Atmospheric science articles within Nature Communications

Featured

• Article | 01 November 2011

  Experimental drying intensifies burning and carbon losses in a northern peatland

  Peatlands are a sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide and make up a large soil carbon reservoir. Here, studies of the interaction between drainage and fire show that long-term carbon emissions will likely exceed rates of carbon uptake, reducing the northern peatland carbon sink.

  • M.R. Turetsky
  • , W.F. Donahue
  •  & B.W. Benscoter

• Article | 11 October 2011

  Osmium evidence for synchronicity between a rise in atmospheric oxygen and Palaeoproterozoic deglaciation

  The Early Palaeoproterozoic saw glaciations and a rise in atmospheric oxygen, but the link between these two changes is poorly understood. Here, osmium isotope records from sedimentary rocks indicate synchronicity between an episode of increasing oxygen and a glacial transition.

  • Yasuhito Sekine
  • , Katsuhiko Suzuki
  •  & Teruyuki Maruoka

• Article | 21 June 2011

  Long-term projections and acclimatization scenarios of temperature-related mortality in Europe

  The sensitivity of human populations to rising global temperatures is not yet fully understood. The authors describe the link between temperature and daily mortality in over 200 European regions and calculate projections of mortality from climate models under greenhouse gas scenario simulations.

  • Joan Ballester
  • , Jean-Marie Robine
  •  & Xavier Rodó

• Article
  26 April 2011 | Open Access

  South China Sea hydrological changes and Pacific Walker Circulation variations over the last millennium

  Tropical Pacific hydrology affects the global climate through the strength of the Pacific Walker Circulation. Yanet al. reconstruct variations in the Pacific Walker Circulation in the South China Sea over the last millennium and find that less precipitation fell during warmer and more rainfall during cool periods.

  • Hong Yan
  • , Liguang Sun
  •  & Wenhan Cheng

• Article | 29 March 2011

  Observational constraints indicate risk of drying in the Amazon basin

  Assessments of future water availability in South America are uncertain based on multiple coupled general circulation models. Shiogamaet al.identify global-scale metrics for measuring the reliability of water resource assessments, and indicate a higher probability of drying in the Amazon basin.

  • Hideo Shiogama
  • , Seita Emori
  •  & Toru Nozawa

• Article
  10 August 2010 | Open Access

  Sustainable biochar to mitigate global climate change

  The storage in soils of biochar, the product of biomass pyrolysis, has been proposed as an attractive option to mitigate climate change. Amonette and co-workers model the potential impact of biochar and find that it could eliminate more carbon from the atmosphere than using the same biomass for biofuel.

  • Dominic Woolf
  • , James E. Amonette
  •  & Stephen Joseph