| 1. |
- Acosta Navarro, Juan Camilo, et al.
(författare)
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Amplification of Arctic warming by past air pollution reductions in Europe
- 2016
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Ingår i: Nature Geoscience. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 1752-0894 .- 1752-0908. ; 9:4, s. 277-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Arctic region is warming considerably faster than the rest of the globe(1), with important consequences for the ecosystems(2) and human exploration of the region(3). However, the reasons behind this Arctic amplification are not entirely clear(4). As a result of measures to enhance air quality, anthropogenic emissions of particulate matter and its precursors have drastically decreased in parts of the Northern Hemisphere over the past three decades(5). Here we present simulations with an Earth system model with comprehensive aerosol physics and chemistry that show that the sulfate aerosol reductions in Europe since 1980 can potentially explain a significant fraction of Arctic warming over that period. Specifically, the Arctic region receives an additional 0.3Wm(-2) of energy, and warms by 0.5 degrees C on annual average in simulations with declining European sulfur emissions in line with historical observations, compared with a model simulation with fixed European emissions at 1980 levels. Arctic warming is amplified mainly in fall and winter, but the warming is initiated in summer by an increase in incoming solar radiation as well as an enhanced poleward oceanic and atmospheric heat transport. The simulated summertime energy surplus reduces sea-ice cover, which leads to a transfer of heat from the Arctic Ocean to the atmosphere. We conclude that air quality regulations in the Northern Hemisphere, the ocean and atmospheric circulation, and Arctic climate are inherently linked.
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| 2. |
- Adolphi, Florian, et al.
(författare)
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Persistent link between solar activity and Greenland climate during the Last Glacial Maximum
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nature Geoscience. - 1752-0908 .- 1752-0894. ; 7:9, s. 662-666
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Changes in solar activity have previously been proposed to cause decadal- to millennial-scale fluctuations in both the modern and Holocene climates(1). Direct observational records of solar activity, such as sunspot numbers, exist for only the past few hundred years, so solar variability for earlier periods is typically reconstructed from measurements of cosmogenic radionuclides such as Be-10 and C-14 from ice cores and tree rings(2,3). Here we present a high-resolution Be-10 record from the ice core collected from central Greenland by the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP). The record spans from 22,500 to 10,000 years ago, and is based on new and compiled data(4-6). Using C-14 records(7,8) to control for climate-related influences on Be-10 deposition, we reconstruct centennial changes in solar activity. We find that during the Last Glacial Maximum, solar minima correlate with more negative delta O-18 values of ice and are accompanied by increased snow accumulation and sea-salt input over central Greenland. We suggest that solar minima could have induced changes in the stratosphere that favour the development of high-pressure blocking systems located to the south of Greenland, as has been found in observations and model simulations for recent climate(9,10). We conclude that the mechanism behind solar forcing of regional climate change may have been similar under both modern and Last Glacial Maximum climate conditions.
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| 3. |
- Ahmed, Moinuddin, et al.
(författare)
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Continental-scale temperature variability during the past two millennia
- 2013
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Ingår i: Nature Geoscience. - 1752-0894 .- 1752-0908. ; 6:5, s. 339-346
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Past global climate changes had strong regional expression. To elucidate their spatio-temporal pattern, we reconstructed past temperatures for seven continental-scale regions during the past one to two millennia. The most coherent feature in nearly all of the regional temperature reconstructions is a long-term cooling trend, which ended late in the nineteenth century. At multi-decadal to centennial scales, temperature variability shows distinctly different regional patterns, with more similarity within each hemisphere than between them. There were no globally synchronous multi-decadal warm or cold intervals that define a worldwide Medieval Warm Period or Little Ice Age, but all reconstructions show generally cold conditions between ad 1580 and 1880, punctuated in some regions by warm decades during the eighteenth century. The transition to these colder conditions occurred earlier in the Arctic, Europe and Asia than in North America or the Southern Hemisphere regions. Recent warming reversed the long-term cooling; during the period ad 1971–2000, the area-weighted average reconstructed temperature was higher than any other time in nearly 1,400 years.
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| 4. |
- Alcolombri, Uria, et al.
