For my last article of 2025, I thought I’d look back over the climate change, paleoclimate, impacts, solutions and science papers that I found most fascinating this year. Here are my Top-10.
Thank you for the write up! I am interested in new projections of food availability (especially ones that include the time for farmers to learn new crops). Also interested in any papers that look at impacts trade networks or widespread economic impacts (most out there seem like they leave so much out they are useless)
HI tom, I think one aspect underreported and the main difference between past warming events and todays is the land use changes are severely impacting the hydrological cycle and the flow on effects not only regionally but globally are not fully appreciated. Most land use changes reduce moisture retention in a root zone, reduce evapotranspiration, reduce biophysical and biosphere interactions, reduce cloud and therefore impact the ability for rain (lift cloud height and delay plus diminish cloud onset times plus albedo and latent heat release). yes we have to feed ourselves but we have the tools at our disposal to properly moderate changes to our hydrological cycle which should be profitable both economically and ecologically.
This also does not look at the ocean and the nutrient changes, I like to look at the whole ENSO cycle as nutrient driven form upwelling and cloud formation in the east and its effects on the weather as it drifts across the pacific.
A good indicator of the moderating effects of the hydrological cycle is how little the tropics warm in comparison to the rest through the phase change and this is in surface area the largest part of the globe.
A lot to unpack again and many thanks, hopefully we can delve deeper into these issues further early next year.
Thank you for this curated compilation for 2025! Suggest review of water for climate (and the biotic pump) as overlooked driving and moderating element.
So if this is your top 10, which is your favorite??
Hmm, I think the Abrupt changes in Antarctica made the biggest impression on me.
What’s your choice?
Thank you for the write up! I am interested in new projections of food availability (especially ones that include the time for farmers to learn new crops). Also interested in any papers that look at impacts trade networks or widespread economic impacts (most out there seem like they leave so much out they are useless)
Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll look into that.
HI tom, I think one aspect underreported and the main difference between past warming events and todays is the land use changes are severely impacting the hydrological cycle and the flow on effects not only regionally but globally are not fully appreciated. Most land use changes reduce moisture retention in a root zone, reduce evapotranspiration, reduce biophysical and biosphere interactions, reduce cloud and therefore impact the ability for rain (lift cloud height and delay plus diminish cloud onset times plus albedo and latent heat release). yes we have to feed ourselves but we have the tools at our disposal to properly moderate changes to our hydrological cycle which should be profitable both economically and ecologically.
This also does not look at the ocean and the nutrient changes, I like to look at the whole ENSO cycle as nutrient driven form upwelling and cloud formation in the east and its effects on the weather as it drifts across the pacific.
A good indicator of the moderating effects of the hydrological cycle is how little the tropics warm in comparison to the rest through the phase change and this is in surface area the largest part of the globe.
A lot to unpack again and many thanks, hopefully we can delve deeper into these issues further early next year.
Thank you for this curated compilation for 2025! Suggest review of water for climate (and the biotic pump) as overlooked driving and moderating element.
Good selection!
We coincide on a few highlighted papers this year: https://10insightsclimate.science/
That’s a very good point. Figure 11 in the 2025 Global Carbon Budget https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2025-659/essd-2025-659.pdf has a map showing the areas of sink and source.