Recent strengthening of eastern Pacific ENSO in the last millennium paleorecord

The Pacific El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) generates climate extremes that endanger ecosystems, infrastructure, and human well-being worldwide. The response of this system to climate warming is p...

scim.ag

Three new papers using caves as hydrological observatories

A short post, highlighting three papers published in recent weeks that I have had the fortune of contributing to. All use networks of drip loggers in caves to record water movement from the surface to the water table. First, led by Akhilesh Kumar at UNSW Sydney, is a satellite remote sensing study. Can we use satellite-derived products, such as rainfall, vegetation characteristics and soil moisture, to understand when recharge events might occur?

andy-baker.org

Opposing hydroclimate extremes in Central and mainland Southeast Asia over past millennium - Nature Geoscience

Opposing wet and dry conditions in Central and mainland Southeast Asia over the past millennium were controlled by climate variability over the Pacific and Indian oceans, a pattern likely to become mo...

nature.com

Assessing Fuel Type Changes in the Late Miocene C4 Grass Expansion Through Sedimentary Charcoal Analysis of the South China Sea Ocean Drilling Program Site 1146

The Fire Hypothesis posits fire catalyzed the late Miocene C4 grassland expansion but few proxy studies resolved both fuel type and fire South China Sea (Ocean Drilling Program Site 1146) sedimen...

doi.org

New Global Cave Monitoring Database: Insights into Drip Rates and Isotopes

The PAGES-SISAL (Past Global Changes – Speleothem Isotope Synthesis and AnaLysis) team has created a new global database of cave monitoring data consisting of drip rates and drip water isotopes, and the modern carbonate precipitates that form from these drip waters (so called farmed carbonates, grown on artificial substrates). The preprint is now available for community comment at: The preprint is led by Pauline Treble (ANSTO, Australia):

andy-baker.org

Leaf Wax Hydrogen Isotopes Reflect Storm Track Position Over Western North America

We analyze modern leaf waxes in near-shore marine sediments spanning a north–south transect along the coast of western North America Leaf wax hydrogen isotope values become more negative at the l...

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Ice core reveals low CO2 during warm spell 3 million years ago

For the first time, scientists have measured atmospheric gases from the late Pliocene, yielding data that could help to predict the future climate

newscientist.com

How does water get underground – and how much rainfall is needed to replenish it?

Thanks to the amazing UNSW team for producing this story on our groundwater and climate research: past, present and future, featuring Marilu Melo Zurita, Martin Andersen, Ellen Corrick, Danyang Sun, Akhilesh Kumar, Muqing Dong and Nane Weber. Some of the research featured is supported by Australian Research Council (ARC) infrastructure and Laureate Fellowship grants, and this media story would not have been possible without the support of the team at Wellington Caves. The long read (thanks to Melissa Lyne): The YouTube video (3 minutes):

andy-baker.org

The AI-Augmented Scientist

The promise and pitfalls of using AI tools to boost my capabilities as a scientist

theclimatebrink.com

Paleoclimate pattern effects help constrain climate sensitivity and 21st-century warming | PNAS

Paleoclimates provide examples of past climate change that inform estimates of modern warming from greenhouse-gas emissions, known as Earth’s clima...

pnas.org

Rock art from at least 67,800 years ago in Sulawesi - Nature

A hand stencil painted on a cave wall on a small island off the coast of Sulawesi more than 67,800 years ago suggests a very early occupation of Wallacea.

nature.com

PNAS

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

pnas.org

Understanding the characteristics and drivers of Pacific decadal variability in the Community Earth System Model Last Millennium Ensemble

link.springer.com

Remote and Regional Drivers of the Indonesian Throughflow Under Future Warming: Implications for Inter‐Basin Freshwater Transport

Under future warming, Pacific wind changes reduce Indonesian Throughflow surface transport through the Halmahera Sea Future Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation decline induces oceanic adj...

doi.org

Exploring Drip Water Dynamics for Groundwater Recharge

The end of the year is approaching, and the papers and pre-prints are still coming from the groundwater and climate research team here and our collaborators. Here is a summary of our outputs the last three months of the year. All are open-access, with links provided below Most recently, my photo made the cover of the Eos Buzz Newsletter, where Stacey Priestley (CSIRO) led this article with myself, Wendy Timms (Deakin), Margaret Shanafield (Flinders) and Martin Andersen (UNSW).

andy-baker.org

Quantifying changes in central Vietnam rainfall amount since the Late Pleistocene

Paleorecords of the Southeast Asian autumn monsoon indicate that global sea-level change drove abrupt shifts in rainfall, yet the magnitude of these c…

sciencedirect.com

theconversation.com

Has Industrial-Era Warming Already Triggered Thermodynamic Amplification of Indian Summer Monsoon Intensity?

How have natural variability and anthropogenic forcing shaped Indian Summer Mon...

agu.confex.com

Quantifying changes in central Vietnam rainfall amount since the Late Pleistocene

Paleorecords of the Southeast Asian autumn monsoon indicate that global sea-level change drove abrupt shifts in rainfall, yet the magnitude of these c…

sciencedirect.com

Larger teams worsen academic career prospects

As teams grow, new Ph.D. graduates are less likely to land tenure-track jobs and more likely to leave science—especially women and international researchers

scim.ag

Classic Maya response to multiyear seasonal droughts in Northwest Yucatán, Mexico

Stalagmite record reveals 1- to 13-year droughts in NW Yucatán from 871 to 1021 CE, a time of profound Maya cultural change.

science.org