(författare)
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Sinking enhances the degradation of organic particles by marine bacteria
- 2021
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Ingår i: Nature Geoscience. - : Springer Nature. - 1752-0894 .- 1752-0908. ; 14:10, s. 775-780
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The sinking of organic particles in the ocean and their degradation by marine microorganisms is one of the main drivers of the biological pump. Yet, the mechanisms determining the magnitude of the pump remain poorly understood, limiting our ability to predict this carbon flux in future ocean scenarios. Current ocean models assume that the biological pump is governed by the competition between sinking speed and degradation rate, with the two processes independent from one another. Contrary to this paradigm, we show that sinking itself is a primary determinant of the rate at which bacteria degrade particles. Heterotrophic bacterial degradation rates were obtained from a laboratory study on model surface-colonized particles at atmospheric pressure under a range of flow speeds to mimic different sinking velocities. We find that even modest sinking speeds of 8 m day−1 enhance degradation rates more than 10-fold compared with degradation rates of non-sinking particles. We discovered that the molecular mechanism underlying this sinking-enhanced degradation is the flow-induced removal from the particles of the oligomeric breakdown products, which otherwise compete for enzymatic activity. This mechanism applies across several substrates and bacterial strains, suggesting its potentially broad occurrence under natural marine conditions. Integrating our findings into a mathematical model of particulate carbon flux, we propose that the coupling of sinking and degradation may contribute, in conjunction with other processes, to determining the magnitude of the vertical carbon flux in the ocean.
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| 5. |
- Antonelli, Alexandre, 1978, et al.
(författare)
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Geological and climatic influences on mountain biodiversity
- 2018
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Ingår i: Nature Geoscience. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1752-0894 .- 1752-0908. ; 11:10, s. 718-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mountains are key features of the Earth's surface and host a substantial proportion of the world's species. However, the links between the evolution and distribution of biodiversity and the formation of mountains remain poorly understood. Here, we integrate multiple datasets to assess the relationships between species richness in mountains, geology and climate at global and regional scales. Specifically, we analyse how erosion, relief, soil and climate relate to the geographical distribution of terrestrial tetrapods, which include amphibians, birds and mammals. We find that centres of species richness correlate with areas of high temperatures, annual rainfall and topographic relief, supporting previous studies. We unveil additional links between mountain-building processes and biodiversity: species richness correlates with erosion rates and heterogeneity of soil types, with a varying response across continents. These additional links are prominent but under-explored, and probably relate to the interplay between surface uplift, climate change and atmospheric circulation through time. They are also influenced by the location and orientation of mountain ranges in relation to air circulation patterns, and how species diversification, dispersal and refugia respond to climate change. A better understanding of biosphere-lithosphere interactions is needed to understand the patterns and evolution of mountain biodiversity across space and time.
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| 6. |
- Arneborg, Lars, 1969, et al.
(författare)
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Persistent inflow of warm water onto the central Amundsen Shelf
- 2012
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Ingår i: Nature Geoscience. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1752-0894 .- 1752-0908. ; 5:12, s. 876 - 880
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The West Antarctic Ice Sheet contains enough ice to raise global sea level by several metres and, because it is grounded mainly below sea level, it is sensitive to ocean warming 1 . Accelerated thinning of glaciers that discharge into the Amundsen Sea over the past decades 2–4 has been proposed to be related to the presence of warmer waters beneath the ice shelves 4–6 . Three deep troughs crosscut the continental shelf of the Amundsen Sea, forming passages through which warm ocean waters can access the ice shelves, but oceanographic data has been limited. Here we present direct measurements from an ocean mooring and ship transect of the temperatures, salinities and velocities from one of these troughs in the central Amundsen Sea during the year 2010. The data show persistent inflow towards the ice shelf of relatively warm and salty water at the bottom of the trough throughout the year, and outflow of colder water above. Superposed on this background flow are barotropic current fluctuations that do not contribute significantly to the overall transport. In contrast to numerical models 7,8 , which show seasonal inflow changes in response to regional winds, we find that warm water is supplied to the Central Amundsen Shelf without strong seasonal variability.
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| 7. |
- Arneth, A., et al.
(författare)
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Historical carbon dioxide emissions caused by land-use changes are possibly larger than assumed
- 2017
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Ingår i: Nature Geoscience. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1752-0894 .- 1752-0908. ; 10:2, s. 79-84
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The terrestrial biosphere absorbs about 20% of fossil-fuel CO 2 emissions. The overall magnitude of this sink is constrained by the difference between emissions, the rate of increase in atmospheric CO 2 concentrations, and the ocean sink. However, the land sink is actually composed of two largely counteracting fluxes that are poorly quantified: fluxes from land-use change and CO 2 uptake by terrestrial ecosystems. Dynamic global vegetation model simulations suggest that CO 2 emissions from land-use change have been substantially underestimated because processes such as tree harvesting and land clearing from shifting cultivation have not been considered. As the overall terrestrial sink is constrained, a larger net flux as a result of land-use change implies that terrestrial uptake of CO 2 is also larger, and that terrestrial ecosystems might have greater potential to sequester carbon in the future. Consequently, reforestation projects and efforts to avoid further deforestation could represent important mitigation pathways, with co-benefits for biodiversity. It is unclear whether a larger land carbon sink can be reconciled with our current understanding of terrestrial carbon cycling. Our possible underestimation of the historical residual terrestrial carbon sink adds further uncertainty to our capacity to predict the future of terrestrial carbon uptake and losses.
