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Climate models cannot match long-term observed changes in the tropical Pacific zonal sea surface temperature gradient, implying that model responses to increasing radiative forcing from atmospheric greenhouse gases are diverging from the real world.

This study identifies a “snow–fire bridge” teleconnection mechanism, wherein reduced snow cover over western Eurasia triggers an atmospheric response that favors high pressure over the western United States, increasing wildfire risk in Southern California in winter.

This study identifies a Pacific Climate Change Pattern, hypothesized to be radiatively-forced, that has been emerging in the tropical Pacific Ocean since the mid-1950s and is distinct from the naturally varying Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation.

Under global warming, arid subtropical regions are expected to get drier and expand polewards. This study uses model simulations to examine changes in hydrological parameters for the southwestern United States. The predictions for 2021–2040 show declines in surface-water availability, resulting in reduced soil moisture and runoff.

Observations of a 3-million-year-old pre-main-sequence star with a misaligned disk reveal a giant orbiting planet; the system is ideal for studying the early formation and migration of planets.

Proxy indicators of relative moisture balance, in combination with long control simulations from coupled climate models, show that the Indian Ocean drives multidecadal hydroclimate variability by altering the local Walker circulation, whereas the influence of the Pacific Ocean is minimal on these timescales.

In the tropics, substantially more rain falls just north of the Equator. An analysis of satellite observations, reanalysis data and model simulations suggests that the meridional ocean overturning circulation contributes significantly to the tropical rainfall peak north of the Equator.

Improved mechanistic understanding of greenhouse gas-induced change in Northern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation reveals a tendency of models to overestimate future mid-winter rainfall along the North American west coast.

Subnational data indicate that the increasing frequency of food-security crises since 2014 is more attributable to conflict in South Sudan and Nigeria than to drought or locust swarms, with pastoralists remaining more vulnerable to drought than those in agricultural zones.

Projected responses of plants to rising atmospheric CO₂ concentrations reduce runoff in large parts of the mid-latitudes as bulk canopy water demands grow, suggests an analysis of precipitation partitioning in climate model simulations.

Observations of TOI-849b reveal a radius smaller than Neptune’s but a large mass of about 40 Earth masses, indicating that the planet is the remnant core of a gas giant.

The authors report on a temperate Earth-sized planet orbiting the cool M6 dwarf LP 791-18 with a radius of 1.03 ± 0.04 R_⊕ and an equilibrium temperature of 300–400 K, with the permanent night side plausibly allowing for water condensation.

Observations of the tropical Pacific exhibit an increasing zonal sea surface temperature gradient, while climate models predict the opposite. This study shows that an increased gradient is consistent with greenhouse gas warming, and that climate model discrepancies arise from cold tongue biases.

Cold ENSO states can lead to the simultaneous occurrence of megadroughts in southwestern North and South America, according to a hydroclimate reconstruction of the last thousand years assimilating palaeoclimate records with climate model constraints.

Observations of the super-massive Neptune-sized transiting planet TOI-1853 b show a mass almost twice that of any other Neptune-sized planet known so far and a bulk density implying that heavy elements dominate its mass.

As the global climate changes, drought is expected to reduce productivity and tree survival across many forests; however, the relative influence of climate variables on forest decline remains poorly understood. A drought-stress index based on tree-ring data—newly developed for the southwestern United States—is found to be equally influenced by evaporation (primarily temperature driven) and precipitation and may serve as a holistic forest-vigour indicator in water-limited forests.

Exceptionally wet growing seasons, compared to the past 700 years, preceded the European Great Famine of 1315-1317 and are associated with a newly identified hydroclimate pattern, according to analyses of Europe-wide tree ring data.

A primordial carbon-to-oxygen ratio (C/O) greater than 0.8 in an exoplanet causes a carbide-dominated interior, as opposed to the silicate-dominated composition found on Earth; the atmospheres also can differ from those in the Solar System. The solar C/O is 0.54. This study reports an analysis of spectra from the transiting hot Jupiter WASP-12b that reveals that C/O>1 in its atmosphere, based upon the observed concentrations of the prominent molecules CO, CH₄ and H₂O.

At least 30 million people in three African countries and Yemen are experiencing severe food insecurity. To rapidly scale-up international aid, we should acknowledge the systemic risk implied in food insecurity by looking at, for example, potential international refugee movement.

LTT 9779 b is Neptune-sized planet rotating around its star with a period of 0.79 days and an equilibrium temperature of 2,000 K. It is not clear how it retained its atmospheric envelope, which contains ~10% of H/He, as it should have been photoevaporated by now.

Megadroughts can be defined as persistent, multi-year droughts that are exceptional compared with other regional events during the Common Era. This Review discusses palaeo reconstructions of megadroughts over the past 2,000 years, and outlines the impact of anthropogenic forcing on the severity and frequency of observed and projected events.

Internal variability is more important in shaping winter Arctic sea ice loss over the satellite period than previously thought, though anthropogenic forcing remains the primary influence, according to large ensemble simulations analyzed with machine-learning.