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| Open AccessUrban development pattern’s influence on extreme rainfall occurrences
Cities that experience compact development tend to witness more extreme rainfall over downtown than their rural surroundings, while the anomalies in extreme rainfall frequency diminish for cities with dispersed development patterns.
- Long Yang
- , Yixin Yang
- & Dev Niyogi
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Article
| Open AccessOverlooked shelf sediment reductive sinks of dissolved rhenium and uranium in the modern ocean
The sources and sinks of Re and U in the modern ocean may be imbalanced, according to sedimentary porewater analysis and assessment of reductive Re and U removal on the continental shelf
- Qingquan Hong
- , Yilin Cheng
- & Tianyu Chen
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Article
| Open AccessHigh carbon dioxide emissions from Australian estuaries driven by geomorphology and climate
Australian estuaries shown to emit more CO2 per unit area than global estuaries due to the dominance of macrotidal subtropical and tropical tidal systems, while disturbance effects were minimal due to low overall disturbance.
- Jacob Z.-Q. Yeo
- , Judith A. Rosentreter
- & Bradley D. Eyre
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| Open AccessHuman-induced intensified seasonal cycle of sea surface temperature
The authors reveal a 3.9% intensification in the sea surface temperature seasonal cycle over the past four decades, with hotspot regions experiencing intensification of up to 10%. This intensification extends throughout the mixed layer, amplifying the seasonal cycle of upper-ocean oxygenation.
- Fukai Liu
- , Fengfei Song
- & Yiyong Luo
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| Open AccessTemperature alters the predator-prey size relationships and size-selectivity of Southern Ocean fish
Using prey size measurements from ten Southern Ocean lanternfish species sampled across >10° of latitude, this study shows that higher temperatures were associated with smaller fish and an overall decrease in the size of fish relative to their prey. Ocean warming may therefore alter the diversity and size structuring of trophic interactions, reducing the stability of marine ecosystems.
- Patrick Eskuche-Keith
- , Simeon L. Hill
- & Eoin J. O’Gorman
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| Open AccessDrivers and implications of alternative routes to fuels decarbonization in net-zero energy systems
Assumptions about the use of biomass and CO2 sequestration drive key differences in how emissions from remaining fuels are mitigated in net-zero energy systems, with potentially significant tradeoffs that will need to be evaluated and managed.
- Bryan K. Mignone
- , Leon Clarke
- & Aranya Venkatesh
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Article
| Open AccessWestern US intraplate deformation controlled by the complex lithospheric structure
The lithospheric structure controls crustal deformation in the western US. Particularly, its abrupt thickness change along the eastern boundary of the Basin and Range leads to enhanced lithosphere-asthenosphere interaction and localized earthquakes.
- Zebin Cao
- & Lijun Liu
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Article
| Open AccessEast European sedimentary basins long heated by a fading mantle upwelling
Since the Jurassic, East European basins have likely been situated over a weakening mantle upwelling, which heated the basins and created suitable conditions for hydrocarbon maturation, according to geodata combined with modelling.
- Alik Ismail-Zadeh
- , Anne Davaille
- & Yuri Volozh
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Article
| Open AccessOcean internal tides suppress tropical cyclones in the South China Sea
The authors show that the presence of strong ocean internal tides in the South China Sea suppresses tropical cyclone intensification, mitigating their impacts on the highly populated surrounding regions.
- Shoude Guan
- , Fei-Fei Jin
- & Jinbao Song
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Article
| Open AccessLevitation and dynamics of bodies in supersaturated fluids
When a solid object is placed in a supersaturated environment, it can exhibit interesting dynamics. Spagnolie et al. conducted an experiment using raisins and 3D-printed bodies in carbonated water and found that the motion of the solid object is influenced by the accumulation and release of bubbles as they reach the surface.
- Saverio E. Spagnolie
- , Samuel Christianson
- & Carsen Grote
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| Open AccessA unifying modelling of multiple land degradation pathways in Europe
This study presents an unprecedented analysis of agricultural land multi-degradation in 40 European countries, using twelve dataset-based processes that were modelled as land degradation convergence and combination pathways across the continent.
