Paper Harvest Report
Date range: April 20, 2026
4 top-tier papers selected out of 100 total publications
Today’s Highlights
A review of the unprecedented global drought extremes witnessed in 2025 leads today’s harvest (Nature Reviews Earth & Environment). New research demonstrates near-real-time flood inundation mapping using large uncrewed aerial systems for emergency response (BAMS). Additional papers explore how marine heatwave characteristics differentially impact phytoplankton in the East China Sea, and reconstruct a millennium of cold-water coral habitat loss linked to Holocene ENSO variability.
Table of Contents
- Today’s Highlights
- Top-Tier Journal Papers
- Global drought extremes in 2025
- Near-real-time Inundation Mapping Utilizing Large Uncrewed Aerial System Platforms
- Beyond the Nutrient Paradigm: Thermal Intensity and Duration Trigger Opposite Phytoplankton Responses to Marine Heatwaves in the East China Sea
- A millennium of cold-water coral habitat loss in the East Pacific during low ENSO variability in the mid- to late Holocene
- Statistics
- Filtering Criteria
Top-Tier Journal Papers
Global drought extremes in 2025
Authors: Chiyuan Miao, Qi Zhang, Xin Li, Jinlong Hu, Mojtaba Sadegh et al.
Journal: Nature Reviews Earth & Environment · DOI: 10.1038/s43017-026-00785-z
Matched topics: drought
Abstract not available.
Near-real-time Inundation Mapping Utilizing Large Uncrewed Aerial System Platforms
Authors: Jamie Dyer, Robert Moorhead, Lee Hathcock, Bryan Farrell, Peter McKinley
Journal: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society · DOI: 10.1175/bams-d-25-0140.1
Matched topics: flood, surface water
Situational awareness during extreme flooding is critical for effective emergency response operations, especially in environments with limited observations and/or rapidly changing conditions. In such situations, knowing the location and extent of inundation can help define areas with the highest risk to human safety, identify flooded road networks that could limit the mobility of emergency services, and estimate out-of-bank water storage. While remote sensing data sources provide invaluable information, their temporal resolution and latency limit their viability in fast-developing events. The ability to rapidly deploy platform-based sensing systems with capability for near-real-time processing and distribution of inundation products has the potential to markedly improve emergency response during these situations. Here, a concept for deployment of large Group 3 and 4 uncrewed aerial systems with onboard processing and near-real-time flood inundation product generation is described. These platforms provide a unique capability that can significantly augment existing networks with respect to temporal resolution and latency. Three flood events across the southeastern United States are shown that demonstrate and evaluate this capability. Overall, the products show excellent agreement with observed inundation extent, with notable sensitivity to downstream processing methods.
Beyond the Nutrient Paradigm: Thermal Intensity and Duration Trigger Opposite Phytoplankton Responses to Marine Heatwaves in the East China Sea
Authors: Jiarui Zhou, Xin Liu, Edward A. Laws, Charlotte Laufkötter, Weinan Li et al.
Journal: Geophysical Research Letters · DOI: 10.1029/2025gl121124
Matched topics: marine heatwave
Marine heatwaves (MHWs) profoundly impact marine ecosystems, yet it is unclear how their thermal characteristics shape phytoplankton responses. Using satellite and reanalysis data validated with a multi‐year in situ data set from the East China Sea, we show that the intensity and duration of MHWs can contribute to contrasting outcomes, alongside co‐varying background conditions, rather than being explained solely by nutrient control. Relative to chlorophyll‐a climatology, short‐intense events stimulated phytoplankton (+26.2%), while prolonged events suppressed them (−20.1%). These contrasting responses are attributable to distinct mixed‐layer depth and nutrient dynamics, and are consistent across satellite and in situ evidence. Our results challenge the prevailing nutrient‐centric paradigm and highlight that both thermal intensity and duration are essential for understanding MHW‐driven ecological responses.
A millennium of cold-water coral habitat loss in the East Pacific during low ENSO variability in the mid- to late Holocene
Authors: Joseph A. Stewart, Laura F. Robinson, Michelle L. Taylor, Daniel J. Fornari, Katleen Robert et al.
Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2532081123
Matched topics: climate change, Holocene
The evolution of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) under past and future climate change and its influence on marine ecosystems is highly debated. To examine links between tropical climate variability, high-latitude feedbacks, and deep-sea ecosystems, we have analyzed over 900 subfossil cold-water scleractinian corals from the Galápagos Archipelago. U-Th dating shows that these corals have inhabited the region for at least 117,000 y, thriving at depths down to ~1,000 m. However, we find a millennium-long hiatus in coral growth from ~5.2 to ~4.1 ka during the mid- to late Holocene. This hiatus coincides with a well-documented period of suppressed ENSO variability. Based on oceanographic measurements and coral geochemistry data, we suggest the loss of cold-water coral habitat was driven by reduced ventilation and deepwater dissolved oxygen supply when ENSO was relatively weak. As ENSO variability resumed, equatorial Pacific Ocean oxygenation improved, and cold-water corals repopulated the region. This finding reveals a previously unknown ecological response to changes in ENSO, showing how shifts in tropical Pacific climate dynamics can cascade into the deep ocean, fundamentally reshaping deep-sea ecosystems.
Statistics
| Metric | Count |
|---|---|
| Journals searched | 11 |
| Total papers fetched | 100 |
| Passed deterministic filter | 14 |
| After LLM relevance filtering | 4 |
| Rejected (not relevant) | 10 |
Papers by journal
| Journal | Papers |
|---|---|
| Nature Reviews Earth & Environment | 1 |
| Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society | 1 |
| Geophysical Research Letters | 1 |
| Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | 1 |
Filtering Criteria
Topics: hydrology, hydrologic model, river, runoff, streamflow, reservoir, water management, flood, drought, seasonal, land surface model, climate change, hydropower, surface water, irrigation, earth system model, estuary, coastal, freshwater discharge, river plume, ocean biogeochemistry, marine heatwave, paleohydrology, paleoclimate, Quaternary, Holocene, Pleistocene, fluvial geomorphology, river terrace, loess, drainage network, river capture, landscape evolution, luminescence dating
Fields: engineering, environmental science, computer science, geology, geography