Nature Reviews Earth & Environment
Volume 2 Issue 3, March 2021
The urban heat island effect poses increasing morbidity and mortality challenges in a warming world. This Review discusses how urban vegetation — specifically, green parks, green roofs and green walls — can be used as a strategy to mitigate heat. See Wong et al.
Image: Hemis / Alamy Stock Photo. Cover design: Carl Conway.
Research Highlights
Research Highlight | 03 February 2021
Stuck upstream
A study in Earth Surface Processes and Landforms examines how landscape connectivity influences sediment transport and deposition in the Argentine Andes.
- Laura Zinke
Research Highlight | 09 February 2021
Methane from wetlands
An article in Environmental Research Letters documents how emissions from wetlands in East Africa influenced atmospheric methane growth rates in 2018 and 2019.
- Graham Simpkins
Research Highlight | 18 February 2021
Under pressure in a super-Earth
An article in Nature Communications reports a high-temperature melting curve of MgSiO3 at pressures > 245 GPa, with implications for mantle melting during the formation of rocky planets
- Erin Scott
Tools of the Trade | 15 February 2021
Simulating earthquakes with laboratory experiments
Louisa Brotherson outlines the use of laboratory frictional sliding experiments in the study of earthquake mechanics
- Louisa Brotherson
Tools of the Trade | 10 February 2021
Snow structure with the snow crystal card
Robbie Mallett describes the use of snow crystal cards to determine snow microstructure.
- Robbie Mallett
Reviews
Review Article | 26 January 2021
Greenery as a mitigation and adaptation strategy to urban heat
The urban heat island effect poses increasing morbidity and mortality challenges in a warming world. This Review discusses how urban vegetation — specifically, green parks, green roofs and green walls — can be used as a strategy to mitigate heat.
- Nyuk Hien Wong
- Chun Liang Tan
- & Hideki Takebayashi
Review Article | 23 February 2021
Persistent organic pollutant cycling in forests
Persistent organic pollutants are transported globally, but there is evidence that forests act as a filter by sequestering these pollutants. This Review examines the role of forests in persistent organic pollutant cycling, including their storage in foliage and soil, and the impacts of global change.
- Ping Gong
- Hong Xu
- & Xiaoping Wang
Review Article | 16 February 2021
Peridotites, chromitites and diamonds in ophiolites
Ophiolites, segments of oceanic lithosphere emplaced onto continental crust, are thought to form in the shallow mantle, but the discovery of ultra-high-pressure minerals in ophiolites has sparked debate over their formation mechanisms. This Review examines how these mantle components can record the tectonic history and deep mantle formation of ophiolites.
- Jingsui Yang
- Weiwei Wu
- & Huichao Rui
Review Article | 09 February 2021
The effects of climate change on hailstorms
Hailstorms are dangerous phenomena that are expected to change in response to a warming climate. This Review summarizes current knowledge of climate change effects on hailstorms, details the uncertainties and highlights future research directions.
- Timothy H. Raupach
- Olivia Martius
- & Qinghong Zhang
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