Since the Industrial Revolution began approximately 200 years ago, global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration ([CO2]) has increased from 270 to 401 mL L , and average global temperatures have risen by 0.85°C, with the most pronounced effects occurring near the poles (IPCC, 2013). In addition, the last 30 years were the warmest decades in 1,400 years (PAGES 2k Consortium, 2013). By the end ...

[1] We compare, on a global scale, the degree of correlation between orientation of stream networks and topographic aspect on Mars and Earth. The orientation of streams on Earth is a reflection of local, underlying geology but, in general, it correlates with regional topographic aspect. However, the orientation of valley networks, prominent features on Mars, thought to be fossils of ancient str...

Continental temperature inversions significantly influence air quality, yet little is known about their variability in frequency and intensity with time or sensitivity to dynamical changes with climate. Inversion statistics for six upper-air stations in the American Southwest are derived for the period 1994–2008 from radiosonde data reported by the Global Telecommunication System (GTS) and Nati...

This study examines regional characteristics of atmospheric and oceanic feedback processes in the western eastern equatorial Pacific, by applying a localized surface heating respective region hierarchy climate models. A Pacific forcing is largely offset negative shortwave cloud radiative effect damping via wind-evaporation-SST feedback. In contrast, an forcing, while being partially compensated...

Climate change is predicted to place up to one in six species at risk of extinction in coming decades, but extinction probability is likely to be influenced further by biotic interactions such as predation. We use structural equation modelling to integrate results from remote camera trapping and long-term (17-22 years) regional-scale (8000 km2) datasets on vegetation and small vertebrates (grea...

A nonlinear dynamical perspective on climate prediction is outlined, based on a treatment of climate as the attractor of a nonlinear dynamical system D with distinct quasi-stationary regimes. The main application is toward anthropogenic climate change, considered as the response of D to a small-amplitude imposed forcing f. The primary features of this perspective can be summarized as follows. F...

[1] Regional detection of a greenhouse warming signal relies on extensive, long-term measurements of temperature. The potentially confounding impact of land-cover and landuse change on trends in temperature records has mostly focused on the influence of urban heat islands. Here we use a regional climate model to show that a regional irrigation cooling effect (ICE) exists, opposite in sign to ur...

It has been suggested that, during the Pliocene (ca 5-1.8Ma), an El Niño state existed as a permanent rather than an intermittent feature; that is, the tropical Pacific Ocean was characterized by a much weaker east-west gradient than today. One line of inquiry used to investigate this idea relates modern El Niño teleconnections to Pliocene proxy data by comparing regional differences in precipi...

—Hydrogeomorphic processes play key roles in creating, modifying, or destroying aquatic habitat and act as ecological disturbances that shape ecosystem characteristics and dynamics. Within the broad regional context set by general patterns of climate, physiography (geology and topography), and vegetation, the combined influences of the hydrologic, geomorphic, and vegetation regimes dominate the...