Zhu Deng, Biqing Zhu, Steven J. Davis, Philippe Ciais, Dabo Guan, Peng Gong, Zhu Liu
{"title":"Global carbon emissions and decarbonization in 2024","authors":"Zhu Deng, Biqing Zhu, Steven J. Davis, Philippe Ciais, Dabo Guan, Peng Gong, Zhu Liu","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00658-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00658-x","url":null,"abstract":"Global CO2 emissions in 2024 increased 0.9% on the previous year, totalling 36.3 Gt CO2. These ongoing emissions further deplete remaining carbon budgets, with some estimates suggesting the 1.5 °C budget will be surpassed within the next 5 years — and may have been already.","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 4","pages":"231-233"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122718","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}
Jakob Zscheischler, Colin Raymond, Yang Chen, Natacha Le Grix, Renata Libonati, Cassandra D. W. Rogers, Christopher J. White, Piotr Wolski
{"title":"Compound weather and climate events in 2024","authors":"Jakob Zscheischler, Colin Raymond, Yang Chen, Natacha Le Grix, Renata Libonati, Cassandra D. W. Rogers, Christopher J. White, Piotr Wolski","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00657-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00657-y","url":null,"abstract":"2024 saw multiple high-impact compound events. Record-breaking global temperatures combined with regional weather variability to create compound floods, spatially compounding droughts and heatwaves, and hazard sequences with often devastating impacts.","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 4","pages":"240-242"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122819","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}
Crystal A. Kolden, John T. Abatzoglou, Matthew W. Jones, Piyush Jain
{"title":"Wildfires in 2024","authors":"Crystal A. Kolden, John T. Abatzoglou, Matthew W. Jones, Piyush Jain","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00663-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00663-0","url":null,"abstract":"Wildfire burned area was 367 Mha in 2024, ranked 17th since 2001. An estimated 1,965 Tg C was released from these fires, 41% of which came from the Americas, far exceeding their usual 25% contribution.","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 4","pages":"237-239"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122717","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}
Amy C. Green, Hayley J. Fowler, Stephen Blenkinsop, Paul A. Davies
{"title":"Precipitation extremes in 2024","authors":"Amy C. Green, Hayley J. Fowler, Stephen Blenkinsop, Paul A. Davies","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00666-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00666-x","url":null,"abstract":"2024 was one of the wettest years on record, witnessing record-breaking extreme precipitation events across the globe, several of which were compound events. Extreme rainfalls were unprecedented in arid regions and parts of the Global South, with severe monsoon rains and rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones causing severe casualties and economic losses.","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 4","pages":"243-245"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122719","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":"Ocean heat content in 2024","authors":"Yuying Pan, Audrey Minière, Karina von Schuckmann, Zhi Li, Yuanlong Li, Lijing Cheng, Jiang Zhu","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00655-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00655-0","url":null,"abstract":"Global full-depth ocean heat content (OHC) gain since 1960 reached a record 452 ± 77 ZJ in 2024. OHC was 15 ± 9 ZJ higher than in 2023, primarily associated with warming in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 4","pages":"249-251"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122714","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}
Kun Shi, Xiwen Wang, Yue Qin, R. Iestyn Woolway, Ayan Santos Fleischmann, Shilong Piao
{"title":"Lake surface water temperature in 2024","authors":"Kun Shi, Xiwen Wang, Yue Qin, R. Iestyn Woolway, Ayan Santos Fleischmann, Shilong Piao","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00654-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00654-1","url":null,"abstract":"2024 global mean lake surface water temperature (LSWT) was 0.3 °C greater than the 2001–2023 average, the fourth highest on record. Particularly strong positive — and record-breaking — LSWT anomalies occurred throughout Canada and north-eastern Europe, in some cases exceeding 2 °C.","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 4","pages":"258-260"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122716","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}
Chun-Sen Ma, Bing-Xin Wang, Xue-Jing Wang, Qing-Cai Lin, Wei Zhang, Xue-Fang Yang, Joan van Baaren, Daniel P. Bebber, Sanford D. Eigenbrode, Myron P. Zalucki, Juan Zeng, Gang Ma
