Earths FuturePub Date : 2026-09-02DOI: 10.1029/2025EF007760
Seok-Geun Oh, Kyung-Geun Lim, Yu-Kyeong Kang, Seok-Woo Son, Yang-Ki Cho
{"title":"Revealing Enhanced Signals of Future Marine Heatwave Changes in the East/Japan Sea Through a High-Resolution Dynamical Downscaling Ensemble","authors":"Seok-Geun Oh, Kyung-Geun Lim, Yu-Kyeong Kang, Seok-Woo Son, Yang-Ki Cho","doi":"10.1029/2025EF007760","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EF007760","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The East/Japan Sea (EJS) is a semi-enclosed marginal sea that has experienced rapid sea surface temperature (SST) warming exceeding 0.9°C since the 1980s, which has intensified the occurrence of marine heatwaves (MHWs). Its semi-enclosed nature amplifies the influence of external climate forcing, making reliable projections of future SST and MHW changes essential for assessing ecological and socio-economic impacts. Here, we investigate future SST and MHW changes using high-resolution (1/8°) dynamical downscaling simulations based on the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS), driven by seven Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) models under four Shared Socioeconomic Pathway scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, and SSP5-8.5) for 1982–2100. The ROMS ensemble outperforms the CMIP6 ensemble in reproducing observed SST and MHW characteristics for the historical period of 1985–2014, particularly during winter, due to improved simulation of the transport of the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) through the Korea Strait and associated regional circulations. Future projections (2071–2100) indicate that SST warming and MHWs in the central EJS will become stronger, longer-lasting, and more spatially heterogeneous in ROMS, in contrast to the more uniform patterns projected by CMIP6, especially under high-emission scenarios. This spatial heterogeneity is associated with intensified transport of the TWC and a strengthened East Korean Warm Current, which enhance heat advection along their pathways into the basin interior. These results highlight the added value of high-resolution dynamical downscaling for understanding and preparing for future SST and MHW changes in the EJS, providing insights for regional climate impact assessment and adaptation planning.</p>","PeriodicalId":48748,"journal":{"name":"Earths Future","volume":"14 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.5,"publicationDate":"2026-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2025EF007760","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148942117","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}
Earths FuturePub Date : 2026-09-01DOI: 10.1029/2026EF008836
Lin Huang, Chunqiao Song, Kai Liu, Pengfei Zhan, Xiaomei Fan, Hui Zhang, Yiguang Zou, Yaling Lin, Fanxuan Zeng, Jida Wang
{"title":"Global Estimate of Reservoir Hydropower Storage Potential Based on SWOT Observations","authors":"Lin Huang, Chunqiao Song, Kai Liu, Pengfei Zhan, Xiaomei Fan, Hui Zhang, Yiguang Zou, Yaling Lin, Fanxuan Zeng, Jida Wang","doi":"10.1029/2026EF008836","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2026EF008836","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Hydropower is pivotal to the global transition toward carbon-neutral energy, yet its actual potential remains constrained by uncertainties. Global assessments have traditionally relied on static metrics, such as dam height, which obscure the dynamic water fluctuations that govern operational reliability. Here, we leverage primary observations from the novel Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite to construct the first global, observation-based inventory of energy storage potential for 4,025 major reservoirs. We find that the global average hydraulic head was 32.13 ± 0.64 m in 2024, but with significant spatial heterogeneity shaped by topography and substantial intra-annual variability. Fluctuations mostly exceed 10 m in monsoonal and arid regions, indicating greater variability in the head-related component of hydropower storage potential. By generalizing these observations to the world's reservoirs (totally 26,388, >1 km<sup>2</sup>), we quantify the global energy storage potential at 638.14 ± 218.52 TWh. Crucially, we identify a latent opportunity in non-powered dams: retrofitting existing structures could unlock an additional gross theoretical energy storage potential of 84.88 ± 81.90 TWh, equivalent to 15.34% of current storage in powered dams, without considering engineering and operational constraints. By accumulating global reservoir energy storage potential based on commissioning dates and present-day attributes, our analysis further reveals that this potential has expanded eightfold since 1960, with development shifting decisively from industrialized nations to developing regions. This satellite-based assessment provides quantitative information on reservoir energy storage dynamics that can inform global energy-system modeling, water-energy planning, and evaluations of hydropower's potential contribution to decarbonization.</p>","PeriodicalId":48748,"journal":{"name":"Earths Future","volume":"14 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.5,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2026EF008836","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149145553","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}
