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Nature reviews earth & environment

Volume 2 Issue 9, September 2021

River floods have direct and indirect consequences for society, causing fatalities, displacement and economic loss. This Review examines the physical and socioeconomic causes and impacts of disastrous river flooding, and past and projected trends in their occurrence. See Merz et al.

Image: Pavel Metluk / Alamy Stock Photo. Cover design: Carl Conway.

Editorial

Editorial | 08 September 2021

Geoscience on the chopping block

Earth sciences are fundamental to tackling climate change, natural hazards and the energy transition, yet universities worldwide are putting geoscience departments on the chopping block — right when they are needed most.

Research Highlights

Research Highlight | 05 August 2021

Arabian Sea cyclone changes

An article in Climate Dynamics documents tropical cyclone characteristics in the northern Indian Ocean, revealing marked changes in the Arabian Sea.

• Graham Simpkins

Research Highlight | 27 August 2021

Exploring for native hydrogen

An article in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems established a soil gas monitoring approach to identify hydrogen-fertile regions in the Pyrenean foothills.

• Erin Scott

Tools of the Trade | 23 July 2021

Exploring habitability with artificial hydrothermal vents

Arlaine Sanchez explains how in situ growth chamber experiments help constrain biogeochemical conditions of hydrothermal vent systems.

• Arlaine M. Sanchez

Tools of the Trade | 12 August 2021

Understanding river plastic transport with tracers and GPS

Robert Newbould describes how tracers and GPS are used to track the transport of plastic in rivers.

• Robert Newbould

Reviews

Review Article | 10 August 2021

Causes, impacts and patterns of disastrous river floods

River floods have direct and indirect consequences for society, and can cause fatalities, displacement and economic loss. This Review examines the physical and socioeconomic causes and impacts of disastrous river flooding, and past and projected trends in their occurrence.

• Bruno Merz
• Günter Blöschl
• Elena Macdonald

Review Article | 27 July 2021

No single model for supersized eruptions and their magma bodies

Supereruptions are the endmember of explosive volcanic activity, yet, their magmatic processes and eruption dynamics are debated. This Review synthesizes data from 13 Quaternary supereruptive events with geophysical monitoring of active caldera volcanoes to highlight the diversity in large, modern, silicic magmatic systems.

• Colin J. N. Wilson
• George F. Cooper
• Jamie Farrell

Review Article | 17 August 2021

Changing El Niño–Southern Oscillation in a warming climate

The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has global climatic implications, necessitating understanding of its observed and projected changes. This Review brings together knowledge of ENSO in a warming climate, revealing projected increases in ENSO magnitude, as well as ENSO-related rainfall and sea surface temperature variability.

• Wenju Cai
• Agus Santoso
• Wenxiu Zhong

Review Article | 24 August 2021

Light elements in the Earth’s core

Although the presence of ‘light’ elements (such as S, Si, O, C and H) can explain the core’s density deficit, the exact composition of the Earth’s core remains unknown. This Review explores the likely range of outer and inner core compositions and their implications.

• Kei Hirose
• Bernard Wood
• Lidunka Vočadlo