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| 8. |
- Arneth, Almut, et al.
(författare)
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Terrestrial biogeochemical feedbacks in the climate system
- 2010
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Ingår i: Nature Geoscience. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1752-0908 .- 1752-0894. ; 3:8, s. 525-532
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The terrestrial biosphere is a key regulator of atmospheric chemistry and climate. During past periods of climate change, vegetation cover and interactions between the terrestrial biosphere and atmosphere changed within decades. Modern observations show a similar responsiveness of terrestrial biogeochemistry to anthropogenically forced climate change and air pollution. Although interactions between the carbon cycle and climate have been a central focus, other biogeochemical feedbacks could be as important in modulating future climate change. Total positive radiative forcings resulting from feedbacks between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere are estimated to reach up to 0.9 or 1.5 W m(-2) K-1 towards the end of the twenty-first century, depending on the extent to which interactions with the nitrogen cycle stimulate or limit carbon sequestration. This substantially reduces and potentially even eliminates the cooling effect owing to carbon dioxide fertilization of the terrestrial biota. The overall magnitude of the biogeochemical feedbacks could potentially be similar to that of feedbacks in the physical climate system, but there are large uncertainties in the magnitude of individual estimates and in accounting for synergies between these effects.
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| 9. |
- Barlow, Natasha L. M., et al.
(författare)
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Lack of evidence for a substantial sea-level fluctuation within the Last Interglacial
- 2018
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Ingår i: Nature Geoscience. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1752-0894 .- 1752-0908. ; 11:9, s. 627-634
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- During the Last Interglacial, global mean sea level reached approximately 6 to 9 m above the present level. This period of high sea level may have been punctuated by a fall of more than 4 m, but a cause for such a widespread sea-level fall has been elusive. Reconstructions of global mean sea level account for solid Earth processes and so the rapid growth and decay of ice sheets is the most obvious explanation for the sea-level fluctuation. Here, we synthesize published geomorphological and stratigraphic indicators from the Last Interglacial, and find no evidence for ice-sheet regrowth within the warm interglacial climate. We also identify uncertainties in the interpretation of local relative sea-level data that underpin the reconstructions of global mean sea level. Given this uncertainty, and taking into account our inability to identify any plausible processes that would cause global sea level to fall by 4 m during warm climate conditions, we question the occurrence of a rapid sea-level fluctuation within the Last Interglacial. We therefore recommend caution in interpreting the high rates of global mean sea-level rise in excess of 3 to 7 m per 1,000 years that have been proposed for the period following the Last Interglacial sea-level lowstand.
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| 10. |
- Barros, Nathan, et al.
(författare)
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Carbon emission from hydroelectric reservoirs linked to reservoir age and latitude
- 2011
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Ingår i: Nature Geoscience. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 1752-0894 .- 1752-0908. ; 4:9, s. 593-596
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Hydroelectric reservoirs cover an area of 3.4 x 10(5) km(2) and comprise about 20% of all reservoirs. In addition, they contain large stores of formerly terrestrial organic carbon. Significant amounts of greenhouse gases are emitted(2), especially in the early years following reservoir creation, but the global extent of these emissions is poorly known. Previous estimates of emissions from all types of reservoir indicate that these human-made systems emit 321 Tg of carbon per year (ref. 4). Here we assess the emissions of carbon dioxide and methane from hydroelectric reservoirs, on the basis of data from 85 globally distributed hydroelectric reservoirs that account for 20% of the global area of these systems. We relate the emissions to reservoir age, location biome, morphometric features and chemical status. We estimate that hydroelectric reservoirs emit about 48 Tg C as CO(2) and 3 Tg C as CH(4), corresponding to 4% of global carbon emissions from inland waters. Our estimates are smaller than previous estimates on the basis of more limited data. Carbon emissions are correlated to reservoir age and latitude, with the highest emission rates from the tropical Amazon region. We conclude that future emissions will be highly dependent on the geographic location of new hydroelectric reservoirs.
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