Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Juan Chen, Zhiyong Liu, Ping Zhou
Summary: The study found that precipitation anomalies rather than temperature are the primary driver of drought and associated decreased productivity with warming in the Northern Hemisphere.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Wenjing Tao, Kangshan Mao, Jiang He, Nicholas G. Smith, Yuxin Qiao, Jing Guo, Hongjun Yang, Wenzhi Wang, Jianquan Liu, Lei Chen
Summary: This study utilized extensive data to investigate the influence of daytime and nighttime temperature asymmetry on tree growth. It found that daytime warming had a greater impact on drought stress, and tree growth was more sensitive to drought stress in warm regions.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Agronomy
Hongjun Yang, Wenjing Tao, Qimei Ma, Hanfeng Xu, Lingfeng Chen, Hongjun Dong, Yuchuan Yang, Nicholas G. Smith, Lei Chen
Summary: The impact of compound hot extremes on tree growth and forest productivity was examined and compared with individual daytime hot extremes in the Northern Hemisphere using long-term tree-ring width and remote-sensing data. It was found that compound hot extremes did not exacerbate the decline in tree growth and productivity compared to individual hot extremes in most forested areas, but had a stronger adverse effect in dry regions. With the increased severity and frequency of compound hot extremes, they may pose a greater threat to forest productivity and global carbon cycling under future climate change.
AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Xinyu Li, Shushi Peng, Yi Xi, R. Iestyn Woolway, Gang Liu
Summary: The excess lake surface warming during ice-off and ice-on month due to earlier ice loss and later ice formation across the Northern Hemisphere has been shown. The contribution of long-term variations in lake ice seasonality to surface water temperature trends has been investigated, and an 8-day advancement in the average timing of ice break-up has been found to play a predominant role in the excess warming. The projected future alterations in lake ice phenology may further amplify the excess lake warming.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Jiamin Wang, Xiaodan Guan, Yuping Guan, Kaiwei Zhu, Rui Shi, Xiangning Kong, Shuyang Guo
Summary: As a result of global warming, the lengths of the four seasons have undergone significant changes, with the most pronounced alterations observed in the spring, summer, and autumn lengths in drylands compared to humid lands. External forcing factors have become increasingly influential in drylands since 1990, particularly affecting the lengths of spring, summer, and autumn. Only 1 out of the 16 models used in the study could accurately capture the enhanced changes in the lengths of spring, summer, and autumn in drylands.
JOURNAL OF CLIMATE
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Andrea Alessandri, Franco Catalano, Matteo De Felice, Bart van den Hurk, Gianpaolo Balsamo
Summary: Changes in snow and vegetation cover due to global warming alter surface albedo, influencing surface temperature rise primarily caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Surface-albedo feedbacks play a crucial role in modulating regional warming, with positive or negative feedback enhancing or reducing temperature increase by affecting short-wave radiation absorption.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Shiwei Liu, Jianchuan Qi, Sai Liang, Xiaoming Wang, Xuejiao Wu, Cunde Xiao
Summary: Environmental changes due to global warming will escalate the costs of combating climate change, especially the loss of climate regulation caused by declining snow cover. Different carbon mitigation approaches result in varied economic impacts, emphasizing the importance of international cooperation in reducing carbon emissions.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Review
Soil Science
Wenwen Li, Denghua Yan, Baisha Weng, Lin Zhu
Summary: Permafrost degradation has significant impacts on soil moisture flow, hydrological environment, and ecohydrology. However, previous studies have lacked comprehensive analysis of driving factors and effective monitoring methods. This review summarizes the effects and driving mechanisms of permafrost degradation, based on a review of historical research and analysis of existing data. Future research should focus on observing driving factors and combining remote sensing and modeling to predict future degradation.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Mattia Piccioli Cappelli, Rachel Blakey, Daniel Taylor, Jon Flanders, Trish Badeen, Sally Butts, Winifred F. Frick, Hugo Rebelo
Summary: The study modeled the potential effect of climate change on bat communities in two high-drought risk regions of the world, predicting an overall reduction in bat richness in the future climate. Many species will face rapid range expansion over challenging landscapes to access climatically suitable areas.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Lei Liu, Dongsheng Zhao, Junqi Wei, Qianlai Zhuang, Xuan Gao, Yu Zhu, Jiacheng Zhang, Caiyun Guo, Du Zheng
