Sodium chloride has long been used for winter deicing, although its legacy use has resulted in rising chloride concentrations in urban watersheds. Persistently high chloride levels impair drinking water resources and threaten the health of aquatic life and vegetation. In urban areas, chloride fate and transport is impacted by human modification of the environment, including increased impervious surface

Quantitative simulation of precipitation in current climate has been an ongoing challenge for global climate models. Despite serious biases in correctly simulating probabilities of extreme rainfall events, model simulations under global warming scenarios are routinely used to provide estimates of future changes in these probabilities. To minimize the impact of model biases, past literature tends to

Livestock animals play a key role in organic farming systems by providing nutrients for croplands through manure production and nutrient-dense food for human consumption. However, we lack global, synthetic view about livestock productivity in organic farming and about its differences with conventional farming. Here we fill this important gap of knowledge by providing a first global comparison highlighting

Detecting the contributions of internal variability and external forcing to the evolution of surface air temperature (SAT) trend at regional scales is a challenge. Based on the observations and large-ensemble simulations of climate models, we estimate the contribution of the internal and forced components to the evolution of East Asian winter land SAT (EAWT) during 1961–2018. Although the external

Changes in rainfall affect drinking water, river and surface runoff, soil moisture, groundwater reserve, electricity generation, agriculture production and ultimately the economy of a country. Trends in rainfall, therefore, are important for examining the impact of climate change on water resources for its planning and management. Here, as analysed from 119 years of rainfall measurements at 16 different

While wind power is a low-carbon renewable energy technology with relatively little land footprint, the necessary infrastructure expansion still has land-related environmental impacts. Brazil has seen more than a ten-fold increase in wind power capacity in the last decade. However, little is known about these impacts of wind power generation in Brazil compared to other world regions, although Brazilian

The potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N 2 O) is accumulating in the atmosphere at unprecedented rates largely due to agricultural intensification, and cultivated soils contribute ∼60% of the agricultural flux. Empirical models of N 2 O fluxes for intensively managed cropping systems are confounded by highly variable fluxes and limited geographic coverage; process-based biogeochemical models are

Cities are net consumers of food from local and global hinterlands. Urban foodshed analysis is a quantitative approach for examining links between urban consumers and rural agricultural production by mapping food flow networks or estimating the potential for local food self-sufficiency (LFS). However, at present, the lack of a coherent methodological framework and research agenda limits the potential

The negative drought impacts on crop yield are well recognized in the literature, but are evaluated mainly in a deterministic manner. Considering the randomness feature of droughts and the compounding effects of other factors, we hypothesize that droughts effects on yields are probabilistic especially for assessment in large geographical regions. Taking US maize yield as an example, we found that a

Scientists’ role in outreach and advocacy has been debated extensively, but empirical evidence on its perceived legitimacy is scarce. We contacted scientists researching climate change to investigate scientists’ engagement levels, as well as expectations regarding political and public engagement. We then compared how scientists ( N = 1107) and German and US citizens ( N = 884) view scientists’ engagement

Despite ongoing loss of diversity in freshwater ecosystems, and despite mitigation measures to halt this loss, it is still not clear what ecological drivers underlies lotic biodiversity. A complicating factor is that two of the main drivers, oxygen and temperature, are correlated, and hence studies towards drivers of lotic diversity are confounded. Here, we undertook a systematic review, consisting

Past assessments of coupled climate models have indicated that precipitation extremes are expected to intensify over Southeast Asia (SEA) under the global warming. Here, we use outputs from 15 climate models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) to evaluate projected changes in precipitation extremes for SEA at the end of the 21st century. The results suggest that CMIP6 multi-model

Comprehensive sampling of the carbonate system in estuaries and coastal waters can be difficult and expensive because of the complex and heterogeneous nature of near-shore environments. We show that sample collection by community science programs is a viable strategy for expanding estuarine carbonate system monitoring and prioritizing regions for more targeted assessment. ‘Shell Day’ was a single-day

Climate change and economic development provide a strong rationale for urban water and electricity conservation. Although behavioral and technological factors link short-term conservation of both resources, their long-term residential consumption trends have diverged across industrialized nations: from 1990 to 2010, per capita water use decreased, while per capita electricity use increased. This long-term

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) has emerged as an important and cost-effective climate change mitigation strategy internationally. In many localities around the world, REDD+ and related interventions have been superimposed on, and overlap with, existing decentralized institutional arrangements such as community forests. These interventions often modify local institutions