- Remus Prăvălie
- , Pasquale Borrelli
- & Marius-Victor Birsan
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Article
| Open AccessThe differential impact of climate interventions along the political divide in 60 countries
A major barrier to climate mitigation is the political polarization of climate change. Here, the authors examine which of several interventions increase people’s climate policy support and climate action across ideological boundaries.
- Michael Berkebile-Weinberg
- , Danielle Goldwert
- & Madalina Vlasceanu
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Article
| Open AccessEfficient recovery and recycling/upcycling of precious metals using hydrazide-functionalized star-shaped polymers
Despite the use of amine-functionalized polymers as metal adsorbents, they are generally ineffective at recovering precious metals. Here the authors prepare a star-shaped, hydrazide-functionalized polymer as a recoverable standalone adsorbent with high precious metal adsorption capability/selectivity and practical feasibility.
- Seung Su Shin
- , Youngkyun Jung
- & Jung-Hyun Lee
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Article
| Open AccessTracing fossil-based plastics, chemicals and fertilizers production in China
Plastics, chemical production, and fertilizers commonly rely on fossil fuels. Here the authors examine these uses in China and find that in 2017, 5%, 15%, and 7% of China’s total coal, crude oil, and natural gas were used as feedstocks in the chemical industry.
- Meng Jiang
- , Yuheng Cao
- & Bing Zhu
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| Open AccessCompensating affected parties necessary for rapid coal phase-out but expensive if extended to major emitters
When countries phase out coal, they compensate affected companies, communities and workers. Today more than $200 billion are allocated for such payoff, but much larger amount will be needed if China and India also phase out coal to tackle climate change.
- Lola Nacke
- , Vadim Vinichenko
- & Jessica Jewell
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| Open AccessEffects of management practices on the ecosystem-service multifunctionality of temperate grasslands
Sustainable agricultural policies need to be practically assessed. Here, the authors assess how management practices affect ecosystem services in Swiss agricultural grasslands showing that organic farming has a lesser impact than the eco-scheme and the use as pasture or meadow.
- Franziska J. Richter
- , Matthias Suter
- & Valentin H. Klaus
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Article
| Open AccessEarly warning signals of the termination of the African Humid Period(s)
The end of the green Sahara in the mid-Holocene was gradual, but punctuated by rapidly changing episodes of extreme drought and wetness, to which human societies were exposed and had to adapt to, as a lake record from southern Ethiopia suggests.
- Martin H. Trauth
- , Asfawossen Asrat
- & Paul J. Valdes
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| Open AccessLower Ordovician synziphosurine reveals early euchelicerate diversity and evolution
Here, the authors describe an early synziphosurine from the Lower Ordovician Fezouata Shale of Morocco, which exhibits traits that elucidate the long-contentious relationships between crown euchelicerates and their sister taxa, and also clarifies euchelicerate body plan evolution.
- Lorenzo Lustri
- , Pierre Gueriau
- & Allison C. Daley
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Article
| Open AccessContextual and combinatorial structure in sperm whale vocalisations
Sperm whales use sequences of clicks to communicate. Here, the authors show that these vocalizations are significantly more complex than previously believed-the “sperm whale phonetic alphabet" has both combinatorial structure and call modulation dependent on the conversational context.
- Pratyusha Sharma
- , Shane Gero
- & Jacob Andreas
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| Open AccessHot Cordilleran hinterland promoted lower crust mobility and decoupling of Laramide deformation
Researchers test geodynamic models for far-field continental deformation during the Laramide orogeny. New and existing thermal data show that the hot hinterland crust promoted lower crust mobility and crust-mantle decoupling during flat-slab traction.
- Dominik R. Vlaha
- , Andrew V. Zuza
- & Matthieu Harlaux
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| Open AccessEffects of emissions caps on the costs and feasibility of low-carbon hydrogen in the European ammonia industry
Decarbonizing the European ammonia industry: Less stringent emissions caps for electrolytic hydrogen production can significantly reduce costs and land use while still achieving more than 90% reduction in emissions relative to fossil-based hydrogen.