Earths FuturePub Date : 2026-09-01DOI: 10.1029/2025EF007633
Zixia Ding, Wenlong Zhou, Bing Wang, Jizhe Li
{"title":"Food Consumption-Based Assessment and Related Environmental Sustainability During 1995–2015: Multidimensional Footprints, Synergies, and Trade-Offs","authors":"Zixia Ding, Wenlong Zhou, Bing Wang, Jizhe Li","doi":"10.1029/2025EF007633","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EF007633","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The food-induced environmental impacts are diverse and crucial for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, existing studies focusing primarily on impact quantification may not fully capture environmental sustainability performance, nor adequately reveal policy challenges, trade-offs, and synergies. This research proposed a consumption-based assessment framework for food sector environmental sustainability, combining an environmentally extended multi-regional input–output model with the SDGs scoring method. Food-related footprints—greenhouse gases (CO<sub>2</sub>, CH<sub>4</sub>, N<sub>2</sub>O), blue water, land, nitrogen, and phosphorus—were standardized on a 0–100 scale by a multi-attribute decision making method to construct sub-indicator and composite scores for cross-indicator comparison. Correlation analysis was then used to identify potential synergies and trade-offs among indicators across economies. The results show that, from 1995 to 2015, the per capita water footprint score declined in most economies. Luxembourg and the United States showed relatively lower scores within the analytical framework, with composite scores of 16.22 and below 40, respectively. In addition, several economies exhibited particularly low scores in specific dimensions, such as Belgium in greenhouse gases, Canada in nitrogen and phosphorus, Brazil in phosphorus and greenhouse gases, and India in water. Moreover, at least one significant negative correlation among the seven indicators was identified in South Africa, Mexico, India, Slovenia, Latvia, Germany and Bulgaria, suggesting potential trade-offs in environmental sustainability. These findings provide a preliminary basis for identifying potential environmental policy priorities, especially in economies where improvements in one environmental dimension may intensify pressure in another.</p>","PeriodicalId":48748,"journal":{"name":"Earths Future","volume":"14 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.5,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2025EF007633","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148942175","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}
Earths FuturePub Date : 2026-08-31DOI: 10.1029/2026EF008324
J. S. Littell, S. T. Vieira, A. P. Bennett, T. S. Rupp
{"title":"Projections of Climate-Driven Changes in Fire Regimes and Implications for Boreal Landscapes in Alaska and Northwest Canada","authors":"J. S. Littell, S. T. Vieira, A. P. Bennett, T. S. Rupp","doi":"10.1029/2026EF008324","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2026EF008324","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Boreal fire regimes in Alaska are expected to change with climate. Recent fire activity increased regional deciduous boreal forest fraction and decreased spruce, potentially foreshadowing landscape transformations that would affect habitat, ecohydrologic function, ecosystem services, and contribute to global climate feedbacks. Future boreal trajectories are contingent on climatic drivers of and ecological responses to fire and thus defy forecasting, but plausible climate-fire scenarios could allow land management entities to conduct more specific future assessments and develop adaptation strategies. Using downscaled monthly temperature and precipitation from five climate models from the fifth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) for two representative concentration pathways (RCPs 4.5 and 8.5), we simulated historical and future fire activity with the landscape model ALFRESCO. We present projections of area burned, fire size, relative flammability, and vegetation responses for boreal Alaska. Regional area burned increases significantly under moderate (RCP4.5) and high (RCP8.5) scenarios. Model ensemble median annual area burned more than doubles by the end of the 21st century relative to the mid 20th century in interior Alaska under high emissions, but increases proportionally more (up to 8-fold) in Arctic and western Alaska, assuming negative fire-fuel feedbacks. Under fire season warming greater than 3°C, fire regimes change rapidly and black and white spruce forests are largely replaced by deciduous forest. These changes vary at finer scales, but regional increases in area burned are eventually limited by fuel feedbacks. We summarize these futures for different regions (Arctic, interior, and western Alaska) and for 25 land-management units.</p>","PeriodicalId":48748,"journal":{"name":"Earths Future","volume":"14 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.5,"publicationDate":"2026-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2026EF008324","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148943690","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}
