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An ~5 km³ volcanic edifice offshore Mayotte formed between May 2018 and May 2019 by rapid magma intrusion through the entire lithosphere, according to an analysis of marine observations and geophysical data.
The zonal wave 3 circulation pattern in the Southern Hemisphere is driven by tropical convection, according to results from an atmospheric general circulation model.
Antarctic ozone-hole recovery has caused significant changes in Southern Hemisphere stratospheric circulation, according to atmospheric reanalysis and global climate modelling.
Earth’s surface temperature is stabilized by the drawdown of CO2 owing to weathering of continental arcs, whose length is shown to be a primary control on global weathering fluxes, according to a probabilistic analysis of interdependencies.
Central European multidecadal climate variability was subdued during cold stadials through the last glacial cycle due to atmospheric and oceanic circulation shifts, according to almost annual-resolution terrestrial climate proxy records from varved maar lakes in Germany.
Argo measurements provide a constrained estimate of net primary productivity of the global ocean of 53 Pg C y–1, according to a global analysis of diel oxygen variations.
Stratification of the central Arctic Ocean, important for sea-ice persistence, has been controlled by a balance of sea level and freshwater inputs since the last ice age, according to foraminifera-bound nitrogen isotope records that are indicative of surface-water nutrient levels covering the past 35,000 years.
At high winds, above 18 metres per second, sea-spray droplets act as a pathway for atmosphere–ocean gas exchange, especially in regions such as the Southern Ocean, according to a chemically modified microphysical model.
Seawater infiltration into oceanic transform faults may control their seismicity extent and slip mode variations, according to numerical models of the mechanical and thermal structure of these faults that account for hydration effects.
The carbon concentration of Earth’s upper mantle increases with depth, indicating a role for carbon in melt formation, according to data on magmatic gases and volcanic rocks from ocean island and continental rift settings around the world.
Sea-level lowstands over the last 360,000 years strongly controlled the timing of eruptions of the Santorini Volcano, according to an analysis of tephras and sea-level records, as well as numerical modelling of the underlying magma chamber.
Terrestrial Southern Hemisphere cooling through the Eocene–Oligocene transition points to decreasing atmospheric CO2 dominantly driving global change, according to biomarker records from southeast Australian coals and palaeoclimate modelling.
Marine oxygenation declined well before the end-Permian mass extinction, the start of which was marked by a brief return to more oxygenated conditions, according to the analysis of thallium isotopes from sites spread across the Panthalassa ocean basin.
Rotational deceleration has increased daylength on Earth, potentially linking the increased burial of organic carbon by cyanobacterial mats and planetary oxygenation, according to experiments and modelling of Precambrian benthic ecosystems.
Lower CO2 and more-frequent fires may have supported grassland expansion in the Amazon during the Last Glacial Maximum, according to vegetation modelling using a range of boundary conditions tested against existing pollen records.
Emission controls avoided some 870,000 deaths in China between 2002 and 2017 but further air quality improvements need energy-climate policies and changed economic structure, according to index decomposition analysis and chemical transport models.
Rivers transport about 1,000 Mg mercury annually to coastal oceans, which is threefold greater than the amount delivered by atmospheric deposition, according to a global analysis of mercury measurements in rivers.
Vorticity gradient force balance explains the location and number of circumpolar cyclones at Jupiter’s poles, and the absence of circumpolar cyclones on Saturn, according to calculations.
Slowdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation from 2004 to 2012 led to a decrease in its relative contribution to North Atlantic carbon accumulation, while the supply from air–sea fluxes increased, according to an analysis of ocean mooring circulation observations.
A mantle plume induced plate rotation that initiated subduction and rifting along a >12,000 km plate boundary about 105 Myr ago, according to an analysis of geological data and numerical simulations.