Blog

Nature reviews earth & environment

Volume 2 Issue 8, August 2021

The Indian Ocean has undergone substantial heat and freshwater changes. This Review uses various data sources to examine the causes of such contemporary and longer-term shifts, revealing that trends over the twentieth century are linked to anthropogenic forcing, but that those since 1980 are related to the Interdecadal Pacific oscillation. See Ummenhofer et al.

Image: Somnuk Krobkum / Getty images. Cover design: Carl Conway.

Research Highlights

Research Highlight | 08 July 2021

Resurfacing subducted carbon

An article in Nature Geoscience reveals that sedimentary carbon from the Indus Fan was subducted into the Makran Trench and efficiently returned to the near-surface within ~27 million years or less.

• Erin Scott

Research Highlight | 20 July 2021

Fizzy fluxes

An article in JGR Biogeosciences measures ebullitive methane fluxes in an Amazon floodplain.

• Laura Zinke

Tools of the Trade | 06 July 2021

Mapping peat using radiometrics

Dave O’Leary describes how airborne radiometric surveys characterize physical properties of peat.

• Dave O’Leary

Tools of the Trade | 14 July 2021

Taking the pulse of streams with spectrometer probes

Lauren Thompson discusses the use of spectrometer probes in measuring dissolved organic matter in streams.

• Lauren Thompson

Reviews

Review Article | 20 July 2021

Heat and freshwater changes in the Indian Ocean region

The Indian Ocean has undergone substantial heat and freshwater changes. This Review uses various data sources to examine the causes of contemporary and longer-term hydrological changes, revealing that trends over the twentieth century are linked to anthropogenic forcing, but that those since 1980 are related to the Interdecadal Pacific oscillation.

• Caroline C. Ummenhofer
• Sujata A. Murty
• Nerilie J. Abram

Review Article | 06 July 2021

Crustal magmatic controls on the formation of porphyry copper deposits

The magmatic processes required to form economic-grade porphyry Cu deposits are still poorly understood. This Review discusses the magmatic, redox and hydrothermal processes required for porphyry ore formation, revealing that both crustal thickness and depth of ore body emplacement can influence metal endowment.

• Jung-Woo Park
• Ian H. Campbell
• Cin-Ty Lee

Review Article | 13 July 2021

The residence time of water vapour in the atmosphere

The residence time of atmospheric water vapour has important implications for understanding hydrological processes. This Review discusses the general characteristics and changes in water vapour residence time, indicating 3–6% K−1 projected increases with warming.

• Luis Gimeno
• Jorge Eiras-Barca
• James W. Kirchner

Advertisement Feature

Arresting biodiversity loss

Protecting ecosystems has dividends beyond species conversation, a conference has heard. It’s hard-in-glove with our own societal needs.

Perspectives

Perspective | 30 June 2021

Enigmatic persistence of dissolved organic matter in the ocean

Marine dissolved organic matter can persist for millennia, but the reasons for this phenomenon are unknown. This Perspective describes and compares two concepts — intrinsic and emergent recalcitrance — explaining marine organic matter persistence.

• Thorsten Dittmar
• Sinikka T. Lennartz
• Jan-Hendrik Hehemann

Amendments & Corrections

Author Correction | 29 June 2021

Author Correction: Radionuclides from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in terrestrial systems

• Yuichi Onda
• Keisuke Taniguchi
• Hugh Smith

Author Correction | 29 June 2021

Author Correction: Evidence for large microbial-mediated losses of soil carbon under anthropogenic warming

• Pablo García-Palacios
• Thomas W. Crowther
• Mark A. Bradford

Publisher Correction | 28 July 2021

Publisher Correction: Fizzy Fluxes

• Laura Zinke