Blog

Communications earth & environment

Featured

Lunar-like silicate material forms the Earth quasi-satellite (469219) 2016 HO3 Kamoʻoalewa

The Earth’s most stable quasi-satellite, Kamoʻoalewa, displays an extremely red reflectance spectrum typical of space weathering of lunar-like silicate material which raises the possibility that it is formed of material originating from the Moon

• Benjamin N. L. Sharkey
• Vishnu Reddy
• Christian Veillet

Article Open Access 11 Nov 2021

Projected increases in western US forest fire despite growing fuel constraints

Reduced fuel availability will only moderately diminish projected near-term increases in climate-driven forest fire area in the Western US, according to a macroscale climate–fire model.

• John T. Abatzoglou
• David S. Battisti
• Crystal A. Kolden

Article Open Access 02 Nov 2021

Carboxyl-richness controls organic carbon preservation during coprecipitation with iron (oxyhydr)oxides in the natural environment

Organic carbon sequestration, stabilisation and burial through its interaction with iron is enhanced by carboxyl-richness of the organic moiety, according to elemental and microstructure analysis of experimentally produced co-precipitates.

• Lisa Curti
• Oliver W. Moore
• Caroline L. Peacock

Latest Research articles

Wildfire activity enhanced during phases of maximum orbital eccentricity and precessional forcing in the Early Jurassic

Increased fire activity in the Early Jurassic is related to changes in the hydrological cycle driven by enhanced seasonality due to orbital forcing, according to a mid-latitude sedimentary charcoal record spanning 350,000 years.

• Teuntje P. Hollaar
• Sarah J. Baker
• Claire M. Belcher

Article Open Access 30 Nov 2021

Amazon methane budget derived from multi-year airborne observations highlights regional variations in emissions

Wetlands dominate methane emissions in Amazonia, with the largest emissions in the east but no discernible temporal trend, according to nine years of atmospheric methane observations across Amazonia.

• Luana S. Basso
• Luciano Marani
• Raiane A. L. Neves

Article Open Access 29 Nov 2021

Increased biomass and carbon burial 2 billion years ago triggered mountain building

High burial of organic carbon in sediments around 2 billion years ago acted to enhance crustal deformation and led to intensified mountain building both in the Paleoproterozoic and since, suggests an assessment of the timing of carbon burial and deformation

• John Parnell
• Connor Brolly

Article Open Access 26 Nov 2021

A Bayesian framework for deriving sector-based methane emissions from top-down fluxes

Sector-based methane emissions can be backed out from observed methane fluxes, using a Bayesian optimal estimation method. This could help with monitoring gas leaks from industry.

• Daniel H. Cusworth
• A. Anthony Bloom
• John R. Worden

Article Open Access 25 Nov 2021

Substantial spatial variation in glacial erosion rates in the Dronning Maud Land Mountains, East Antarctica

The topography of the Dronning Maud Land Mountains, Antarctica, has become more pronounced and rugged since preglacial times due to higher glacial erosion at low elevations and lower erosion at high elevations, according to low-temperature thermochronology

• Hallgeir Sirevaag
• Joachim Jacobs
• Anna K. Ksienzyk

Article Open Access 25 Nov 2021

Phosphorus supply affects long-term carbon accumulation in mid-latitude ombrotrophic peatlands

Increased long-term phosphorus accumulation reduces carbon sequestration in mid-latitude peatlands reliant on atmospheric nutrient sources, according to a synthesis of data from Central Europe, North America, Chile, Sweden and the UK.

• Daniel N. Schillereff
• Richard C. Chiverrell
• Edward Tipping

News & Comment

• 
  

  Interventions to prevent pandemic-driven diversity loss

  The pandemic has badly affected the most diverse career stage in UK Earth sciences: early career researchers. Disrupted careers must be rescued with contingency plans, remote networks, a focus on mental health and mentor support if we are to retain diversity and talent.

  • Ben J. Fisher
  • Connor J. Shiggins
  • Jack Buckingham

  Comment Open Access 18 Nov 2021

  

  Research for climate adaptation

  Adaptation to climate change must be ramped up urgently. This Comment proposes three avenues to transform ambition to action: improve tracking of actions and progress, upscale investment especially in critical areas, and accelerate learning through practice.

  • Bruce Currie-Alder
  • Cynthia Rosenzweig
  • Ying Wang

  Comment Open Access 18 Oct 2021

  

  Supereruption doublet at a climate transition

  About 74,000 years ago Earth’s climate abruptly transitioned to particularly severe cold and dry conditions, which lasted for several millennia. An incomplete eruption record may be why volcanic eruptions were dismissed as the trigger.

  • Alice R. Paine
  • Fabian B. Wadsworth
  • James U. L. Baldini

  Comment Open Access 13 Oct 2021

  

  Asia’s looming Black Elephant events

  Devastating disasters that are predicted but ignored are known as Black Elephants—a cross between a Black Swan event and the proverbial elephant in the room. It’s time we acknowledged the looming natural hazard risks that no one wants to talk about.

  • Yolanda C. Lin
  • Gizem Mestav Sarica
  • David Lallemant

  Comment Open Access 08 Oct 2021

  

  Post-publication careers: lockdown to limelight

  Media attention to an article on Greenland’s dynamic ice loss provided a Comms Earth author with a way out of pandemic isolation, a broader perspective of her work, and a heavy responsibility to communicate accurately. She found the experience time-consuming, but rewarding.

  • Michalea King

  Comment Open Access 02 Sept 2021

  

  A year in numbers, a year in science

  Communications Earth & Environment’s first anniversary marks an important milestone on our path to maturity. We would like to share and celebrate how much the journal has grown, quantitatively and qualitatively.

  Editorial Open Access 02 Sept 2021