Nature Reviews Earth & Environment最新文献

{"title":"Unveiling Antarctic sea ice secrets with AI and geostatistics to decode snow impacts","authors":"Lu Zhou, Clare Davis","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00714-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00714-6","url":null,"abstract":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment interviewed Lu Zhou about their project investigating how snow cover influences Antarctic sea ice mass balance and climate.","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 10","pages":"632-632"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145243210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Flames before summer","authors":"Graham Simpkins","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00719-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00719-1","url":null,"abstract":"An article in Science Advances demonstrates that fire onset has shifted ~45 days earlier on average in California owing to anthropogenic warming.","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 9","pages":"553-553"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122838","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Extreme and compound events in lakes","authors":"R. Iestyn Woolway, Yunlin Zhang, Eleanor Jennings, Tamar Zohary, Stephen F. Jane, Joachim Jansen, Gesa A. Weyhenmeyer, Di Long, Ayan Fleischmann, Lian Feng, Boqiang Qin, Kun Shi, Haoran Shi, Weijia Wang, Yan Tong, Guoqing Zhang, Jakob Zscheischler, Ze Ren, Erik Jeppesen","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00710-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00710-w","url":null,"abstract":"Extreme and compound events disrupt lake ecosystems worldwide, with their frequency, intensity and duration increasing in response to climate change. In this Review we outline evidence of the occurrence, drivers and impact of extreme and compound events in lakes. Univariate extremes, which include lake heatwaves, droughts and floods, underwater dimming episodes and hypoxia, can occur concurrently, sequentially or simultaneously at different locations to form multivariate, temporal or spatial compound events, respectively. The probability of extreme and compound events is increasing owing to climate warming, declining lake water levels in half of lakes globally, and basin-scale anthropogenic stressors, such as nutrient pollution. Most in-lake extreme events are inherently compound in nature owing to tightly coupled physical, chemical and biological underlying processes. The cascading effects of compound events propagate or dissipate through lakes. For example, a heatwave might trigger stratification and oxygen depletion, subsequently leading to fish mortality or the proliferation of harmful algal blooms. Interactions between extremes are increasingly observed and can trigger feedback loops that exacerbate harmful algal blooms and fishery declines, leading to severe ecological and socio-economic consequences. Managing the increasing risk of compound events requires integrated models, coordinated monitoring and proactive adaptation strategies tailored to the vulnerabilities of lake ecosystems. Extreme and compound events in lakes are increasing in severity and frequency in response to climate change and basin-scale anthropogenic stressors. This Review explores the occurrence, drivers and impact of such events, focusing on their physical and ecological drivers, impacts and management responses.","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 9","pages":"593-611"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The evolution of Earth’s early continental crust","authors":"Christopher L. Kirkland, Tim E. Johnson, Michael Brown, Hugh Smithies, Nadja Drabon, Craig O’Neill","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00706-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00706-6","url":null,"abstract":"Continental crust is fundamental to planetary habitability, providing the geochemical reservoirs and physical interfaces that drive and regulate exchanges among the atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. However, the evolution of Earth’s crust is uncertain owing to debate regarding the competing roles of internal versus external energetic drivers. In this Review, we examine the interplay between internal and external drivers of the production, modification and destruction of crust on the early Earth using geochemical, geological and geophysical data. Internal drivers are potentially linked to plate tectonics and processes such as subduction (dripping) or delamination. External drivers from large meteorite impacts likely influenced crust formation by inducing rapid decompression melting of the mantle to form basaltic protocratons, the early, mantle-derived crustal nuclei that preceded stable continental crust. On a planet covered by water, protocratons might have been transformed by intracrustal differentiation into evolved (continental) crust. Future research into the processes driving Earth’s early evolution and habitability should consider a wide range of temporal and spatial scales from seconds to millions of years and the subgrain to the galactic, to uncover the long-wavelength patterns, in mantle overturn rates and impact flux preserved in deep-time records. Continental crust is important for Earth’s habitability. This Review explores how the formation and stabilization of Earth’s early continental crust was modulated by internal and external factors such as subduction and bolide impacts, respectively.","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 9","pages":"612-625"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122807","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Nitrous