Climate: Past, Present & Future

When ozone enters a leaf: why the details matter for Earth system models

Li Dan September 18, 2026

Figure 1. Multiscale pathways of tropospheric ozone uptake and terrestrial carbon loss.

(Schematic cross-section showing leaf stomatal O_3 uptake, chloroplast oxidative stress, and the resulting downregulation of Earth’s global photosynthetic carbon uptake (GPP)) We usually think of ozone as a shield high in the atmosphere or as an air pollutant that harms human lungs near the ground. But plants also “breathe” ozone. Through microscopic pores called stomata, leaves take in carb ...[Read More]

Challenges in accessibility and code quality of the climate models that underpin our understanding of climate change

Michael García-Rodríguez, Javier Rodeiro-Iglesias and Juan A. Añel September 11, 2026

Image by the author.

Climate models help us understand how the climate system works, project future climate change, and provide evidence that supports international assessments such as exposed on the IPCC. At this point, there is a fundamental question that is rarely discussed and solved: Can we access and reproduce the climate models used throughout the history of the Coupled Model Intercomparision Project (CMIP)? In ...[Read More]

Why the Same Soot Can Warm One City and Cool Another

Pravash Tiwari and Jason Blake Cohen July 20, 2026

Graphical abstract of the study. Authors' courtesy

Every time something burns incompletely —whether in a car engine, a factory furnace, a cooking fire, an agricultural field set alight after harvest, or a vast wildfire sweeping through savanna grasslands— tiny particles of black carbon are released into the atmosphere. You might know these more simply as soot. These particles are so small that thousands of them laid side by side would barely stret ...[Read More]

Sudden Temperature Change in a Warming World: Why Future Temperature Swings Are a Global Tug-of-War?

Kalpana Hamal July 10, 2026

Day-to-day temperature changes in Berlin, June 15–30, 2026. Red bars = Extreme warming, and blue bars = Extreme cooling. The red line shows the daily mean temperature. Data: ERA5 via Open-Meteo.

Berlin just went through a brutal heatwave, and then out of nowhere, the temperature crashed between June 28 and 29. The daily mean temperature dropped from nearly 33°C to 25°C—a dramatic drop of about 8°C in just 24 hours (based on ERA5 reanalysis data structure accessed via Open-Meteo). Scientists call these abrupt shifts temperature volatility: rapid transitions from unusually cold to warm cond ...[Read More]