Earths FuturePub Date : 2026-08-29DOI: 10.1029/2026EF008831
Benjamin D. Santer, Susan Solomon, David W. J. Thompson, Qiang Fu, Andrew E. Dessler
{"title":"Misrepresentation of Human Climate Fingerprint in DOE Report","authors":"Benjamin D. Santer, Susan Solomon, David W. J. Thompson, Qiang Fu, Andrew E. Dessler","doi":"10.1029/2026EF008831","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2026EF008831","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A July 2025 report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) made the key claim that the stratosphere has warmed since 2000, contrary to model projections and inconsistent with the expected anthropogenic fingerprint. The DOE report provided no references or data to support this claim. Its basis appears to be an unpublished figure comparing simulated and observed tropical trends in the temperature of the lower stratosphere (TLS), a layer extending from roughly 15 to 20 km above Earth's surface. The observed tropical TLS trends shown in the unpublished DOE figure are incorrect. When the correct observational data sets are used, model tropical TLS trends are consistent with satellite observations, and a model-predicted anthropogenic fingerprint is identifiable with high confidence in observed latitude-altitude profiles of tropical temperature change. An earlier rebuttal of the DOE “no human fingerprint” claim considered global-mean temperature changes only and did not perform a pattern-based fingerprint study. Unless corrected or retracted, the DOE report will continue to misinform policymakers and the public about the reality of human effects on climate.</p>","PeriodicalId":48748,"journal":{"name":"Earths Future","volume":"14 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.5,"publicationDate":"2026-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2026EF008831","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148943654","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}
Earths FuturePub Date : 2026-08-28DOI: 10.1029/2026EF008560
Shehakk Muneer Baluch, Muhammad Abrar Faiz, Luchen Wang, Wuyuan Liu, Haiyan Li, Mo Li
{"title":"Evaluating Crop Yield Sensitivity to Climate Change Using a Deep-Learning Framework Incorporating Vegetation and Groundwater Memory","authors":"Shehakk Muneer Baluch, Muhammad Abrar Faiz, Luchen Wang, Wuyuan Liu, Haiyan Li, Mo Li","doi":"10.1029/2026EF008560","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2026EF008560","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Crop yields integrate contemporaneous weather and lagged vegetation and subsurface water states that reflect eco-hydrological memory. However, these controls are observed only during the satellite era, creating a temporal mismatch between multi-decadal crop-yield records and limiting data-driven models ability to learn antecedent vegetation and groundwater effects. We developed an interpretable spatiotemporal framework to reconstruct historical crop yields responses and assess future climate-scenario impacts in Northeast China (NEC). Central to this framework is the reconstruction module (ReGen-Net), which extends vegetation Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and groundwater storage-anomaly memory back to 1981, bridging satellite period observations with four decades of yield records. Model validation used a temporal hold-out design to prevent leakage and emulate forecasting conditions. The final GATAE-TFT model achieved test <i>R</i><sup>2</sup> values of 0.857, 0.777, 0.798, and 0.837 for maize, rice, soybean, and wheat, respectively, and was used for spatially informed yield assessment and future projections. YieldTransformer was used as a temporal baseline, whereas GATAE-TFT served as the final spatially informed model for scenario-based projections. Bias-adjusted Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project projections from 2017 to 2060, indicate gradual declines in maize, rice, and wheat yields, while soybean yields remain stable under both SSP1-2.6 and SSP5-8.5. SHAP-based attribution identifies vegetation greenness and hydro-climatic memory as the most influential predictors across the crops, with crop-specific sensitivities to drought indices and groundwater anomalies. These climate-conditioned yield trajectories provide a physically grounded and interpretable benchmark for assessing water-stress risks to crop production in NEC, China's primary grain-producing region and a critical node in national food security under climate change.</p>","PeriodicalId":48748,"journal":{"name":"Earths Future","volume":"14 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.5,"publicationDate":"2026-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2026EF008560","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148823328","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}