Summary: This study found that under global warming of 1.5 degrees C and 2 degrees C, there will be varying degrees of permafrost degradation in the Northern Hemisphere, with sensitivity to warming influenced by different RCP scenarios. Overall, permafrost sensitivity remains relatively stable in the 21st century, but varies significantly among regions, with a strong impact from air temperature.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Forestry
Jiayuan Liao, Jian Hang, Qiqi Luo, Hao Luo, Tian Ma, Zhongwang Wei, Hua Yuan
Summary: This study quantifies the temperature difference between forests and non-forests in the mid-to-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere and analyzes its response to drought using large-scale in situ observation data. The results show that high vapor pressure deficit during summer droughts decreases the cooling effect of forests, while winter drought decreases the warming effect of forests. The seasonal warming/cooling of forests responds differently to drought, which increases the difficulty of predicting climate.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Haozeyu Miao, Haiming Xu, Gang Huang, Kai Yang
Summary: Understanding future changes in wind energy resources under different greenhouse gas emission scenarios is crucial for global energy security and economy. This study evaluates the performance of global climate models in simulating wind speed over the Northern Hemisphere and explores the future changes in wind speed and wind energy under various emission scenarios. The results indicate that CMIP6 models show better performance compared to CMIP5 models in simulating surface wind speeds, and future projections suggest a generally decreasing trend in wind speed except for the SSP3-7.0 scenario. It is found that the relationship between wind energy and emissions varies across regions, with the fastest decline in wind speed observed in Europe and Asia under SSP3-7.0 scenario. These findings highlight the importance of emission reduction in preserving wind energy resources and their spatial distribution over the Northern Hemisphere.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Matthew T. Luongo, Shang-Ping Xie, Ian Eisenman, Yen-Ting Hwang, Hung-Yi Tseng
Summary: Previous studies have shown that aerosol-like cooling in the Northern Hemisphere leads to a La Nina-like response in the tropical Indo-Pacific. This study investigates the communication and sustainability of this response through a coupled ocean-atmosphere feedback pathway. The results suggest that the buoyancy-forced response dominates in the subtropics, amplifying sea surface temperature anomalies and communicating wind-driven evaporative cooling to the tropics. In the equatorial Indo-Pacific, buoyancy-forced ocean dynamics cool the surface while the Bjerknes feedback creates zonally asymmetric SST patterns. Robustness of the subtropical low cloud feedback pathway is observed across multiple models.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Saif Ullah, Nizami Moazzam Syed, Tian Gang, Rana Shahzad Noor, Sarir Ahmad, Muhammad Mohsin Waqas, Adnan Noor Shah, Sami Ullah
Summary: Instrumental climatological records are insufficient for assessing forest extreme events in northern areas of Pakistan, thus tree ring width based climatic reconstruction is used. Quercus Incana is the most sensitive species to drought and climatic variation in northern Pakistan, with its radial growth mainly affected by high temperatures in May-July. The reconstructed tree ring record is strongly coherent with the self-calibrated Palmer drought severity index (scPDSI) and reliable in reconstructing drought variability from 1750 to 2014. Extreme drought and wet years correspond to historical records in northern Pakistan.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Lukas Gudmundsson, Josefine Kirchner, Anne Gaedeke, Jeannette Noetzli, Boris K. Biskaborn
Summary: A study using climate change detection and attribution approach shows that anthropogenic climate change is the key driver of permafrost warming in the northern hemisphere.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Bahareh Kamali, Farshid Jahanbakhshi, Diana Dogaru, Joerg Dietrich, Claas Nendel, Amir AghaKouchak
Summary: Assessing the risk of yield loss in African drought-affected regions is crucial for stable crop production. This study applies Copula theory to describe the dependence between drought and crop yield anomalies in sub-Saharan Africa. Temperature has a greater impact on sorghum compared to maize and millet. The results demonstrate the added value of probabilistic methods for drought impact assessment.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Brett F. Sanders, Jochen E. Schubert, Daniel T. Kahl, Katharine J. Mach, David Brady, Amir AghaKouchak, Fonna Forman, Richard A. Matthew, Nicola Ulibarri, Steven J. Davis
Summary: Flood risks in the United States have historically been underestimated, particularly with respect to human well-being and within low-wealth and marginalized communities. In Los Angeles, flood risks are disproportionately high for historically disadvantaged populations and communities already facing social inequities.
