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Climate science is the study of relatively long-term weather conditions, typically spanning decades to centuries but extending to geological timescales. The discipline is primarily concerned with atmospheric properties – for example temperature and humidity – and patterns of circulation, as well as interactions with the ocean, the biosphere, and, over longer timescales, the geosphere.
The causes of symmetrical changes in climate between the Northern and Southern Hemisphere are poorly understood. A geological reconstruction of Patagonian glacial extent reveals that changes in Pacific-wide atmospheric circulation (linked to variations in Earth’s orbit and teleconnections between hemispheres) may have led to nearly synchronous global ice sheet evolution.
Nitrate observations over 11 years from autonomous biogeochemical ocean profiling combined with a Southern Hemisphere dust simulation find that iron supplied by dust supports about 30% of Southern Ocean productivity.
This study looks at nighttime land surface temperature in Indian cities to see how much they have warmed. It finds that urbanization has driven 60% additional warming in cities, with medium-sized cities influencing the most.
A groundwater depth model based on tree-ring drought metrics and climatic indices for Castile and León, Spain, shows wet 11th and 12th centuries, 16th century megadrought, and unprecedented modern groundwater fluctuations.
Rich nations’ fixation on forests as climate offsets has resulted in the needs of those who live in or make a living from these resources being ignored. A broader view and more collaboration between disciplines is required.