Reviews & Analysis

Well-mixed water around 500 m depth in the Southern Ocean has been warming. Now research reveals how strengthening wind increases the volume of the warm water.

Effective integration of climate knowledge into policy requires trust between climate science producers and users. This Perspective identifies risks associated with the dynamics of trust at the climate science–policy interface and how they may be overcome.

The thinning of floating ice shelves around Antarctica enhances upstream ice flow, contributing to sea-level rise. Ice-shelf thinning is now shown to influence glacial movement over much larger distances than previously thought.

Climate impact models have a limited ability to represent risks to the poor and vulnerable. Wider adoption of best practices and new model features that incorporate social heterogeneity and different policy mechanisms are needed to address this shortcoming.

Many of the measures required to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants contribute to achieving the sustainable development goals while complementing decarbonization efforts required to reduce long-term climate change.

Stable layering in the ocean limits the rate that human-derived carbon dioxide can acidify the deep ocean. Now observations show that ocean warming, however, can enhance deep-ocean acidification through increased organic matter decomposition.

Large, intense thunderstorms frequently cause flooding and fatalities. Now, research finds that these storms may see a threefold increase in frequency and produce significantly heavier downpours in the future, far exceeding previous estimates.

This Review assesses climate change damage functions, which relate climate variables to economic losses, and how integrated information from impacts, adaptation and vulnerability research could be used to improve estimates of economic risk.

Bias correction methods aim to remove introduced bias for climate model simulations; however, improper use can result in spurious climate signals. This Perspective considers the issues of bias correction and makes recommendations for research to overcome model biases.

Earth system models disagree on the fate of soil organic carbon under climate change. Reproducing spatial patterns of the climatological temperature sensitivity of soil carbon is a necessary condition for trustworthy simulations of the carbon-cycle–climate feedback.

Given the complexity and multi-faceted nature of policy processes, national-level policy preferences are notoriously difficult to capture. Now, research applying an automated text mining approach helps to shed light on country-level differences and priorities in the context of marine climate issues.

There is tension in developing countries between financial incentives to clear forests and climate regulation benefits of preserving trees. Now research shows that paying private forest owners in Uganda reduced deforestation, adding to the debate on the use of monetary incentives in forest conservation.

This Perspective considers how to better use and explore climate model output, considering whether statisticians can help achieve better design of ensembles and interpretation of output.

Loss and Damage (L&D) has been gaining traction since the Paris Agreement took the issue on as a separate article, arguably creating a third pillar of international climate policy. Debate so far has led to vague definitions of the remit of the L&D mechanism; research on actor perspectives may help to propel this discourse forward.

Higher air temperatures cause roadway surfaces to deteriorate more rapidly. Now research suggests that adapting design and material selection procedures to use future climate information can dramatically decrease the damage and ensuing repair cost.

Strategies that reduce fossil-fuel use can achieve both global carbon mitigation and local health-protection goals. Now research shows the dual benefits of compact urban design and circular economy policies in Chinese cities.

A trait-based approach for assessing physiological sensitivity to climate change can connect a species' evolutionary past with its future vulnerability. Now a global assessment of freshwater and marine fishes reveals patterns of warming sensitivity, highlighting the importance of different biogeographies and identifying places where vulnerability runs high.

Data and model-based evidence suggests that future weather patterns will be more complex than simply those of the past plus background warming. Now research offers physical explanations of how short-term climate variability might adjust.

With climate change, urban development and economic growth, more assets and infrastructures will be exposed to flooding. Now research shows that investments in flood protection are globally beneficial, but have varied levels of benefit locally.