The study of processes shaping Earth's surface, including geomorphology, erosion, sedimentation, glaciology, hydrology, and the interactions between climate, tectonics, and landscape evolution
9 papersThis paper reveals that current climate models overestimate Greenland Ice Sheet meltwater runoff because they don't account for significant refreezing within bare glacier ice. Field measurements and numerical modeling show that this refreezing reduces runoff by an estimated 11-17 Gt annually in southwest Greenland, suggesting an overlooked buffer against sea-level rise from ice melt.
Using satellite data, this study finds that the world's continents are experiencing unprecedented rates of drying since 2002, with drying areas expanding rapidly. This drying is largely attributed to groundwater depletion, worsened by climate change and extreme droughts. The continental contribution to sea level rise now surpasses that of individual ice sheets.
This study used core samples from two reef islands in Indonesia to show how they grew over the past 7200 years. Reef growth kept pace with rapid sea level rise early on, but then slowed dramatically during a period of stable or falling sea levels. The reefs continued to grow, adjusting to changing conditions by shifting from vertical growth to horizontal expansion.
This study uses machine learning to predict changes in primary soil salinity in drylands globally up to the year 2100 under different climate change scenarios. The models predict increased salinity risk in parts of South America, Australia, Mexico, and South Africa, while some regions in North America, the Horn of Africa, and Central Asia may experience a decrease.
This paper introduces version 3 of the Global Aridity Index and Potential Evapotranspiration Database (Global-AI_PET_v3). It offers improved estimates of potential evapotranspiration (PET) and aridity index (AI) globally at a 30 arc-second resolution, based on the FAO-56 Penman-Monteith equation and WorldClim 2.1 climate data. The updated dataset shows higher correlation with weather station data compared to previous versions and provides a valuable tool for various scientific applications.
SoilGrids 2.0 uses machine learning and a large global dataset of soil observations with environmental covariates to produce updated maps of soil properties like pH, organic carbon content, and texture. The maps include estimates of uncertainty and show improved performance compared to previous versions, but highlight the need for more soil data, particularly at high latitudes.
The study found that 339 million people lived on river deltas in 2017, with 89% residing in tropical cyclone zones. 31 million delta inhabitants are exposed to 100-year flood risk, 28 million in developing economies, and 25 million on deltas that can’t naturally mitigate flooding.
The study finds that the odds of exceeding critical water level thresholds increase exponentially with sea-level rise, doubling approximately every 5 years. By 2100, the present-day 50-year extreme water level is projected to be exceeded almost daily during high tides for 90% of the U.S. coast, highlighting the urgent need for adaptation measures.
Hyperpycnal flows, formed when dense river discharges plunge into lakes or oceans, create unique deposits called hyperpycnites. These deposits differ depending on the flow type (pebbly, sandy, muddy), with variations arising from factors like flow duration, sediment concentration, and basin salinity. Lofting, caused by freshwater buoyancy, is unique to marine/saline settings and creates distinctive rhythmites in hyperpycnites.