Temperatures at the soil–atmosphere interface influence ecosystem function by driving nonlinear terrestrial biogeochemical, ecohydrological, and micrometeorological processes. Whilst climate, soil and vegetation controls on spatially average ecosystem temperatures are recognised, how interacting and heterogeneous ecosystem layers create spatio-temporal complex thermal ecosystems has not been determined

A humid tropical forest disturbance alert using Sentinel-1 radar data is presented for the Congo Basin. Radar satellite signals can penetrate through clouds, allowing Sentinel-1 to provide gap-free observations for the tropics consistently every 6–12 days at 10 m spatial scale. In the densely cloud covered Congo Basin, this represents a major advantage for the rapid detection of small-scale forest

This paper combines the use of principal component analysis (PCA) and the geographically weighted regression (GWR) model to predict the spatial distribution of frozen ground temperature. PCA is used to reduce the multicollinearity among covariates, while the GWR model is used to address the spatially non-stationary relationship between frozen ground temperature and its predictors, such as air temperature

Even though enormous expectations for greenhouse gas mitigation in the land use sector exist at the same time worries about potential implications for sustainable development have been raised as many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are closely tied to developments in the sector. Here we assess the implications of achieving selected key SDG indicators for Zero Hunger, Clean Water and Sanitation

Since the Green Revolution in the mid-1960s, a widespread transition to a rice–wheat rotation in the Indian state of Punjab has led to steady increases in crop yield and production. After harvest of the summer monsoon rice crop, the burning of excess crop residue in Punjab from October to November allows for rapid preparation of fields for sowing of the winter wheat crop. Here we use daily satellite

Few environmental issues have resulted in such a heated policy-science controversy in Sweden as the 1990s acidification debate in the north of the country. The belief that exceptionally high stream acidity levels during hydrological events was caused by anthropogenic deposition resulted in a governmentally funded, multi-million dollar surface-water liming program. This program was heavily criticized

It is widely anticipated that climate change will negatively affect both food security and diet diversity. Diet diversity is especially critical for children as it correlates with macro and micronutrient intake important for child development. Despite these anticipated links, little empirical evidence has demonstrated a relationship between diet diversity and climate change, especially across large

Cold spells have been associated with mortality from a few broad categories of diseases or specific diseases. However, there is a lack of data about the health effects of cold spells on mortality from a wide spectrum of plausible diseases which can reveal a more comprehensive contour of the mortality burden of cold spells. We collected daily mortality data in Guangzhou during 2010–2018 from the Guangzhou

Anthropogenic warming may impact mean and extreme precipitation trends by enhancing the water cycle, potentially bringing threats to human societies. The design of national-level policy for disaster prevention and mitigation depends on the reliable detection of anthropogenic forcing in mean and extreme precipitation changes there. The anthropogenic signal might be obscured by strong internal variability

This study provides a comprehensive assessment of the environmental and economic impacts of climate change on global and regional forests from now through 2200. By integrating the representative concentration pathway (RCP) 2.6 and RCP 8.5 emission scenarios with climate models, a vegetation model, socio-economic scenarios, and a forest economic model, the study explores long run adjustments of both

Rangelands are a key global resource, providing a broad range of ecological services and economic benefits. California’s predominantly annual rangelands cover ∼12% of the state’s land area, and the forage production is highly heterogeneous, making balancing economic (grazing), conservation (habitat) and environmental (erosion/water quality) objectives a big challenge. Herein, we examined how climate

This study explores the potential of atmospheric moisture content, its transport and its divergence over the ocean and land as proxies for the variability of Indian summer monsoon rainfall (ISMR) for the period 1950–2019. The analyses using multiple linear regression reveal that the interannual and intraseasonal variability of ISMR and the mean ISMR is largely controlled by Arabian Sea moisture flux

Large quantities of mineral phosphorus (P) fertilizer are often applied to intensively cultivated organic soils. Although erosion and runoff can contribute to loss of P, the large amount of fertilizer applied causes a rapid build-up of this nutrient, resulting in the downward movement of excess P in the soil profile and subsequent loss through tile drainage water. For arable organic soils, these losses

For decades, meteorologists and governments have been warning communities in coastal areas for an imminent tropical cyclone (TC) using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (SSHWS). The SSHWS categorizes a TC based on its maximum wind speed, and is used in defining evacuation strategies and humanitarian response. However, the SSHWS considers only the wind hazard of a TC, whereas a TC can also cause

Sea ice concentration (SIC) in the eastern Arctic and snow cover extent (SCE) over central Eurasia in late autumn have been proposed as potential predictors of the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Here, maximum covariance analysis is used to further investigate the links between autumn SIC in the Barents-Kara Seas (BK) and SCE over Eurasia (EUR) with winter sea level pressure (SLP) in the North

