainties are large.
5. Greenland meltwater as a significant and potentially bioavailable source of iron to the ocean
Maya P. Bhatia, Elizabeth B. Kujawinski, Sarah B. Das, Crystaline F. Breier, Paul B. Henderson & Matthew A. Charette
p. 274 - 278
doi:10.1038/ngeo1746
The micronutrient iron is thought to limit primary production in large regions of the global ocean. Meltwater measurements suggest that the Greenland ice sheet serves as a significant source of potentially bioavailable iron to the surrounding coastal ocean
6. Strong latitudinal patterns in the elemental ratios of marine plankton and organic matter
Adam C. Martiny, Chau T. A. Pham, Francois W. Primeau, Jasper A. Vrugt, J. Keith Moore, Simon A. Levin & Michael W. Lomas
p. 279 - 283
doi:10.1038/ngeo1757
The elemental composition of marine organic matter is used to infer a variety of oceanic ecosystem processes. A compilation of observational data suggests that elemental ratios differ substantially from the Redfield ratio, but exhibit a clear latitudinal trend.
7. High rates of microbial carbon turnover in sediments in the deepest oceanic trench on Earth
Ronnie N. Glud, Frank Wenzhöfer, Mathias Middelboe, Kazumasa Oguri, Robert Turnewitsch, Donald E. Canfield & Hiroshi Kitazato
p. 284 - 288
doi:10.1038/ngeo1773
Microbes regulate the decomposition of organic matter in marine sediments. Measurements at the deepest oceanic site on Earth reveal high rates of microbial activity, potentially fuelled by the deposition of organic matter.
8. Synchronization of the climate system to eccentricity forcing and the 100,000-year problem
José A. Rial, Jeseung Oh & Elizabeth Reischmann
p. 289 - 293
DOI:10.1038/ngeo1756
The 100,000-year problem refers to an apparent mismatch between the strength of solar forcing associated with the 100,000-year cycle of eccentricity in the Earth’s orbit and the amplitude of glacial–interglacial cycles. Numerical analyses suggest that recent glacial–interglacial cycles can instead be explained by a phase locking between internal climate oscillations and the 413,000-year eccentricity cycle.
9.Tectonics: Mantle spread across the sea floor -
Deborah Smith
The sea floor around mid-ocean ridges is often carpeted by hummocky lava flows. Images from the Southwest Indian Ridge sea floor, however, show a smooth texture created by exhumation and widespread exposure of altered mantle rocks.
p. 247 - 248
doi:10.1038/ngeo1786
10. The long precursory phase of most large interplate earthquakes -
Michel Bouchon, Virginie Durand, David Marsan, Hayrullah Karabulut & Jean Schmittbuhl
p. 299 - 302
doi:10.1038/ngeo1770
Foreshocks precede some—but not all—earthquakes. Analysis of all earthquakes larger than magnitude 6.5 that occurred between 1999 and 2011 shows that earthquakes at plate boundaries are often preceded by increasing foreshock activity in the days leading up to the quake, whereas earthquakes in plate interiors often are not.
11. Isotopic ratios of nitrite as tracers of the sources and age of oceanic nitrite Carolyn Buchwald & Karen L. Casciotti
p. 308 - 313
doi:10.1038/ngeo1745
Nitrite, a central intermediate in the marine nitrogen cycle, accumulates at the base of the sunlit surface ocean. Isotopic measurements suggest that ammonia oxidation is the primary source of nitrite in the primary nitrite maximum in the Arabian Sea.
12. Continuous exhumation of mantle-derived rocks at the Southwest Indian Ridge for 11 million years
Daniel Sauter, Mathilde Cannat, Stéphane Rouméjon, Muriel Andreani, Dominique Birot, Adrien Bronner, Daniele Brunelli, Julie Carlut, Adélie Delacour, Vivien Guyader, Christopher J. MacLeod, Gianreto Manatschal, Véronique Mendel, Bénédicte Ménez, Valerio Pasini, Etienne Ruellan & Roger Searle
p. 314 - 320
doi:10.1038/ngeo1771
The sea floor at the easternmost Southwest Indian mid-ocean ridge is smooth, unlike that at other mid-ocean ridges. Sonar imaging and analysis of rock samples show that the sea floor here is composed almost entirely of sea-water-altered mantle rocks that have been brought to the surface by large faults on both sides of the ridge axis over the past 11 million years.
Nothing relevant in:
- Nature communications
- PNAS
