Category: Nature

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 20 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02142-8 Ice melt from Antarctica is accelerating. Now, a study shows that more realistic treatment of how Earth’s mantle rebounds as Antarctic glaciers retreat can lower projections of mass loss and the associated sea-level rise.   

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 20 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02134-8 The Filchner–Ronne and Ross ice shelves are two of the largest in Antarctica. Here the authors show their vulnerability to warming ocean conditions, where a transition to warmer waters in the ice shelf cavities could lead to accelerated ice loss and grounding line retreat.   

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 19 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02116-w The authors use 12 years of broadscale survey data across 838 temperate and tropical coastal sites to investigate shifts in marine taxa range edges at the community level. They show that while some species respond rapidly to change, evidence for mass poleward migration is limited.   

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 19 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02114-y Foreign investments in recent years drive the expansion of fossil fuel electricity generation in emerging economies, yet necessary quantification still lacks. This Article shows how overseas coal-fired power plants could drive future trajectories of CO2 emissions in host countries.   

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 17 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02122-y Lake surface water temperatures have increased over recent decades, mainly driven by atmospheric conditions. Here the authors demonstrate that heat events drive a disproportionately large part of this lake surface warming and increases in lake heatwaves.   

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 17 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02137-5 The authors analyse data from 272 Chinese cities, projecting that compound heatwaves will cause higher burdens for all major cardiopulmonary diseases than daytime or nighttime heatwaves, especially under scenarios with higher emissions and ageing and in areas with high summer temperature variability.   

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 13 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02128-6 The authors resurvey data from the present, late 1960s and late 1990s to understand the evolution of European Drosophila fly populations. They show that genetic changes in temperate regions have accelerated in line with warming and come from pre-existing rather than new variation.   

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 12 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02127-7 The authors consider environmental niche models for the current and future distribution of fishing fleets and gear from 82 countries. Despite overall redistribution of fleets to the poles, they show that most nations—particularly tropical ones—may struggle to track expected fish stock shifts.   

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 12 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02130-y Existing studies show carbon footprint inequality between and within countries, but awareness of this inequality is unclear. This study finds widespread underestimation of carbon footprint inequality and its associations with climate policy support and perceived fairness.   

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 12 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02121-z Healthcare emissions negatively affect the environment and health, posing ethical questions between health and environmental impacts. A focus group study in US health systems revealed a willingness to make environmentally informed health decisions and identified barriers to making such decisions.   

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 12 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02131-x The energy used to heat or cool buildings does not only contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, but also to other direct forms of heat exchange between buildings and their environment. A study now quantifies the feedback between buildings and their surrounding temperatures, yielding more reliable estimates…

Read More “Energy from buildings is key to a warming climate” »

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 12 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02108-w Climate change affects the energy demand for heating and cooling in cities, which in turn leads to additional urban warming. Here, the authors show that when including such two-way biophysical feedbacks, the cooling (heating) energy demand more than doubles (is halved) under high emissions.   

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 12 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02115-x Tropical aboveground biomass carbon is a crucial, yet complex, component of the terrestrial C budget. Here remote observations demonstrate that fire emissions and post-fire recovery in non-forested African biomes dominate the interannual variability of aboveground biomass carbon, which acts as a moderate net C sink.   

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 09 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02111-1 Biogas is promoted as an alternative fuel with the potential to lower net CO2 emissions. However, here the authors calculate that growing biogas feedstock crops on drained peatlands may produce three times more CO2 than burning natural gas.   

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 06 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02124-w National adaptation plans   

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 06 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02125-9 Ancient carbon released   

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 06 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02123-x Community interventions   

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 06 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02126-8 Drying groundwater   

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 06 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02138-4 Participating in or spectating at sporting events is a favourite pastime for many, but climate change could alter the sporting landscape. Yet, sports are unifying to be part of the solution.   

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 03 September 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02117-9 Night-time activities substantially impact climate change yet remain widely overlooked in climate research and action. We advocate for incorporating night studies into discussions surrounding climate socio-ecological dynamics to develop equitable and effective adaptation and mitigation strategies, especially in cities.