Nature Geoscience contents: August 2016 Volume 9 Number 8 pp561-643

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TABLE OF CONTENTS August 2016 Volume 9, Issue 8 Editorial Correspondence Commentary News and Views Corrections Progress Article Letters Articles Corrigendum Subscribe   Facebook   RSS   Recommend to library   Twitter   Editorial Top Not just carbon widgets   p561 doi:10.1038/ngeo2787 Forests are important for the global carbon cycle, and for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. However, the role forests play in carbon sequestration should not eclipse everything else we value them for. Correspondence Top Climate change as a wicked social problem   pp562 - 563 Reiner Grundmann doi:10.1038/ngeo2780 Commentary Top China's post-coal growth   pp564 - 566 Ye Qi, Nicholas Stern, Tong Wu, Jiaqi Lu & Fergus Green doi:10.1038/ngeo2777 Slowing GDP growth, a structural shift away from heavy industry, and more proactive policies on air pollution and clean energy have caused China's coal use to peak. It seems that economic growth has decoupled from growth in coal consumption. News and Views Top Atmospheric science: Clouding the warming   pp567 - 568 Pablo Ortega doi:10.1038/ngeo2758 Summer temperatures in Europe varied markedly over the past millennium. Climate models and palaeoclimate records indicate that changes in cloud cover related to storm tracks contributed to the variations — and may continue to do so in the future. See also: Article by Gagen et al. Rise and fall of the Martian moons   pp568 - 569 Erik Asphaug doi:10.1038/ngeo2755 The two small satellites of Mars are thought to have accreted from a debris disk formed in a giant impact. Simulations suggest the moons were shepherded into formation by the dynamical influence of one or more short-lived massive inner moons. See also: Letter by Rosenblatt et al. Southern Ocean: Sea-ice-driven shallow overturning   pp569 - 570 Nathaniel L. Bindoff & William R. Hobbs doi:10.1038/ngeo2766 Conversion of Antarctic circumpolar upwelling waters to less dense water has mainly been attributed to surface heat fluxes. An analysis of water-mass transformation shows that the dominant process is the formation of sea ice near Antarctica and its melt offshore. See also: Letter by Abernathey et al. | Correction Plate tectonics: Delayed response to mantle pull   pp571 - 572 Mladen R. Nedimović doi:10.1038/ngeo2746 At mid-ocean ridges, the directions in which plates spread and the underlying mantle flows were thought to broadly align. A synthesis of results from ridges that spread at a variety of rates reveals that instead there may be a systematic skew. See also: Article by VanderBeek et al. Palaeoceanography: Signal from the subsurface   pp572 - 573 Anitra E. Ingalls doi:10.1038/ngeo2765 TEX86-based records of sea surface temperature from the Early Eocene suggest polar warmth that is not seen in climate models. A reassessment of the TEX86 proxy adjusts these temperatures, lending confidence to simulations of greenhouse climates. See also: Letter by Ho & Laepple Geoscience JOBS of the week Several Postdoctoral Positions and PhD Student Positions Vermont EPSCoR (University of Vermont) Dean, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences Stony Brook University Assistant Professor in Environmental Informatics University of California - Davis Assistant Professor University of Michigan Senior Scientist, Terrestrial-Aquatic Ecosystems Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) More Science jobs from Geoscience EVENT ICCGE 2017 6th International Conference on Clean and Green Energy_EI 8th - 10th Feb 2017 Frankfurt, Germany More science events from Corrections Top Correction   p571 doi:10.1038/ngeo2776 See also: News and Views by Bindoff & Hobbs Correction   p573 doi:10.1038/ngeo2781 Progress Article Top An abyssal carbonate compensation depth overshoot in the aftermath of the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum   pp575 - 580 Donald E. Penman, Sandra Kirtland Turner, Philip F. Sexton, Richard D. Norris, Alexander J. Dickson et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2757 The Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum was associated with a massive release of carbon. Marine sediments suggest a temporary deepening of the calcite compensation depth, indicating extensive silicate weatheringin the aftermath of the event. Letters Top Accretion of Phobos and Deimos in an extended debris disc stirred by transient moons   pp581 - 583 Pascal Rosenblatt, Sebastien Charnoz, Kevin M. Dunseath, Mariko Terao-Dunseath, Antony Trinh et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2742 Mars has two small moons that may have formed in the aftermath of a giant impact. Simulations suggest that Phobos and Deimos accreted from the disperse outer region of the debris disc that was stirred up by short-lived larger moons. See also: News and Views by Asphaug Enhanced summer convective rainfall at Alpine high elevations in response to climate warming   pp584 - 589 Filippo Giorgi, Csaba Torma, Erika Coppola, Nikolina Ban, Christoph Schär et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2761 Summer rainfall is projected to decline in the European Alps. Regional high-resolution simulations suggest that at the highest elevations, precipitation may instead increase as a result of enhanced potential instability and convective rainfall. Antarctic sea-ice expansion between 2000 and 2014 driven by tropical Pacific decadal climate variability   pp590 - 595 Gerald A. Meehl, Julie M. Arblaster, Cecilia M. Bitz, Christine T. Y. Chung & Haiyan Teng doi:10.1038/ngeo2751 Antarctic sea-ice extent has been increasing. Analyses of climate simulations and observations show that atmospheric conditions conducive to Antarctic sea-ice expansion were favoured by the negative phase of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation. Water-mass