{"title":"Crop pest responses to global changes in climate and land management","authors":"Chun-Sen Ma, Bing-Xin Wang, Xue-Jing Wang, Qing-Cai Lin, Wei Zhang, Xue-Fang Yang, Joan van Baaren, Daniel P. Bebber, Sanford D. Eigenbrode, Myron P. Zalucki, Juan Zeng, Gang Ma","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00652-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00652-3","url":null,"abstract":"The prevalence of crop insect pests, which damage crops and reduce their yield, is increasing globally owing to changes in climate and land use, posing a threat to food security. In this Review, we synthesize evidence on how tropical, temperate, migratory and soil crop pests respond to changes in climate, land use and agricultural practices. In general, crop pests are responding to warming with expanded geographic ranges, advanced phenological events and increased number of reproductive generations per year. Increased pest damage under warming is projected to exacerbate yield losses of 46%, 19% and 31% under 2 °C warming for wheat, rice and maize, respectively. Pests at mid–high latitudes respond more positively to warming than those in the tropics. Moderate drought can increase pest damage to crops owing to enhanced feeding on plants as a water source and decreased resilience of plants and natural enemies of pests. Increased precipitation reduces small pests through washing them away, but favours pests in general through buffering thermal-hydro stresses. Land use change, such as deforestation and conversion to cropland, enhances warming and reduces biodiversity, leading to enhanced crop damage. Agricultural intensification, particularly fertilization and irrigation, increases the quality and quantity of host plants and buffers pests from environmental extremes, favouring proliferation. Globalization of trade networks increases pest invasions, with associated damage exceeding US $423 billion in 2019. Future research should examine the mechanisms underlying changes in pest status and develop monitoring and prediction systems to inform management approaches. Crop yield losses to insect pests pose a risk to food security. This Review assesses global trends of crop pest prevalence associated with global environmental change, identifies the underlying ecological mechanisms and proposes strategies for effective, sustainable management of pests to support future food security.","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 4","pages":"264-283"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122720","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":"Detecting nearshore bedforms with X-band radar","authors":"Dominique Townsend","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00671-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00671-0","url":null,"abstract":"Dominique Townsend explains how X-band radar can be used to detect and monitor nearshore bedforms.","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 6","pages":"382-382"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122811","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}
Eivind O. Straume, Claudio Faccenna, Thorsten W. Becker, Bernhard Steinberger, Alexis Licht, Andrea Sembroni, Zohar Gvirtzman, Paolo Ballato
{"title":"Collision, mantle convection and Tethyan closure in the Eastern Mediterranean","authors":"Eivind O. Straume, Claudio Faccenna, Thorsten W. Becker, Bernhard Steinberger, Alexis Licht, Andrea Sembroni, Zohar Gvirtzman, Paolo Ballato","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00653-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00653-2","url":null,"abstract":"The Tethys Seaway once linked the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific oceans. Its gradual shallowing and closure impacted global ocean circulation, faunal diversification and climatic changes. In this Review, we evaluate the tectonic causes and the topographic changes across the Eastern Mediterranean over the past 66 Ma and explore the consequences of Tethys Seaway closure. Mantle convection led to collisional tectonic processes, mountain building and crustal thickening along the Tethyan realm. The Ethiopian flood basalts mark the arrival of the Afar plume at ~30 Ma, followed by northward-trending volcanic activity indicating that plume material had moved to northwest Arabia by ~20 Ma. Plume-induced mantle flow generated kilometre-scale uplift across East Africa, at ~8° N at ~35 Ma, and along Arabia and led to the formation of the Gomphotherium land bridge at 30° N, ~20 Ma. Afro-Arabian uplift contributed to the development of modern-like Asian monsoons, and the land bridge between Africa and Asia enabled one of the greatest faunal interchanges of the Cenozoic. The gradual shoaling and final closure of the Tethys Seaway likely facilitated the transition towards a stronger overturning circulation in the North Atlantic, contributing to the Cenozoic cooling trend. Future research should incorporate more detailed spatial and temporal uplift models into paleogeography and paleoclimate models to better simulate consequences for ocean circulation, climate and biogeographic dispersals. Closure of the Tethys Seaway marked the last connection between the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific oceans. This Review explores how mantle convection and associated volcanic activity caused Tethys Seaway closure and discusses the implications for ocean circulation, faunal diversification and climate.","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 4","pages":"299-317"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122726","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":"Geological mapping using high-resolution bathymetry","authors":"Lidia Rodríguez-Méndez","doi":"10.1038/s43017-025-00668-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43017-025-00668-9","url":null,"abstract":"Lidia Rodríguez-Méndez explains how geological maps produced using bathymetric data can provide insight into marine environments.","PeriodicalId":18921,"journal":{"name":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment","volume":"6 5","pages":"323-323"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145122694","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}