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Building confidence in STEM students through breaking (unseen) barriers

Science, technology, engineering, and maths subjects have historically struggled to be inclusive to students from diverse backgrounds. We outline here an outreach course designed to improve critical thinking for people in prison. Based on course feedback, we share advice for working with students who do not engage in formal education – specifically those who have low self-confidence. We focus on how to create a classroom dynamic that is accessible, inclusive, and relatable to all students.

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The climate impact of hydrogen-powered hypersonic transport

Very fast aircraft can travel long distances in extremely short times and can fly at high altitudes (15 to 35 km). These aircraft emit water vapour, nitrogen oxides, and hydrogen. Water vapour emissions remain for months to several years at these altitudes and have an important impact on temperature. We investigate two aircraft fleets flying at 26 and 35 km. Ozone is depleted more, and the water vapour perturbation and temperature change are larger for the aircraft flying at 35 km.

Highest methane concentrations in an Arctic river linked to local terrestrial inputs

Permafrost thaw releases methane that can be emitted into the atmosphere or transported by Arctic rivers. Methane measurements are lacking in large Arctic river regions. In the Kolyma River (northeast Siberia), we measured dissolved methane to map its distribution with great spatial detail. The river’s edge and river junctions had the highest methane concentrations compared to other river areas. Microbial communities in the river showed that the river’s methane likely is from the adjacent land.

Improving interpretation of sea-level projections through a machine-learning-based local explanation approach

To improve the interpretability of process-based projections of the sea-level contribution from land ice components, we apply the machine-learning-based “SHapley Additive exPlanations” approach to a subset of a multi-model ensemble study for the Greenland ice sheet. This allows us to quantify the influence of particular modelling decisions (related to numerical implementation, initial conditions, or parametrisation of ice-sheet processes) directly in terms of sea-level change contribution.

Not all types of secondary organic aerosol mix: two phases observed when mixing different secondary organic aerosol types

The number of condensed phases in mixtures of different secondary organic aerosol (SOA) types determines their impact on air quality and climate. Here we observe the number of phases in individual particles that contain mixtures of two different types of SOA. We find that SOA mixtures can form one- or two-phase particles, depending on the difference in the average oxygen-to-carbon (O/C) ratios of the two SOA types that are internally mixed within individual particles.

Dynamics of the Great Oxidation Event from a 3D photochemical–climate model

In the context of understanding the 3D photochemical effect on the Earth’s oxygenation that happened around 2.4 Ga, we developed a 3D photochemical–climate model to investigate the possible impact of atmospheric circulation and the coupling between the climate and the dynamics of oxidation. We show that the diurnal, seasonal and transport variations do not bring significant changes compared to 1D models. Nevertheless, we highlight a temperature dependence for atmospheric photochemical losses.

Is it possible to estimate aerosol optical depth from historic colour paintings?

This study investigates the possibility of inferring information on aerosol optical depth from photographs of historic paintings. The idea – which has been applied in previous studies – is very interesting because it would provide an archive of the atmospheric aerosol loading covering many centuries. We show that twilight colours depend not only on the aerosol optical thickness, but also on several other parameters, making a quantitative estimate of aerosol optical depth very difficult.

Exceptional freshening and cooling in the eastern subpolar North Atlantic caused by reduced Labrador Sea surface heat loss

Observations of the eastern subpolar North Atlantic in the 2010s show exceptional freshening and cooling of the upper ocean, peaking in 2016 with the lowest salinities recorded for 120 years. Using results from a high-resolution ocean model, supported by observations, we propose that the leading cause is reduced surface cooling over the preceding decade in the Labrador Sea, leading to increased outflow of less dense water and so to freshening and cooling of the eastern subpolar North Atlantic.

Opinion: Coordinated development of emission inventories for climate forcers and air pollutants

Emissions into the atmosphere of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and air pollutants, quantified in emission inventories, impact human health, ecosystems, and the climate. We review how air pollutant and GHG inventory activities have historically been structured and their different uses and requirements. We discuss the benefits of increasing coordination between air pollutant and GHG inventory development efforts, but also caution that there are differences in appropriate methodologies and applications.

High-resolution drought simulations and comparison to soil moisture observations in Germany

In this paper, we deliver an evaluation of the second generation operational German drought monitor (www.ufz.de/duerremonitor) with a state-of-the-art compilation of observed soil moisture data from 40 locations and four different measurement methods in Germany. We show that the expressed stakeholder needs for higher resolution drought information at the one-kilometer scale can be met and that the agreement of simulated and observed soil moisture dynamics can be moderately improved.

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