- Stefano Mingolla
- , Paolo Gabrielli
- & Zhongming Lu
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| Open AccessRecent collisional history of (65803) Didymos
The fast-spinning primary of the Didymos near-earth asteroid binary system was found to have a degraded top shape by the DART (NASA) mission. Here, authors find that these surface features observed in the asteroid are more likely to have been caused by collisional effects than by the YORP effect.
- Adriano Campo Bagatin
- , Aldo Dell’Oro
- & Jean-Baptiste Vincent
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| Open AccessGlobally occurring pelagiphage infections create ribosome-deprived cells
SAR11 bacteria and their phages are abundant in the oceans. Here the authors quantify the number of phage-infected SAR11 cells using microscopy techniques and discover phage-infected cells without any detectable ribosomes. They hypothesize that ribosomal RNA may be used for the synthesis of phage genomes.
- Jan D. Brüwer
- , Chandni Sidhu
- & Bernhard M. Fuchs
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Article
| Open AccessThe environmental sustainability of digital content consumption
The average Internet user spends over 40% of their waking hours online, yet the environmental footprint remains poorly understood. This study suggests that digital content consumption could exacerbate the pressure on the finite Earth’s carrying capacity.
- Robert Istrate
- , Victor Tulus
- & Gonzalo Guillén-Gosálbez
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| Open AccessHigh-resolution impact-based early warning system for riverine flooding
A hindcast experiment of the 2021 summer flood in West Germany unveils a 17-hour lead time for preparedness and advisable action, holding promise for impact-based forecasting of inundated roads, railways and building footprint in real-time.
- Husain Najafi
- , Pallav Kumar Shrestha
- & Luis Samaniego
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| Open AccessTiming the evolution of phosphorus-cycling enzymes through geological time using phylogenomics
Phosphorus is an essential nutrient which may have influenced Earth’s early biosphere. This study interrogates genomic records, finding potentially phosphate depleted conditions toward the end of the Archean when enzymes for scavenging reduced phosphorus compounds spread throughout the tree of life.
- Joanne S. Boden
- , Juntao Zhong
- & Eva E. Stüeken
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Article
| Open AccessImproved biomass burning emissions from 1750 to 2010 using ice core records and inverse modeling
Two new gridded, model-ready historical biomass burning emission datasets (BB4CMIPpost and LPJ-LMfirepost) are developed by inverse modeling that leveraged 31 ice core records, existing emissions as a priori, and chemical transport model simulations.
- Bingqing Zhang
- , Nathan J. Chellman
- & Pengfei Liu
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Article
| Open AccessBiocomposite thermoplastic polyurethanes containing evolved bacterial spores as living fillers to facilitate polymer disintegration
Plastic pollution severely threatens the resilience of nature. Here, the authors utilize the spore-forming, polymer-degrading bacteria, Bacillus subtilis, as a living filler to develop biocomposite thermoplastic polyurethane with improved mechanical properties and biodegradation.
- Han Sol Kim
- , Myung Hyun Noh
- & Jonathan K. Pokorski
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Article
| Open AccessLand conversion to agriculture induces taxonomic homogenization of soil microbial communities globally
Agricultural land-use change affects belowground biodiversity. Here, the authors compare soil microbial communities from natural ecosystems and agricultural systems, finding that agricultural conversion leads to taxonomic and functional homogenisation.
- Ziheng Peng
- , Xun Qian
- & Shuo Jiao
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| Open AccessA global meta-analysis on the drivers of salt marsh planting success and implications for ecosystem services
Salt marsh planting strategies aim to reduce coastal degradation. Here, the authors conduct a global meta-analysis showing that planting enhances coastal wetland ecosystem services although not to the level of natural wetlands.