The Mongolian Plateau (MP) experienced the most severe decadal drought of the past two millennia from 2000 to 2009 and several shorter-term droughts in the 2010s. Using satellite-based near-infrared reflectance of vegetation ( ##IMG## [http://ej.iop.org/images/1748-9326/16/1/014050/erlabd1a2ieqn1.gif] {${\text{NI}}{{\text{R}}_{\text{V}}}$} ), we examined changes in vegetation productivity of the MP

Enhanced riverine delivery of terrestrial nitrogen (N) has polluted many freshwater and coastal ecosystems, degrading drinking water and marine resources. An emerging view suggests a contribution of land N memory effects—impacts of antecedent dry conditions on land N accumulation that disproportionately increase subsequent river N loads. To date, however, such effects have only been explored for several

Obtaining a better understanding of groundwater dynamics in permafrost zones is a critical issue in permafrost hydrology. This includes assessing the impacts of climate change on permafrost thaw and ground ice-melt. Both permafrost thaw and ground ice-melt can be related to groundwater discharges (i.e. spring discharges), and spring water is an important local water resource; accordingly, changes in

Increasing meteorological drought frequency and rising water demand drive groundwater exploitation beyond sustainable limits. In heavily-stressed aquifers mitigation strategies, such as Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR), are needed to restore depleted groundwater storage. MAR is also designed to overcome short dry periods. However, wider impacts of MAR as a drought mitigation strategy remain to be quantified

The dipole pattern of summer precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) during 1961–2014 is evaluated based on observations and 18 models provided by the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6. Of the 18 models, 10 can capture the opposite variation characteristics in the south and north TP. Observational data reveals that the south–north seasaw of TP summer precipitation is essentially driven

Modelling frameworks that aim to support policymakers in deriving effective measures to reduce environmental impacts should provide both: quantitative information on locally occurring consumption patterns and production systems as well as assessment of policy scenario outcomes. Regionalised models that can deliver on these aims are emerging, but are currently limited in resolution or have other restrictions

Land-use and -cover change (LUCC) is globally important to climate change mitigation. However, using land-based strategies to support aggressive subnational greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets is challenging due to competing land use priorities and uncertainty in ecosystem carbon dynamics and climate change effects. We used the California natural and working lands carbon and greenhouse gas model

We present a statistical method to quantify the contribution of urbanization to precipitation changes during 1958–2017 across the greater Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei metropolitan region in northern China. We find distinct trends in precipitation in the past six decades: decreasing in annual and summer while increasing in other seasons. The spatial patterns of precipitation show discernible terrain-induced

In recent years, UK summer heatwaves have resulted in thousands of excess deaths, with both extreme temperatures and high humidity increasing health risks. Here, the UK Climate Projections 2018 (UKCP18) are compared to observational (HadUK-Grid) and reanalysis data (ERA5) to quantify model performance at capturing mean, extremes (95th to 99.5th percentiles) and variability in the climate state and

Future temperature variations under greenhouse gas (GHG) emission scenarios are critical to assess possible impacts on human society and make reasonable mitigation policies. Due to the huge running cost, Earth system models (ESMs) may be difficult to flexibly provide the temperature projections following some specific emission pathways for empirical analysis. This study develops the mean and variability

Effectively conserving ecosystem services in order to maintain human wellbeing is a global need that requires an understanding of where ecosystem services are produced by ecosystems and where people benefit from these services. However, approaches to effectively identify key locations that have the capacity to supply ecosystem services and actually contribute to meeting human demand for those services

From 2016 to 2019, the Indian Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) distributed over 80 million liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stoves, making it the largest clean cooking program ever. Yet, evidence shows widespread continued use of the traditional chulha , negating the potential health benefits of LPG. Here we use semi-structured interviews with female and male adults to understand the drivers of LPG

Changing conditions in the Arctic are prompting increased interest in measuring the performance of Arctic cities to assess challenges of urban sustainability and inform policy makers. This paper presents methods, analysis, and preliminary results from a cross-comparative study of urban planning sustainability indicators using metrics defined by the International Organization for Standardization’s ISO

Understanding peat carbon dynamics in the past is of significance, given the uncertainties as to whether there will be an increase or a reduction in carbon as a result of future climate change. Studies of peat carbon dynamics have primarily been conducted in monsoon-influenced China. However, data relating to carbon dynamics in peat deposits has not yet been investigated in Westerlies-influenced Northwest

