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In February 2021 winter storms led to widespread blackouts in Texas. This Snapshot describes the confluence of physical and societal factors that left millions without power.
Sediment budgets have changed substantially in the Anthropocene epoch, the period between 1950 and the present. This Review provides an overview of sediment sources, fluxes and loads, outlines the impacts of human activities, and highlights the predicted effects of climate warming on these factors.
The relationships between the evolution of land plants, meandering-river dynamics and global biogeochemical fluxes remain poorly understood. This Review explores the relationships between vegetation and the stability and dynamics of meandering rivers and will serve anthropogenic stressors on Earth’s rivers.
Some of the most devastating natural hazards on Earth are caused by subduction zone earthquakes. This Review discusses the conditions required to generate M ≥ 8 megathrust earthquakes, in the context of constraining seismic and tsunami hazards.
Large stores of carbon could be released to the atmosphere from Arctic warming, driving permafrost thaw. This Review examines the processes that impact Arctic permafrost carbon emissions, how they might change in the future and ways to monitor and predict these changes.
Greening and vegetation community shifts have been observed across Arctic environments. This Review examines these changes and their impact on underlying permafrost.
Permafrost thaw and degradation threaten circumpolar infrastructure. This Review documents observed and projected infrastructure impacts, as well as the mitigation strategies available to minimize them.
Permafrost thaw is directly governed by the thermal characteristics of the frozen ground. This Review outlines the status of and mechanisms influencing the thermal state of permafrost, revealing widespread increases in permafrost temperatures and active-layer thicknesses.
Lakes and drained lake basins are the most prominent periglacial landforms in northern high-latitude lowland regions, and their dynamics impact permafrost, ecosystem and biogeochemical processes. This Review discusses the influence and consequences of climate change on lake systems.
Arctic coasts are increasingly affected by erosion and flooding, owing to decreasing sea ice, thawing permafrost and rising sea levels. This Review examines the changes in Arctic coastal morphodynamics and discusses the broader impacts on Arctic systems.
Subglacial lakes modify glacial conditions and flow. This Review provides a first global inventory of subglacial lakes, as well as outlining their settings, impacts and potential changes with climate warming.