- Zezheng Liu
- , Sergio Fagherazzi
- & Baoshan Cui
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| Open AccessGlobal census of the significance of giant mesopelagic protists to the marine carbon and silicon cycles
Rhizaria are abundant protists in the ocean and likely important to biogeochemical cycling. In this study the authors assess the global distribution, biomass and biogeochemical significance of Rhizaria, finding that they play an important role in carbon flux attenuation and dominate silicon cycling in the mesopelagic zone.
- Manon Laget
- , Laetitia Drago
- & Tristan Biard
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| Open AccessNonmagnetic framboid and associated iron nanoparticles with a space-weathered feature from asteroid Ryugu
Electron holography discovered nonmagnetic framboids and many iron nanoparticles with a vortex magnetic flux formed by magnetite reduction due to a micrometeoroid impact on asteroid Ryugu, providing a new way to study the Solar System magnetic field.
- Yuki Kimura
- , Takeharu Kato
- & Shogo Tachibana
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Article
| Open AccessNew Late Pleistocene age for the Homo sapiens skeleton from Liujiang southern China
Here the authors provide new radiocarbon, U-series, and OSL dates for Homo sapiens fossils from Tongtianyan cave, southern China, placing them at 33-23 thousand years ago and indicating widespread presence of Homo sapiens across eastern Asia in the Late Pleistocene.
- Junyi Ge
- , Song Xing
- & Qingfeng Shao
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Article
| Open AccessEfficient tandem electroreduction of nitrate into ammonia through coupling Cu single atoms with adjacent Co3O4
An optimal catalyst for nitrate electroreduction should satisfy the simultaneously optimized adsorption of intermediates. Here, the authors report a tandem electrocatalyst by combining Cu single atoms with Co3O4 nanosheets, enhancing the binding with NO2−, thus promoting nitrate electroreduction to NH3.
- Yan Liu
- , Jie Wei
- & Jie Zeng
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Article
| Open AccessSulfur oxidation and reduction are coupled to nitrogen fixation in the roots of the salt marsh foundation plant Spartina alterniflora
The mechanisms underlying plant-microbe interactions in coastal ecosystems are little explored. Here, the authors use multi-omics and biogeochemical measurements to investigate the saltmarsh cordgrass root microbiome and its role in coupling nitrogen fixation and sulfur cycling.
- J. L. Rolando
- , M. Kolton
- & J. E. Kostka
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Article
| Open AccessClimate-forced Hg-remobilization associated with fern mutagenesis in the aftermath of the end-Triassic extinction
This study provides evidence for long-term effects of volcanic emissions of large quantities of gaseous mercury (Hg) and plant mutagenesis by recording high abundances of malformed fern spores across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary and Early Jurassic.
- Remco Bos
- , Wang Zheng
- & Bas van de Schootbrugge
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Article
| Open AccessComposition and metabolism of microbial communities in soil pores
The work proposes the concept of distinct micro-habitats within an intact soil matrix and describes composition and metabolic pathways of their bacterial inhabitants, as a first step towards a generalizable C processing-focused classification of soil micro-environmental conditions.
- Zheng Li
- , Alexandra N. Kravchenko
- & Evgenia Blagodatskaya
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Article
| Open AccessModerate greenhouse climate and rapid carbonate formation after Marinoan snowball Earth
When the Marinoan snowball Earth deglaciated, the ocean’s chemistry determined the strength and duration of the ensuing supergreenhouse climate, while the sudden warming and biological activity could have led to a rapid formation of cap dolostones.
- Lennart Ramme
- , Tatiana Ilyina
- & Jochem Marotzke
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| Open AccessWarming drives dissolved organic carbon export from pristine alpine soils
The temperature-sensitivity of soil dissolved organic carbon (DOC) export is widely debated but limited by the duration of observations. New data from environmental archives supports a pronounced sensitivity between soil DOC leaching and warming.