Earths FuturePub Date : 2026-08-28DOI: 10.1029/2025EF006892
Eric R. Moore, Md. Moklesur Rahman, Matthew Sena, Joseph G. Galella, Bisesh Joshi, Alexis Yaculak, Marc Peipoch, Jinjun Kan, Shreeram Inamdar
{"title":"Dams and Their Legacies Shape Biogeochemical Evolution of Riparian Sediments","authors":"Eric R. Moore, Md. Moklesur Rahman, Matthew Sena, Joseph G. Galella, Bisesh Joshi, Alexis Yaculak, Marc Peipoch, Jinjun Kan, Shreeram Inamdar","doi":"10.1029/2025EF006892","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EF006892","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Dams and their legacies have substantially altered riparian ecosystems worldwide and these effects could persist for decades or centuries into the future. However, how biogeochemical characteristics of riparian sediments evolve with depth and time post dam removal is poorly understood. We studied 12 riparian sites across three Mid-Atlantic watersheds in the United States over a chronosequence of 0–234 years since dam removal/breach. Sediments were sampled every 0.3 m to a maximum depth of 4 m upstream of dams. Sediment physico-chemical characteristics evolved asynchronously and at different rates with depth and time post dam breach. Gravimetric water content, ammonium nitrogen, ripening index and bioavailable and amorphous forms of iron were elevated in wet and reducing sediment conditions but low in drained and oxic sediments. Bulk density increased while total organic carbon and nitrogen decreased slowly following drainage after dam removal. We attributed these changes to complex interactions of changes in groundwater levels, vertical variation in sediment texture, amount and forms of iron oxides, and organic matter content in post-dam sediments and buried pre-dam soil horizons. Given the ubiquity of existing and removed dams globally, understanding and quantifying these changes are important for advancing new paradigms for anthropogenic alteration of riparian ecosystems, assessing effectiveness of riparian buffers for pollution mitigation, and guiding restoration and management options post dam removal.</p>","PeriodicalId":48748,"journal":{"name":"Earths Future","volume":"14 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.5,"publicationDate":"2026-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2025EF006892","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148823329","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}
Earths FuturePub Date : 2026-08-27DOI: 10.1029/2025EF008053
K. Zhang, K. Morovati, A. Urfels, F. Tian
{"title":"Dam Regulation Moderates Climate-Induced Rice Yield Loss in the Mekong-Tonle Sap Lake System","authors":"K. Zhang, K. Morovati, A. Urfels, F. Tian","doi":"10.1029/2025EF008053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EF008053","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Rice, a principal global staple crop, is increasingly threatened by flooding under climate change, placing rice-dependent economies at risk. Yet the capacity of human activities to mitigate inundation impacts on rice remains insufficiently quantified. Here we develop an integrated agro-hydrological framework that links climate forcing, hydrological regulation, and farmer decision-making from a systems perspective. We apply the framework to the rapidly changing Lancang-Mekong River Basin, focusing on Tonle Sap Lake, where flood-pulse dynamics strongly shape rice production. Relative to the baseline period (1980–2014), with mean annual inundation-induced rice losses of US$78 million, average losses decline in the near future (2021–2060) across all SSP scenarios, mainly because inundated area and rice exposure decrease. In the far future (2061–2100), losses increase relative to the near future; they remain below the baseline under SSP1-2.6 and SSP2-4.5 but slightly exceed the baseline under SSP5-8.5. Extreme losses remain possible, with the maximum projected loss reaching US$160 million under far-future SSP5-8.5. Future losses are controlled not only by inundation extent and duration, but also by the timing of inundation relative to rice phenology. Losses shift from the reproductive and maturity stages in the baseline period toward the vegetative and reproductive stages in future periods, reflecting earlier flood recession and delayed planting. Reservoir operation substantially reduces inundation-induced losses, particularly during the reproductive and maturity stages, while planting date adjustment provides additional benefits, especially in the far future. This framework supports climate-resilient assessment of coupled water-agriculture systems and adaptation pathways in flood-dependent rice regions.</p>","PeriodicalId":48748,"journal":{"name":"Earths Future","volume":"14 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.5,"publicationDate":"2026-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2025EF008053","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148823204","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}