transformation by sea ice in the upper branch of the Southern Ocean overturning   pp596 - 601 Ryan P. Abernathey, Ivana Cerovecki, Paul R. Holland, Emily Newsom, Matt Mazloff et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2749 Sea-ice formation is a key factor in the lower branch of the Southern Ocean overturning circulation. Observation-based data in conjunction with a water-mass transformation framework reveal that sea ice plays a central role in the upper branch too. See also: News and Views by Bindoff & Hobbs Reorganization of the North Atlantic Oscillation during early Holocene deglaciation   pp602 - 605 Jasper A. Wassenburg, Stephan Dietrich, Jan Fietzke, Jens Fohlmeister, Klaus Peter Jochum et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2767 Laurentide ice-sheet retreat continued into the mid-Holocene. Speleothem-based precipitation records suggest the cessation of melt led to the establishment of the present precipitation patterns associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation. Flat meridional temperature gradient in the early Eocene in the subsurface rather than surface ocean   pp606 - 610 Sze Ling Ho & Thomas Laepple doi:10.1038/ngeo2763 Sea surface temperature estimates from the early Eocene indicate an unusually flat meridional temperature gradient. A re-evaluation of the proxy used to derive these temperatures argues against this interpretation. See also: News and Views by Ingalls The vertical fingerprint of earthquake cycle loading in southern California   pp611 - 614 Samuel Howell, Bridget Smith-Konter, Neil Frazer, Xiaopeng Tong & David Sandwell doi:10.1038/ngeo2741 Vertical crustal motions during the earthquake cycle are poorly constrained for strike-slip faults. Analysis of GPS data from the San Andreas Fault shows that the crust flexes over hundreds of kilometres due to locking of the fault at depth. Locked and loading megathrust linked to active subduction beneath the Indo-Burman Ranges   pp615 - 618 Michael S. Steckler, Dhiman Ranjan Mondal, Syed Humayun Akhter, Leonardo Seeber, Lujia Feng et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2760 It is unclear whether subduction is still active beneath the Indo-Burman mountain range. Analyses of GPS measurements from this region reveal a locked megathrust fault, implying that subduction is active and could generate a large earthquake. Extreme mantle uplift and exhumation along a transpressive transform fault   pp619 - 623 Marcia Maia, Susanna Sichel, Anne Briais, Daniele Brunelli, Marco Ligi et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2759 Earth's crust diverges and extends along mid-ocean ridges. Analyses of gravity and seismic data from the equatorial Atlantic show that propagation of ridge segments can compress the crust and create sufficient uplift to create small islands. Advertisement Web Collection - Targeting 1.5°C The Paris Agreement has, for better or worse, codified an aspiration to limit the level of global temperature rise to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels. The setting of this political aspiration has changed the landscape in which climate change must be tackled. This collection, which draws together content from Nature Climate Change, Nature Geoscience and Nature, provides diverse perspectives on how research might engage with this new policy context. View the collection     Articles Top Proportions of convective and stratiform precipitation revealed in water isotope ratios   pp624 - 629 Pradeep K. Aggarwal, Ulrike Romatschke, Luis Araguas-Araguas, Dagnachew Belachew, Frederick J. Longstaffe et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2739 Distinguishing convective and stratiform rainfall is key to understanding how the water cycle responds to climate change. An analysis of satellite and surface data shows that rain isotope ratios reflect the proportions of these types of rain. North Atlantic summer storm tracks over Europe dominated by internal variability over the past millennium   pp630 - 635 Mary H. Gagen, Eduardo Zorita, Danny McCarroll, Matthias Zahn, Giles H. F. Young et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2752 European summer temperatures are controlled by multiple factors. A climate reconstruction for the past millennium shows that temperature differences between the north and the south reflect internal variability in storm tracks and cloud cover. See also: News and Views by Ortega Segmentation of mid-ocean ridges attributed to oblique mantle divergence   pp636 - 642 Brandon P. VanderBeek, Douglas R. Toomey, Emilie E. E. Hooft and William S. D. Wilcock doi:10.1038/ngeo2745 Mantle flow beneath mid-ocean ridges was thought to respond passively to plate motions. Analysis of seismic data from ridges reveals a skew between the directions of plate motion and mantle flow, implying mantle flow may stress the plates. See also: News and Views by Nedimović Corrigendum Top Corrigendum: Rapid increases in tropospheric ozone production and export from China   p643 Willem W. Verstraeten, Jessica L. Neu, Jason E. Williams, Kevin W. Bowman, John R. Worden et al. doi:10.1038/ngeo2768 Top Advertisement npj Pollution Control is a new open access journal that is now open for submissions. The journal is dedicated to publishing original and high quality research results in the broad area of environmental science and engineering as it relates to the prevention, control, monitoring and mitigation of environmental pollution. Sign up for e-alerts   Natureevents is a fully searchable, multi-disciplinary database designed to maximise exposure for events organisers. The contents of the Natureevents Directory are now live. The digital version is available here. Find the latest scientific conferences, courses, meetings and symposia on natureevents.com. 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