Meng Qu, Lu Shen, Zhenzhong Zeng, Bolei Yang, Huiru Zhong, Xinrong Yang, Xi Lu
{"title":"Prolonged wind droughts in a warming climate threaten global wind power security","authors":"Meng Qu, Lu Shen, Zhenzhong Zeng, Bolei Yang, Huiru Zhong, Xinrong Yang, Xi Lu","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02387-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41558-025-02387-x","url":null,"abstract":"Prolonged low-wind events, termed wind droughts, threaten wind turbine electricity generation, yet their future trajectories remain poorly understood. Here, using hourly data from 21 IPCC models, we reveal robust increasing trends in wind drought duration at both global and regional scales by 2100, across low- and high-CO2 scenarios. These trends are primarily driven by declining mid-latitude cyclone frequencies and Arctic warming. Notably, the duration of 25-year return events is projected to increase by up to 20% under low warming scenarios and 40% under very high warming scenarios in northern mid-latitude countries, threatening energy security in these densely populated areas. Additionally, record-breaking wind drought extremes will probably become more frequent in a warming climate, particularly in eastern North America, western Russia, northeastern China and north-central Africa. Our analysis suggests that ~20% of existing wind turbines are in regions at high future risk of record-breaking wind drought extremes, a factor not yet considered in current assessments. Prolonged low wind speeds can lead to a strong reduction in wind power generation. Here, the authors show that such wind drought events become more frequent and extended under global warming, threatening energy security in some regions.","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"15 8","pages":"842-849"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144715417","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alexander Hayward, Simon W. Wright, Dustin Carroll, Cliff S. Law, Pat Wongpan, Andrés Gutiérrez-Rodriguez, Matthew H. Pinkerton
{"title":"Antarctic phytoplankton communities restructure under shifting sea-ice regimes","authors":"Alexander Hayward, Simon W. Wright, Dustin Carroll, Cliff S. Law, Pat Wongpan, Andrés Gutiérrez-Rodriguez, Matthew H. Pinkerton","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02379-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41558-025-02379-x","url":null,"abstract":"Phytoplankton are critical to the Antarctic marine food web and associated biological carbon pump, yet long-term shifts in their community composition are poorly understood. Here, using a machine learning framework and combining pigment samples and environmental samples from austral summertime 1997–2023, we show declines in diatoms and increases in haptophytes and cryptophytes across much of Antarctica’s continental shelf. These trends—which are linked to sea ice increases—reversed after 2016, with a rebound in diatoms and a large increase in cryptophytes, coinciding with the loss of sea ice. Significant changes (P < 0.05) across the 25-year dataset include diatom chlorophyll a (chl-a) declines of 0.32 mg chl-a m−3 (~33% of the climatology) and increases for haptophytes and cryptophytes of 0.08 and 0.23 mg chl-a m−3, respectively. The long-term shifts in phytoplankton assemblages could reduce the dominance of the krill-centric food web and diminish the biologically mediated export of carbon to depth, with implications for the global-ocean carbon sink. The authors use a machine learning approach and in situ pigment samples to identify summer shifts (1997–2023) in the abundance and composition of Antarctic phytoplankton. While smaller phytoplankton groups generally increased, diatom chlorophyll a broadly decreased, with putative impacts on food webs and the carbon sink.","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"15 8","pages":"889-896"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-025-02379-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144701430","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Heatwaves disrupt prey behaviour","authors":"Laura R. Stein","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02393-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41558-025-02393-z","url":null,"abstract":"Sublethal impacts of heat on reproductive outcomes are beginning to be considered as important drivers of population persistence under climate change. Now, research shows that the impact of transient heat on antipredator behaviours may be an underappreciated source of variation that could have far-reaching implications for survival.","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"15 8","pages":"818-819"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144677522","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Warmer ecosystems save their breath","authors":"Alice S. A. Johnston","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02382-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41558-025-02382-2","url":null,"abstract":"Land stores vast amounts of carbon, and how much of it is released as temperatures rise could accelerate climate change. Now research shows ecosystems are more adaptable to climate warming than previously thought, potentially reducing future carbon–climate feedbacks.","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"15 8","pages":"816-817"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144652246","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xiaoni Xu, Jinquan Li, Xiangyi Li, Changming Fang, Bo Li, Ming Nie
{"title":"Thermal adaptation of respiration in terrestrial ecosystems alleviates carbon loss","authors":"Xiaoni Xu, Jinquan Li, Xiangyi Li, Changming Fang, Bo Li, Ming Nie","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02377-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41558-025-02377-z","url":null,"abstract":"Ecosystem respiration (ER) is the largest contributor to terrestrial carbon loss. ER responds positively to increasing temperature, so a warming world is hypothesized to lead to additional CO2 release, potentially further exacerbating climate warming. The long-term influence of thermal changes on this carbon–climate feedback, however, remains unresolved. Here, by compiling data from 221 eddy covariance sites worldwide, we observe decreases in the temperature sensitivity and reference respiration rates of ER with increasing mean annual temperature, suggesting that ER adapts to temperature changes. Our results further reveal that thermal adaptation would eliminate 17.91–31.41% of the anticipated increase in the respiration of unadapted ecosystems under future warming scenarios, equivalent to a net carbon loss of 0.85–11.83 Pg C per year. The increase in respiration rates of terrestrial ecosystems in response to climate warming may thus be lower than predicted, with important consequences for modulating future terrestrial carbon–climate feedback. Terrestrial ecosystems are expected to release more carbon under warming due to temperature-driven increases in ecosystem respiration. Here the authors use eddy covariance data to show that respiration may adapt to warmer temperatures and carbon losses may be lower than expected.","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"15 8","pages":"873-879"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144652247","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