oxide sources, mechanisms and mitigation","authors":"Guibing Zhu \u0000 (, ), Hao Shi \u0000 (, ), Lei Zhong \u0000 (, ), Guang He \u0000 (, ), Baozhan Wang \u0000 (, ), Jun Shan \u0000 (, ), Ping Han \u0000 (, ), Tongxu Liu \u0000 (, ), Shanyun Wang \u0000 (, ), Chunlei Liu \u0000 (, ), Nan Zhang \u0000 (, ), Liping Jiang \u0000 (, ), Longbin Yu \u0000 (, ), Chunhui Zhan \u0000 (, ), Ziyang Tang \u0000 (, ), Teng Wen \u0000 (, ), Bin Ma \u0000 (, ), Xiaoxuan Su \u0000 (, ), Shujun Zhang \u0000 (, ), Jinbo Zhang \u0000 (, ), Hongjie Di, Lijun Hou \u0000 (, ), Alexander H. Krichels, Mark Trimmer, Mike S. M. Jetten, Yongzhen Peng \u0000 (, ), Frank E. Löffler, Hanqin Tian \u0000 (, ), Yong-Guan Zhu \u0000 (, )","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00707-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00707-5","url":null,"abstract":"Atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas and ozone-depleting substance. In this Review, we outline global N2O sources, with a focus on hotspots and hot moments, and discuss strategies to mitigate N2O emissions. N2O can be released by natural sources such as bedrock weathering, but anthropogenic sources such as agriculture account for 40% of total emissions. Hotspots are localized regions of high emissions and include cropland soils (2.1 Tg N yr−1), tropical forests (1.55 Tg N yr−1), pasture soils with animal waste return (1.7 Tg N yr−1), and streams and small lakes (0.4 Tg N yr−1). Brief periods of intense emissions, known as hot moments, include post-deforestation, upland soils after fertilizer application, and desert and grasslands after precipitation. N2O production from terrestrial and aquatic environments is mainly driven by two microbial processes: nitrification and denitrification. Bioaugmentation and biogeoengineering technologies hold potential for reducing N2O emissions; for example, nature-based anammox hotspot geoengineering in Jiaxing, China, reduces N2O emissions by 27.1%. However, the spatiotemporal heterogeneities and different production pathways of N2O emissions are poorly represented in existing models, hindering the quantification and mitigation of emissions. A global N2O database is needed to address this limitation. Additionally, artificial intelligence technology could enable real-time agricultural management to align nitrogen supply with crop demand. Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions are continuously increasing owing to human activities. This Review discusses the temporal and spatial variability of N2O sources, N2O production pathways, and the potential of biogeoengineering strategies in agricultural soils and terrestrial water bodies to mitigate emissions.","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 9","pages":"574-592"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122836","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prediction of earthquake- and climate change-induced cascading hazards","authors":"Xuanmei Fan, Xujia Jiang","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00712-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00712-8","url":null,"abstract":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment interviewed Xuanmei Fan about their projects investigating earthquake- and climate change-induced cascading hazards.","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 9","pages":"549-549"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Climate impacts of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation in Africa","authors":"Wenju Cai, Chris Reason, Elsa Mohino, Belen Rodríguez-Fonseca, Johan Malherbe, Agus Santoso, Xichen Li, Hector Chikoore, Hyacinth Nnamchi, Michael J. McPhaden, Noel Keenlyside, Andrea S. Taschetto, Lixin Wu, Benjamin Ng, Yi Liu, Tao Geng, Kai Yang, Guojian Wang, Fan Jia, Xiaopei Lin, Shujun Li, Yun Yang, Junkai Wang, Li Zhang, Ziguang Li, Pokam Wilfried, Liming Zhou, Xuebin Zhang, Francois Engelbrecht, Zhuoran Li, Joseph N. Mutemi","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00705-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00705-7","url":null,"abstract":"The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) — describing shifts between warm El Niño and cold La Niña phases — has a substantial effect on the global climate. In this Review, we outline the mechanisms and climate impacts of ENSO in Africa, focusing on rainfall. ENSO’s influence varies strongly by season, region, phase, event and decade, highlighting complex dynamics and asymmetries. Although difficult to generalize, key characteristics include: anomalies across the Sahel in July–September, related to the tropospheric temperature mechanism; a strong dipole in anomalies between eastern and southern Africa during October–December (the short rain reason) and December–February, linked to interactions with the Indian Ocean Dipole and Indian Ocean Basin mode, respectively; and anomalies over southern Africa (with possible indications of opposite anomalies over East Africa) during March–May (the long rain season), associated with continuation of the Indian Ocean Basin mode. These teleconnections tend to be most pronounced for East Pacific El Niño and Central Pacific La Niña events, as well as during decades when interbasin interactions are strongest. Although challenging to simulate, climate models suggest that these impacts will strengthen in the future, manifesting as an increased frequency of ENSO-related dry and wet extremes. Given the reliance of much of Africa on rain-fed agriculture, resolving these relationships is vital, necessitating realistic simulation of regional circulations, ENSO