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to expand, while the relationship between weather conditions and the spread of the virus remains largely debatable. In this paper, we attempt to examine this question by employing a flexible econometric model coupled with fine-scaled hourly temperature variations and a rich set of covariates for 291 cities in the Chinese mainland. More importantly, we combine the baseline

Rivers are essential to human livelihoods and agricultural production, yet human usage and irrigation are jeopardizing river sustainability. It is thus crucial to investigate the fine-scaled spatiotemporal dynamics of anthropogenic pressures on rivers. Most research, however, is conducted at the grid-scale, which impedes detailed investigations. In this study, by tracking anthropogenic pressures at

Food loss (wasted and spoiled food) increases the burden on resources and environmental impacts throughout the entire food chain. This study describes and deploys a model and identifies data sources for estimation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with food loss from farm production, delivery and refrigeration, retail sale, household consumption, and waste management in the United States

We investigate the potential in producing biodegradable bio-plastics to support the emergent ‘net-zero’ greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets in the UK. A ‘cradle to grave’ life cycle assessment was developed to evaluate GHG mitigation potentials of bio-based polybutylene succinate plastics produced from wheat straw-only (single feedstock) or wheat straw plus Miscanthus (mixed feedstocks) agricultural

Despite much attention in the literature, knowledge about the dynamics surrounding urban densification and urban greening is still in dire need for architects, urban planners and scientists that strive to design, develop, and regenerate sustainable and resilient urban environments. Here, we investigate countrywide patterns of changes in residential density and residential nature at high spatial resolution

As ozone pollution in the troposphere has become increasingly severe, more publications have focused on the emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), which are important precursors for ozone formation. However, most reviews describe the research status of certain specific aspects rather than holistically quantifying research hotspots and development trends, which limit the overall understand

Is reducing paid working time (WT) a potential win-win climate change mitigation strategy, which may simultaneously serve environmental sustainability and human well-being? While some researchers and commentators frequently refer to such ‘double-dividends’, most climate and environmental discussions ignore this topic. The societal relevance of paid WT and the potential role of its reduction as a demand-side

The dynamics of interactions between the environmental and the meteorological variables in an urban region is extremely complex due to continuously evolving coupled human–natural processes in an urban setting. We attempt to understand the same with the networks of variables using information theory, known as process network. We monitored local meteorological variables at half-hourly scale using an

The Southern Hemisphere (SH) eddy-driven jet stream has been shown to move poleward in climate models in response to greenhouse gas forcing, but the magnitude of the shift is uncertain. Here we address the fact that the latest Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6) models simulate, on average, a smaller jet shift in response to an abrupt quadrupling in CO 2 than the predecessor models

The Asian tropopause aerosol layer (ATAL) is characterized by enhanced aerosol concentrations in the Asian summer monsoon anticyclone in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere at 13–18 km altitude. A growing body of evidence suggests that the aerosol enhancement is closely connected with deep convection during the monsoon. However, the origin of the aerosols is under debate, and the key factors

An estimated 30%–50% of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted each year. These global food loss and waste (FLW) annually generate 4.4 Gt CO 2 -eq, or about 8% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and thus present a still underestimated driver of climate change. To date, little is known about grassroots initiatives dedicated to reducing and preventing FLW and their

Scenarios used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are central to climate science and policy. Recent studies find that observed trends and International Energy Agency (IEA) projections of global CO 2 emissions have diverged from emission scenario outlooks widely employed in climate research. Here, we quantify the bases for this divergence, focusing on Kaya Identity factors: population

Nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) is a major urban air pollutant and is associated with new onset asthma among children worldwide. Since NO 2 concentrations are spatially heterogeneous and correlated with population, the spatial resolution of concentration estimates and disease burden calculations could strongly influence the magnitude and spatial distribution of estimated NO 2 -attributable pediatric asthma

Although short-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) air pollution has been shown to induce elevated blood pressure (BP), limited evidence is available regarding the association between ambient PM 2.5 and BP levels in nationwide China and how the association may change. This study sought to explore acute BP changes with exposure to PM 2.5 at levels below China’s current National Ambient

Phosphorus (P) leaching from agriculture is a major driver of water eutrophication in downstream rivers and lakes. In drained lowland areas with intensive agriculture, a reduction in the fertilizer applications may be insufficient to improve the water quality in the short term as the P accumulated in the soil during decades of high fertilization may continue leaching for many years. A complementary

The effect of tropical deforestation on heat exposure and subsequent human health outcomes remains understudied, especially among an increasingly vulnerable population—healthy, adult subsistence workers in rural industrializing tropical countries. We report on a field experiment that estimated the short-term effects of heat exposure from deforestation on cognitive performance. We randomly assigned