The duration of long heatwaves increases at an accelerating rate with warming such that a large increase in the risk of long-lasting heatwaves results from relatively modest warming, according to an analysis of historical and projected heatwaves.

Fifty years of plankton and water samples show that the proportion of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in the ocean now substantially differs from the Redfield ratio, probably reflecting a reduction in phosphorus limitation.

Balancing soil health and food production is a struggle for agriculture. The practice of burying crop residues in subsoil offers a dual win: richer carbon storage and higher yields.

A new study tracks sea ice, ocean swell and ice shelf conditions over multiple years in the lead-ups to large-scale Antarctic ice shelf calving events. We quantified the strengths and durations of increased ice shelf flexure that preconditioned and subsequently triggered the calving events.

The loss of sea ice enhances swell-induced flexural stress in Antarctic ice shelves before large-scale calving events, according to satellite observations and swell-induced flexural stress modelling.

The injection of straw into subsoils can increase soil organic carbon and crop yields substantially and could therefore provide an effective approach for subsoil management in croplands, according to 15 years of field experiments on rice–wheat croplands in China.

The mantle upwelling beneath the Afar rift may be influenced by tectonic processes in the overriding lithospheric plates that shape the distribution of both the compositional heterogeneities and abundance of melt, according to a geochemical and statistical study of volcanic samples.

Land surface modelling suggests that preserving woody debris in managed forests could remove 769–937 GtCO₂ from the atmosphere between 2025 and 2100.

Model simulations suggest that cropland expansion since industrialization has reduced atmospheric biogenic secondary organic aerosol by 10% and its associated radiative cooling effect by 11%.

China contributed about half of the global carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) emissions during 2011–2021, according to long-term atmospheric observations from China.

As bridgmanite crystallized from a reduced magma ocean, it left an oxidized lower mantle that may explain the oxidation state of the current upper mantle after mixing, according to high-pressure and high-temperature multi-anvil experiments.

Cropland area—and associated carbon dioxide emissions—in 110 studied countries is 6% higher than it would be without declines in agricultural productivity caused by climate change, according to a comparison of models with and without climate impacts.

Post-fire dust emissions have increased by 77% globally over the past two decades, and small fires account for 95% of these emissions, according to analysis of satellite observations.

Satellite observations suggest that prolonged hot–dry conditions induced by Rossby waves in the jet stream reduce ecosystem productivity, providing insights into the potential impacts of a future warmer and probably drier climate.

With solar projects worldwide expected to expand rapidly, understanding the ecosystem impacts is vital. Recent work highlights that optimizing land use strategies can significantly enhance carbon sequestration in the hosting ecosystem, making them a more effective tool in combating climate change.

Jadarite is a lithium-bearing mineral with the potential to facilitate the green energy transition. However, the route to form it is so specific that it is only known from one deposit on Earth, as Francesco Putzolu and colleagues explain.

Cuts at US government agencies are disrupting monitoring critical to tracking Earth system changes and natural hazards. Data gaps threaten geoscience progress and the safety of society.

Mass balance measurements from inland East Antarctica suggest a negative trend in surface mass balance from 2005 to 2020, probably associated with enhanced zonal winds.