and its interbasin interactions. The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has substantial impacts on the global climate. This Review outlines ENSO relationships with Africa, outlining their dynamics, impacts on precipitation and projected changes in the future.","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 8","pages":"503-520"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122800","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Advances in geophysical forensic event monitoring","authors":"Michael E. Pasyanos, Christoph Pilger, Ruijia Wang \u0000 (, )","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00702-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00702-w","url":null,"abstract":"Forensic analysis of man-made, non-nuclear events (such as industrial accidents, explosion experiments and mine collapses) has become more frequent and detailed owing to advancements in geophysical monitoring. In this Technical Review, we demonstrate how geophysical forensic monitoring using seismic, infrasound and hydroacoustic recordings provides insights on events in the solid earth, atmosphere and underwater. Advanced techniques, including machine-learning-based models, have been developed to detect, identify and investigate these events, providing information on location, subevents, sources and explosive yield. The increase in data availability, application of advanced methods and computation and the growth of multitechnology approaches have increased the accuracy of forensic event analysis and enabled more realistic characterization of uncertainties. For example, the 2020 Beirut explosion in Lebanon demonstrated that various seismic, acoustic and other methods could be used to estimate explosive yield (and yield uncertainties) of about 1 ktonne, providing confidence in the application of these methods to smaller events where data are available. However, forensic investigations remain largely limited to known events with identified sources. Increased access to data, sophisticated analysis methods and high-resolution earth models will improve forensic event analysis further, enabling civil and scientific applications, such as localization in the search for the lost ARA San Juan submarine. Forensic event analysis is used to investigate non-nuclear, man-made, explosion-like accidents and unanticipated events. This Technical Review outlines the techniques used to monitor and analyse the seismic, infrasound and hydroacoustic signals produced by such events in underground, near-surface, atmospheric and underwater domains.","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 8","pages":"521-534"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Patterns, dynamics and drivers of alpine treelines and shrublines","authors":"Xiaoming Lu, Xiangyu Zheng, Eryuan Liang, Shilong Piao, Flurin Babst, Grant P. Elliott, Shalik Ram Sigdel, Tao Wang, Yafeng Wang, Xiaoxia Li, Shan Gao, Lin Zhang, Jian Sun, Jiangrong Li, Haifeng Zhu, Sergio Rossi, Josep Peñuelas, J. Julio Camarero","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00703-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00703-9","url":null,"abstract":"Alpine treelines and shrublines are highly sensitive to environmental change. In this Review, we summarize their global patterns and trends, underlying mechanisms and impacts. Continental alpine treeline and shrubline elevations are highest at mid-latitudes, declining towards the Equator and poles. Shrublines are typically 335 m higher than collocated treelines owing to morphological differences. The mass-elevation effect, whereby larger mountain masses retain more heat, largely governs this distribution. Indeed, temperature is a key factor determining ecotone elevation. For example, tree growth near the alpine treeline begins at 0.9 °C and continues as long as the average temperature during the growing season exceeds 6.4 °C for a minimum of 94 days.  Water availability is also important, with 51% of treelines exposed to drought stress. Overall, between 1901 and 2021, alpine treelines and shrublines have shifted to higher elevations at an average rate of 0.40 and 0.49 m yr−1, respectively, with shift rates at high-latitude sites exceeding those at lower latitudes. Species interactions (either through facilitation or competition) and disturbances complicate these trends. As a result, treeline shift lags behind climate warming by at least 50 years, with drought stress, species interactions and disturbance becoming increasingly important as warming continues. The consequences of treeline and shrubline advance include reduced soil carbon storage, biodiversity decline, and reduced surface albedo. Future research should prioritize extended field monitoring to enhance projection accuracy of ecotone dynamics and associated climate feedbacks across local to global scales. Alpine treelines and shrublines are advancing to higher elevations in the context of warming. This Review synthesizes global trends in ecotone dynamics, explores the underlying drivers and mechanisms, and considers the consequences to alpine regions.","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 8","pages":"489-502"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"What drives the East Australian Current?","authors":"Moninya Roughan","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00709-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00709-3","url":null,"abstract":"Isak (aged 8, Queensland, Australia) asks Prof. Moninya Roughan how strong ocean boundary currents form.  ","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 8","pages":"485-485"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}