- Andrew R. Pearson
- , Bethany R. S. Fox
- & Adam Hartland
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Article
| Open AccessVegetation dieback in the Mississippi River Delta triggered by acute drought and chronic relative sea-level rise
Coastal wetlands are vulnerable to sea-level rise. Here, the authors use 16 years of data to correlate vegetation dieback in the Mississippi River Delta to drought-induced salt water intrusion in the summer of 2012.
- Tracy Elsey-Quirk
- , Austin Lynn
- & Dubravko Justic
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Article
| Open AccessLocal incomplete combustion emissions define the PM2.5 oxidative potential in Northern India
The authors investigate the local/regional nature and associated oxidative potential of PM2.5 emission sources in northern India and show that reducing local inefficient combustion emissions can effectively mitigate PM health effects.
- Deepika Bhattu
- , Sachchida Nand Tripathi
- & André S. H. Prévôt
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Article
| Open AccessSeismic evidence for melt-rich lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary beneath young slab at Cascadia
This study provides seismic evidence for the presence of partial melts along the base of Cascadia’s subducting slab, with implications to lithosphere-asthenosphere decoupling that potentially influences subduction dynamics and earthquake cycles.
- Xin Wang
- , Ling Chen
- & Jianfeng Yang
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Article
| Open AccessIce sheet and precession controlled subarctic Pacific productivity and upwelling over the last 550,000 years
Ice sheets and precession are shown to control westerly strength and position, impacting nutrient-rich water upwelling and productivity in the subarctic Pacific. This finding underscores the subarctic Pacific’s significant contribution to Pleistocene CO2, particularly on a precession timescale.
- Zhengquan Yao
- , Xuefa Shi
- & Yonggui Yu
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Article
| Open AccessQuantum critical phase of FeO spans conditions of Earth’s lower mantle
Large-scale eDMFT computation reveals that FeO undergoes a gradual orbitally selective insulator-metal transition across the extreme conditions of Earth’s interior, with implications for compositions and conductivity of the core-mantle boundary region.
- Wai-Ga D. Ho
- , Peng Zhang
- & Vasilije V. Dobrosavljevic
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Article
| Open AccessMetabolic coupling between soil aerobic methanotrophs and denitrifiers in rice paddy fields
Microbial denitrification in rice paddy fields reduces N use efficiency. Here, the authors use field samples from major rice producing areas in China and identify microbial taxa involved in the metabolic couplings between aerobic CH4 oxidation and denitrification in rice paddy fields.
- Kang-Hua Chen
- , Jiao Feng
- & Yu-Rong Liu
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Article
| Open AccessPublic perceptions on carbon removal from focus groups in 22 countries
Global public expectations for carbon removal governance are: engagement beyond acceptance research; regulating industry beyond incentivizing innovation; systemic coordination; and prioritizing underlying and interrelated causes of unsustainability.
- Sean Low
- , Livia Fritz
- & Benjamin K. Sovacool
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Article
| Open AccessOcean cavity regime shift reversed West Antarctic grounding line retreat in the late Holocene
Using ice sheet model and glacio-isostatic adjustment model simulations and paleoclimate proxies, this work demonstrates that the most likely cause of past West Antarctic grounding-line reversal was a regime shift from a warm to cold ocean cavity.
- Daniel P. Lowry
- , Holly K. Han
- & Robert M. McKay
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Article
| Open AccessStrong linkage between benthic oxygen uptake and bacterial tetraether lipids in deep-sea trench regions
Xiao et al. uncover a strong linkage between marine bacterial tetraether lipids and benthic oxygen uptake in deepsea trench regions, indicating their potential for assessing microbial diagenetic activity and organic carbon degradation.
- Wenjie Xiao
- , Yunping Xu
- & Ronnie N. Glud
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Article
| Open AccessPhysiography, foraging mobility, and the first peopling of Sahul
The speed and route by which Homo sapiens colonised Sahul is an ongoing topic of research. Here, the authors model the physical environment as it changes through time in combination with Lévy walk foraging patterns to suggest a wave of dispersal following coastlines and rivers.
- Tristan Salles
- , Renaud Joannes-Boyau
- & Manon Lorcery