AGU Advances
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Volume 7 Issue 4 & 5 | September 2026
FROM THE EDITOR IN CHIEF
I am pleased to introduce this digest by highlighting the important evidence presented by Gold et al. on the social and professional risks associated with geoscience fieldwork. Working in the field is essential for advancing knowledge in the Earth and space sciences. However, field settings and environmental conditions may exacerbate disparities and exclusion if they are not properly managed. Promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion requires a broad understanding of the situations that may cause discomfort or harm, how frequently they occur and are reported, and what changes are needed to address them. Gold et al. report the findings of a survey of 289 members of the American Geophysical Union, assessing the prevalence, perceived impacts, and reporting of harmful interactions during fieldwork. Their findings provide illuminating and highly valuable insights that can help create safer and more inclusive environments for field activities.
I am also pleased to note that the contributions presented here once again address research questions across multiple domains of the geosciences, most of them from an interdisciplinary perspective. Nine contributions fall within the broad fields of climate, ocean, and water sciences. In particular, Zhuang et al. focus on extreme rainfall in tropical regions under global warming. They conclude that extreme events are expected to intensify and the details of their underlying dynamics need to be investigated and resolved at sub-kilometer spatial scales and minute-scale temporal resolution. Paleoclimate is investigated by Helpap et al., who provide new insights into global drought variability over past centuries and show an increasing likelihood that droughts will reach unprecedented magnitudes in the near future. Together, these contributions support the development of sustainable strategies for mitigating and adapting to climate change.
The remarkable opportunities offered by high-resolution Earth system monitoring are illustrated by Rolla et al., who investigate how remotely sensed observations collected through NASA’s Disasters Program provided essential information for the real-time management of risks associated with the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.
Overall, the contributions presented here provide compelling evidence of the key role played by monitoring programmes in environmental risk management and sustainable development.
RESEARCH ARTICLES
Massive Rocky Planets May Suppress Deep Melting
New estimates show that a mineral likely common in these rocky planets’ interiors is resistant to melting, even at high temperatures. Zheng et al.
Earth Greening Under Water Stress
Worldwide patterns of increased plant water stress reveal water limits to vegetation greening. Chang et al.
A New Pathway for Energy Redistribution in Near-Earth Space
In situ evidence of bidirectional wave-particle energy transfer enabled by local magnetic-field gradient reveals an inhomogeneity-driven pathway for energy redistribution. Li and Zhou et al.
Subglacial Lake Discharge in the Ross Sea
A new measurement reveals that dissolved carbon in the Little America Basin is unexpectedly old, suggesting discharge from a subglacial lake. Hwang et al.
The Magnetic Face of Plasma Irregularities on Mars
Plasma density irregularity is nothing new on Mars, but the accompanying magnetic field irregularity observed on NASA’s MAVEN satellite is. Jiang et al.
Why Marine Heat Waves and Acidification Strike Together
A chemistry tug-of-war between ocean acidity and carbon in warming oceans determines when and where these damaging events strike. Gregor et al.
Are Modern Droughts Unprecedented?
Twenty ensemble members from a 600-year climate simulation reveal that drought extremes are intensifying more rapidly than in the past with respect to moderate droughts. Helpap et al.
A Theory for the Global Wind Energy Dissipation Across Climates
Two basic atmospheric factors can explain the weak and, at times, contrasting trends in global wind energy dissipation under climate change. Jansen et al.
Remote Sensing Mitigated the Impact of the 2025 Los Angeles Wildfires
Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer 3 (AVIRIS-3) observations supported situational awareness, inspections, infrastructure assessment, and debris-flow management. Rolla et al.
Did Ocean Motion Carve Enceladus’s Tiger Stripes?
Wobbles of the moon’s icy shell may set off waves in the subsurface ocean that sculpt water-spewing fissures from beneath. Abdulah et al.
Four in Five Researchers Report Harmful Interactions During Fieldwork
A new survey documents the prevalence of harmful interactions that occur during fieldwork. Many instances go officially unreported. Gold et al.
Seasonal Re-Entrainment of Respired Organic Matter
Biogeochemical float observations reveal that surface production of organic carbon in the Southern Ocean is decoupled from the total annual organic carbon export, impacting carbon export estimates and revealing the need for a process-based understanding of carbon export. McClish et al.
Transient Global Overturning in the North Atlantic Under Extreme Warming
Analyzing climate model simulations under extreme warming, the authors show that deep water formation in the North Atlantic can indeed cease, but a weaker overturning circulation could still persist. Sun et al.
Extreme Equatorial Storms are Larger and More Persistent Under Warming
Extreme storms in the tropical regions are expanding and becoming more persistent with climate warming, resulting in higher storm rainfall volumes while peak intensity remains unchanged. Zhuang et al.
Subglacial Drainage Subsystem Connectivity of the Greenland Ice Sheet
Measurements of water pressure, electrical conductivity, seismic tremors, and ice motion reveal rapid switches in subglacial drainage driven by variations in surface meltwater input. Ing et al.
EDITORS' PICKS FROM OTHER JOURNALS
Dune Datasets
Heminway et al. [2026] (https://eos.org/editor-highlights/long-term-datasets-are-essential-to-understanding-coastal-change) use a multi-decadal field dataset combined with a reduced-complexity modeling approach to highlight the importance of shoreline change in controlling alongshore variability of dune evolution.–Ana Vila-Concejo, JGR: Earth Surface
Sustainable Cover Crops
Komarek et al. [2026] show that working with farmers produces agricultural sustainability indicators that are more comprehensive, easier to use, and better for making decisions.–Raj Pandya, Community Science
Channel Steepness
New work from Fox et al. [2026] reveals why this simple and convenient method of defining channels in the first place may have overlooked a serious pitfall.–Oliver Korup, JGR: Earth Surface
FEATURED AGU SPECIAL COLLECTION
AGU Launches Special Collection on Policy and Policy-Related Work in the Geosciences
This ongoing Special Collection presents commentaries, research articles, and other work across AGU’s journals that inform researchers, policymakers, and the public on urgent and emerging issues, new findings and analysis, and diverse viewpoints in Earth, space, and environmental science. We welcome submissions that highlight specific issues or propose effective ways to bring about change and that address current policy, policy solutions, and/or decision-relevant knowledge both cross-cutting and within an Earth, space, or environmental science discipline. Read more in our Editor’s Vox.
Call for papers: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/23284277/call-for-papers/si-2026-000900
“ ‘Landslides have been occurring as long as the mountains have been building,’ Ekström says. But ‘in areas where glaciers are disappearing, these landslides are occurring more frequently.’ ”
–Reporting from Science Magazine on August’s disastrous landslide and flood in Nepal – and scientists’ rapid response.