NATURE SUSTAINABILITY
(2023)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Monica Ionita
Summary: This study finds that the extreme Arctic winter 2015/16 can be partially explained by the combination of multiple atmospheric teleconnection patterns, while the winter 2016/17 had different trigger mechanisms. The temperature anomalies of winter 2015/16 were mainly influenced by the large-scale atmospheric circulation, whereas the temperature anomalies of winter 2016/17 may reflect a response to the unusually wet and warm autumn of 2016.
Article
Water Resources
Gabriel Anzolin, Pedro Luiz Borges Chaffe, Jasper A. Vrugt, Amir AghaKouchak
Summary: Climatic drivers have been widely used to improve nonstationary flood frequency analysis (FFA). However, the ability of nonstationary FFA with out-of-sample prediction has not been comprehensively evaluated. In this study, we assess the ability of process-informed nonstationary models for out-of-sample FFA using 379 flood records from Brazil. The results show that a nonstationary model is preferable when there is a significant correlation between flood and climate covariates in both the training period and full record. Rainfall-based covariates lead to better out-of-sample nonstationary FFA models. These findings highlight the promising approach of using climate information as covariates in nonstationary FFA for estimating future floods and improving infrastructure design, risk assessment, and disaster preparedness.
HYDROLOGICAL SCIENCES JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Marco Turco, John T. Abatzoglou, Sixto Herrera, Yizhou Zhuang, Sonia Jerez, Donald D. Lucas, Amir AghaKouchak, Ivana Cvijanovic
Summary: Record-breaking summer forest fires in California have significantly increased due to anthropogenic climate change, rather than natural factors. The future is expected to see a further increase in fire area, highlighting the need for proactive adaptations.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, John T. Abatzoglou, Jan Adamowski, Arash Modaresi Rad, Amir AghaKouchak, Francesco S. R. Pausata, Mojtaba Sadegh
Summary: The authors find that there has been widespread increases in fire danger across the mountainous western US from 1979 to 2020, with the most acute trends occurring at high-elevation regions above 3000 m. Previous studies have identified elevation-dependent warming trends, but research on their impact on fire danger remains limited.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Viorica Nagavciuc, Andrei Mursa, Monica Ionita, Victor Sfecla, Ionel Popa, Catalin-Constantin Roibu
Summary: This study analyzed the influence of extreme climatic events on different tree ring parameters of Quercus sp. using a regional oak tree-ring network in eastern Europe. By comparing the seasonal cycle of tree growth with climatic parameters, the current and lagged consequences of extreme hydroclimatic events on tree ring width and the capacity of trees to recover were evaluated. The results showed that the variability of oak tree ring width is mainly influenced by water resources, and long-lasting drought events are an important limiting factor for Quercus sp.'s growth.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Petru Vaideanu, Monica Ionita, Mirela Voiculescu, Norel Rimbu
Summary: In this study, the researchers used satellite observations and reanalysis data to analyze the impact of Pacific climate modes on total cloud cover variability. The results show that the two most prominent modes of annual cloud cover variability are linked to the Eastern Pacific and Central Pacific El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in a physically consistent manner. These ENSO modes dominate global coupled sea surface temperature (SST) and cloud cover variability, with the Central Pacific ENSO explaining roughly half of the variance induced by the Eastern Pacific ENSO.
Editorial Material
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Amy East, Amir AghaKouchak, Graziella Caprarelli, Gabriel Filippelli, Fabio Florindo, Charles Luce, Harihar Rajaram, Lynn Russell, Cristina Santin, Isaac Santos
Summary: Fire has always been a significant part of ecosystems, but human-induced global climate change is now changing fire patterns on Earth's land surface, making it crucial to understand the physical, biological, and chemical processes of fire and its impact on human societies. In 2020, AGU launched a Special Collection across 10 journals, inviting papers on the theme of Fire in the Earth System to promote cutting-edge research in fire-related science. The completed Special Collection consists of over 100 papers. This summary categorizes the published articles into seven themes: paleofire and its correlation with climate; evolution of recent and future fire patterns under ongoing climate change; physical (atmospheric) and chemical processes associated with fire; ecosystem effects, including biogeochemical cycles; physical landscape changes and associated hazards after fire; fire effects on water quality, air quality, and human health; and new methods and technologies applied in fire research.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-EARTH SURFACE
(2023)
Article
Water Resources
Smit Chetan Doshi, Gerrit Lohmann, Norel Rimbu, Monica Ionita
Summary: The study aims to analyze and visualize the spatial distribution of trends for 74 climate indices over the European region from 1950 to 2021. The results show that gd4 has the largest increase (0.93 degrees C in August), while hd17 has the largest decrease (1.03 degrees C in July). UTCI, RH, WCI, BIO20, and PET are of significant importance due to higher correlation and magnitude of change. Country-specific zoning reveals specific patterns of warmer and colder days in different regions of Europe.