Earths FuturePub Date : 2026-08-27DOI: 10.1029/2026EF008571
Brett F. Sanders, Oliver E. J. Wing, Paul D. Bates
{"title":"Reply to Comment by Hinkel et al. on “Flooding Is Not Like Filling a Bath”","authors":"Brett F. Sanders, Oliver E. J. Wing, Paul D. Bates","doi":"10.1029/2026EF008571","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2026EF008571","url":null,"abstract":"<p>With a Comment on our Commentary, “Flooding is not like filling a Bath” in <i>Earth's Future</i>, Hinkel and colleagues dispute our perspective that bathtub models should be abandoned in the context of large-scale flood risk studies, and share an alternative perspective about the cause of climate hype from flood risk studies. Further analysis of the evidence including studies on the origination and propagation of hazard error through risk modeling frameworks, and literature on causal inference, leads us to reaffirm our original perspective. However, we acknowledge that bathtub models might be suitable in local studies of lakes or other water bodies lacking flood dynamics. Furthermore, we are pleased to be in agreement with Hinkel and colleagues that climate hype is of great concern to the scientific enterprise, and there are surely to be many contributing factors to climate hype which we hope will be more carefully considered by authors, reviewers, editors and journalists moving forward.</p>","PeriodicalId":48748,"journal":{"name":"Earths Future","volume":"14 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.5,"publicationDate":"2026-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2026EF008571","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148823207","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}
Earths FuturePub Date : 2026-08-27DOI: 10.1029/2025EF006803
J. Hinkel, G. Le Cozannet, D. Lincke, R. J. Nicholls, Ulysse Pasquier, A. Toimil, A. T. Vafeidis, V. Völz
{"title":"Comment on “Flooding Is Not like Filling a Bath” by Sanders et al.","authors":"J. Hinkel, G. Le Cozannet, D. Lincke, R. J. Nicholls, Ulysse Pasquier, A. Toimil, A. T. Vafeidis, V. Völz","doi":"10.1029/2025EF006803","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EF006803","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In their commentary “Flooding is not like filling a Bath” in Earth's Future (https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EF005164) Sanders and colleagues highlight biases and uncertainties in the application of bathtub modeling for assessing flood risks, specifically for coastal assessments at broad scales (world-regional to global scales). This is a laudable and timely undertaking. Sanders et al., however, also draw a number of far-reaching conclusions including a general call to abandon the bathtub model together with a claim that the bathtub model introduces unacceptable levels of uncertainty, and that its broad scale applications have contributed to a “climate hype” exaggerating the impacts of climate change. In our opinion, these conclusions are misleading and don't follow from the author's analysis, because the authors take an overly narrow perspective on flood risk. Addressing this issue, this comment characterizes the system problem of assessing current and future coastal flood risk at broad scales, discusses the roles that bathtub and physics-based models play in addressing this problem, as well as the implications for communicating and receiving information on future flood risk at broad scale. Three conclusions are drawn. First, there is no one-size-fits-all model for assessing coastal flood hazard at broad scales and the bathtub model and its variants still have a role to play. Second, physics-based models are computationally too expensive to deliver the multitude of simulations needed for future flood risk and adaptation. Third, future work needs to create a framework to most effectively utilize physics-based models, emulators of them and bathtub-based models for broad scale assessments.</p>","PeriodicalId":48748,"journal":{"name":"Earths Future","volume":"14 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.5,"publicationDate":"2026-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2025EF006803","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148823214","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}