S. Menemenlis, G. A. Vecchi, Wenchang Yang, S. Fueglistaler, S. P. Raghuraman
{"title":"Consequential differences in satellite-era sea surface temperature trends across datasets","authors":"S. Menemenlis, G. A. Vecchi, Wenchang Yang, S. Fueglistaler, S. P. Raghuraman","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02362-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41558-025-02362-6","url":null,"abstract":"Global surface temperatures since the 1980s, when near-global satellite-based sea surface temperature (SST) measurements became available, are presumed to be well known. Satellite-era warming trends in four commonly used global (land and ocean) temperature reconstructions agree closely, yet whether SST datasets also agree is unclear. Here we show that trends in four widely used SST datasets show first-order differences, with 1982–2024 60° S to 60° N trends ranging from 0.108 to 0.184 °C per decade. These large discrepancies are perplexing given the agreement between global temperature datasets and the fact that 70% of the surface of the Earth is covered by ocean, but are legible upon recognizing that global temperature datasets use two SST fields whose trends agree more closely than those of the four SST datasets. Considering the trend uncertainty across SST datasets widens the range of plausible global temperature trends and impacts interpretations of recent record global temperatures, with implications for observational and model-based climate studies. Global datasets of surface temperature and sea surface temperature (SST) are routinely used in climate change studies. Here the authors show that while surface temperature datasets closely agree, four main SST datasets show substantial variation, with implications for their application.","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"15 8","pages":"897-903"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144603568","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
E. J. Howells, D. Abrego, S. Schmidt-Roach, E. Puill-Stephan, H. Denis, S. Harii, L. K. Bay, J. A. Burt, K. Monro, M. Aranda
{"title":"Marine heatwaves select for thermal tolerance in a reef-building coral","authors":"E. J. Howells, D. Abrego, S. Schmidt-Roach, E. Puill-Stephan, H. Denis, S. Harii, L. K. Bay, J. A. Burt, K. Monro, M. Aranda","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02381-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41558-025-02381-3","url":null,"abstract":"Standing genetic variation in fitness-related traits is critical to determine how fast populations can adapt to climate warming but is unknown for many species. Here we show that heritable genetic variation in heat tolerance in reef-building coral populations is widespread and strongly associated with selective pressure imposed by marine heatwaves. Our findings suggest that coral populations may be adapting to warming consistent with recent increases in their upper thermal limits. The authors evaluate heritable genetic variation in thermal tolerance in a common reef-building coral. They show widespread heritable genetic variation, which is strongly associated with marine heatwave-imposed selective pressure, suggesting adaptation to climate warming.","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"15 8","pages":"829-832"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144594183","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Amplified warming accelerates deoxygenation in the Arctic Ocean","authors":"Yingxu Wu, Zijia Zheng, Xianyao Chen, Wanqin Zhong, Xu Yuan, Wenli Zhong, Ruibo Lei, Chenglong Li, Yanpei Zhuang, Xiang Gao, Xichen Li, Hongmei Lin, Liqi Chen, Wei-Jun Cai, Di Qi","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02376-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41558-025-02376-0","url":null,"abstract":"Overall ocean health depends critically on dissolved oxygen, which is increasingly impacted by global warming. The Arctic and subarctic regions are experiencing exceptionally rapid warming, known as Arctic amplification, yet its impact on oceanic oxygen remains poorly understood. Here we show that inflowing Atlantic Water (AW) drives deoxygenation in the upper eastern Arctic Ocean and the intermediate layers of the western Arctic Ocean at rates from −0.41 ± 0.17 to −0.47 ± 0.07 µmol kg−1 yr−1, six times the global mean. Amplified Arctic warming is the primary driver, significantly reducing oxygen solubility in the Arctic gateway regions. Rapid subduction and circulation of AW further transmit the deoxygenation signal into Arctic deeper layers, greatly threatening marine ecosystems. Our findings highlight the dominant role of warming Atlantic inflow in shaping the Arctic Ocean oxygen dynamics, indicating that ongoing temperature increases will perpetuate deoxygenation trends and underscoring the need for widespread attention. Rapid warming of the global ocean and amplified Arctic warming will alter the ocean biogeochemistry. Here the authors show that Atlantic water inflow, and the subsequent subduction and circulation, is reducing dissolved oxygen in the Arctic due to reduced solubility with increased temperatures.","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"15 8","pages":"859-865"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144586653","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Avoid urban development policy that fuels climate risk","authors":"Sumit Agarwal, Mingxuan Fan, Yu Qin","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02365-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41558-025-02365-3","url":null,"abstract":"Urban development policies, designed to improve city resilience, could unintentionally increase the exposure to climate risk. This Comment discusses the impact of misaligned incentives, miscalculated benefits and costs, and overlooked behavioural responses on policy outcomes, as well as future directions.","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"15 8","pages":"804-805"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144578019","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Challenges of institutional adaptation","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02388-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41558-025-02388-w","url":null,"abstract":"Adaptation efforts require responsive and adaptive institutions. Some progress has been made, but more systematic institutional adaptation is needed given the growing climate hazards.","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"15 7","pages":"683-683"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-025-02388-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144586654","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}