JOURNAL OF WATER AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Juan Liang, Xianfeng Liu, Amir Aghakouchak, Philippe Ciais, Bojie Fu
Summary: Global warming is expected to increase extreme precipitation, but its impact on different climates is unclear. This study analyzed the sensitivity of extreme and mean precipitation to temperature in dry and wet regions using global climate models. Both extreme and mean precipitation showed similar patterns, but extreme precipitation was three times more sensitive to temperature (19%/K) compared to mean precipitation (6%/K). Dry regions exhibited higher sensitivity to temperature for both mean and extreme precipitation compared to wet regions. These findings highlight the importance of implementing adaptive strategies to mitigate the effects of global warming on dryland ecosystems.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Arash Modaresi Rad, John T. Abatzoglou, Jason Kreitler, Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, Amir AghaKouchak, Nicholas Hudyma, Nicholas J. Nauslar, Mojtaba Sadegh
Summary: Exposure to wildfires is increasing across the US, posing risks to both population and critical infrastructure. From 2000 to 2019, 594,850 people resided within the perimeters of large wildfires, with a significant increase in primary population exposure. Additionally, roads and transmission powerlines are also widely exposed to wildfires, with a notable increase over the past two decades.
NATURE SUSTAINABILITY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Finn Ole Heukamp, Lars Aue, Qiang Wang, Monica Ionita, Torsten Kanzow, Claudia Wekerle, Annette Rinke
Summary: The warm Atlantic Water transported into the Barents Sea is crucial for winter sea ice extent, marine ecosystems, and mid-latitude weather. The dependence of the Barents Sea Opening ocean volume transport variability on the North Atlantic Oscillation is found to be non-stationary. During a specific period, synoptic cyclones with unusual trajectories temporarily weakened the link between the North Atlantic Oscillation and the transport variability in the Barents Sea Opening.
COMMUNICATIONS EARTH & ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Amir AghaKouchak, Laurie S. Huning, Mojtaba Sadegh, Yue Qin, Yannis Markonis, Farshid Vahedifard, Charlotte A. Love, Ashok Mishra, Ali Mehran, Renee Obringer, Annika Hjelmstad, Shrideep Pallickara, Shakil Jiwa, Martin Hanel, Yunxia Zhao, Angeline G. Pendergrass, Mazdak Arabi, Steven J. Davis, Philip J. Ward, Mark Svoboda, Roger Pulwarty, Heidi Kreibich
Summary: Integrating impacts and cascading hazards into drought monitoring can enhance prediction and mitigation of drought events. Current monitoring efforts mainly focus on hazards and overlook drought-related compound risks such as heatwaves, wildfires, floods, and debris flows. We advocate for impact-based drought monitoring and its integration with broader drought-related hazards.
NATURE REVIEWS EARTH & ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Review
Environmental Sciences
Benjamin I. Cook, Jason E. Smerdon, Edward R. Cook, A. Park Williams, Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Justin S. Mankin, Kathryn Allen, Laia Andreu-Hayles, Toby R. Ault, Soumaya Belmecheri, Sloan Coats, Bethany Coulthard, Boniface Fosu, Pauline Grierson, Daniel Griffin, Dimitris A. Herrera, Monica Ionita, Flavio Lehner, Caroline Leland, Kate Marvel, Mariano S. Morales, Vimal Mishra, Justine Ngoma, Hung T. T. Nguyen, Alison O'Donnell, Jonathan Palmer, Mukund P. Rao, Milagros Rodriguez-Caton, Richard Seager, David W. Stahle, Samantha Stevenson, Uday K. Thapa, Arianna M. Varuolo-Clarke, Erika K. Wise
Summary: This review discusses the common causes and features of past and projected future megadroughts. Decadal variations in sea surface temperatures are the primary driver of megadroughts, with contributions from radiative forcing and land-atmosphere interactions. Anthropogenic climate change has intensified ongoing megadroughts. Future megadroughts are expected to be more severe and warmer than past events. However, knowledge gaps regarding past and future megadroughts currently limit our understanding and confidence in projections.
NATURE REVIEWS EARTH & ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
