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Nature Reviews Earth and Environment February 2021

Volume 2 Issue 2, February 2021

Glaciers in the Himalaya and Karakoram mountain ranges provide freshwater and hydropower to millions of people, but are also melting at unsustainably high rates. This Review discusses recent and projected changes in glacier melt and resulting implications for regional water-related hazards and water resources. See Nie et al.

Image: fotoVoyager/Getty images. Cover design: Carl Conway.

Research Highlights

Research Highlight | 22 January 2021

Beneath the glacier

An article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes how glacier–rock interactions could fuel chemosynthetic primary production in Icelandic sediments.

• Kyle R. Frischkorn

Research Highlight | 15 January 2021

Breaking down the NAO–AO connection

An article in Nature Climate Change outlines how the connection between the North Atlantic Oscillation and Arctic Oscillation might break down under a warming climate.

• Graham Simpkins

Research Highlight | 20 January 2021

Dust records mountain growth

An article in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta reports a Nd-isotope record of terrestrial dust from northern Tibetan Plateau sediments since 52 Ma, revealing insight into regional uplift and climate changes from inland Asia.

• Erin Scott

Research Highlight | 15 January 2021

Plants and dune dynamics

An article in Geomorphology examines the role of plants in coastal sand dune formation through wind tunnel experiments and field observations.

• Laura Zinke

Reviews

Review Article | 02 February 2021

Glacial change and hydrological implications in the Himalaya and Karakoram

Glaciers in the Himalaya and Karakoram mountain ranges provide freshwater and hydropower to millions of people but are also melting at unsustainably high rates. This Review discusses recent and projected changes in glacier melt and resulting implications for regional water-related hazards and water resources.

• Yong Nie
• Hamish D. Pritchard
• Xiaoqing Chen

Review Article | 15 January 2021

Anthropogenic intensification of short-duration rainfall extremes

Short-duration rainfall extremes are determined by complex processes that are affected by the warming climate. This Review assesses the evidence for the intensification of short-duration rainfall extremes, the associated drivers and the implications for flood risks.

• Hayley J. Fowler
• Geert Lenderink
• Xuebin Zhang

Review Article | 07 January 2021

Evolution of the structure and impact of Earth’s biosphere

Life on Earth has evolved and impacted Earth’s biogeochemistry for more than 3.5 billion years. This Review examines evidence of major events in the composition and structure of Earth’s biosphere, updates existing viewpoints on the impact of these events and argues for new lines of biogeochemical work to be explored.

• Noah J. Planavsky
• Sean A. Crowe
• Kurt O. Konhauser

Review Article | 19 January 2021

Uniting remote sensing, crop modelling and economics for agricultural risk management

Improvements in earth observation are enabling new approaches to assess agricultural losses, such as those resulting from adverse weather. This Review examines advances in the application of remotely sensed data and crop modelling in index-based insurance as well as opportunities to enhance the quality of index insurance programmes.

• Elinor Benami
• Zhenong Jin
• David B. Lobell

Amendments & Corrections

Publisher Correction | 29 January 2021

Publisher Correction: The generation of large earthquakes

• Aitaro Kato
• Yehuda Ben-Zion