Research Highlights |
Featured
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News |
The genome's shield from sunlight
Enzyme structure reveals how cells avoid DNA damage caused by ultraviolet rays.
- Heidi Ledford
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News |
Intensive farming may ease climate change
Land saved from cultivation offsets carbon emissions.
- Jeff Tollefson
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Research Highlights |
Atmospheric science: Ozone high and low
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Opinion |
Reflections on the ozone hole
Jonathan Shanklin, one of the team who discovered the thinning ozone layer over the Antarctic 25 years ago, reflects on lessons learned from a tale of luck, public perception and fast environmental change.
- Jonathan Shanklin
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News |
Swirling dust shocks physicists
Swarms of self-charging particles defy gravity — and expectations.
- Geoff Brumfiel
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Letter |
Grazing-induced reduction of natural nitrous oxide release from continental steppe
To examine the effect of increased livestock numbers on nitrous oxide emissions the authors report year-round nitrous oxide flux measurements at ten steppe grassland sites in Inner Mongolia. They find that nitrous oxide emission is much higher during spring thaw and is highest in ungrazed steppe, decreasing with increasing stocking rate, which suggests that grazing decreases rather than increases nitrous oxide emissions.
- Benjamin Wolf
- , Xunhua Zheng
- & Klaus Butterbach-Bahl
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Research Highlights |
Biogeochemistry: Bogs of change
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Research Highlights |
Atmospheric science: Paparazzi pollution
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Research Highlights |
Geoscience: Wind-blown ice
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News |
Unmanned planes take wing for science
Drones will measure ozone and aerosols in the atmosphere.
- Jeff Tollefson
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Letter |
Tropical cyclones and permanent El Niño in the early Pliocene epoch
Palaeoclimate data show that 3–5 million years ago in the early Pliocene the equatorial Pacific experienced persistent warm, El Niño conditions. Here a hurricane model and a coupled climate model show a feedback between sea surface temperature and frequent hurricanes that could account for such conditions.
- Alexey V. Fedorov
- , Christopher M. Brierley
- & Kerry Emanuel
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Research Highlights |
Atmospheric physics: Bolt from the blue
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News |
Water vapour could be behind warming slowdown
Mysterious changes in the stratosphere may have offset greenhouse effect.
- Jeff Tollefson
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Research Highlights |
Atmospheric science: Stronger storms
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Letter |
Increasing springtime ozone mixing ratios in the free troposphere over western North America
High concentrations of ozone in the troposphere are toxic and act as a greenhouse gas. Anthropogenic emissions of ozone precursors have caused widespread increases in ozone concentrations since the late 1800s, with the fastest-growing ozone precursor emissions currently coming out of east Asia. Much of the springtime east Asian pollution is exported towards western North America; a strong increase in springtime ozone mixing ratios is now found in the free troposphere over this region.
- O. R. Cooper
- , D. D. Parrish
- & M. A. Avery
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Authors |
Abstractions
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Research Highlights |
Geoscience: Blowin' in the wind
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Letter |
Dominant control of the South Asian monsoon by orographic insulation versus plateau heating
The elevation of the Tibetan plateau is thought to cause its surface to serve as a heat source that drives the South Asian summer monsoon, potentially coupling uplift of the plateau to climate changes on geologic timescales. Here, however, an atmospheric model is used to show that flattening of the Tibetan plateau has little effect on the monsoon, provided that the narrow orography of the Himalayas and adjacent mountain ranges is preserved.
- William R. Boos
- & Zhiming Kuang
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News |
Oceans release DDT from decades ago
Emissions of controversial pesticide are heading northwards.
- Richard A. Lovett