The American Meteorological Society publication The Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences is encouraging authors to think about a wider readership's needs when submitting papers:
The American Meteorological Society (AMS) mission statement specifically calls for advancing “the atmospheric and related sciences . . . for the benefit of society.” To further the goal of communicating the importance of the science in our journals more widely, AMS is encouraging the inclusion in submitted papers of a “significance statement,” written in plain language and aimed at an educated layperson without formal training or education in the atmospheric and related sciences.
Integrating the public mind into research publications in this way lends institutional backing to help combat a myth— that a researcher pointing out hazards identified as a result of their normal work is being "activist," committing an act of political or ideological advocacy. In reality public information on hazards and risks is a perfectly normal moral obligation, hardly a transgression of the "correct" role for a researcher. But scientists are sometimes criticized for pointing out factually broad impacts revealed by research output. This is a puzzling outcome, akin perhaps to an engineer arranging a safety belt for vehicle occupants but not being allowed to say what safety belts do or how to use them.
At this juncture a significant proportion of climate research is effectively safety research. Commensurately, expecting the general public and policy makers to guess at significance of findings with negative impacts on the wider well being is clearly not smart. For the general public's benefit a key skill for any given researcher is ability to "join up" immediate findings with the bigger picture. This AMS journal correctly puts contextual communication to the public squarely in the normal, expected path of the publication process. More, please. The full statement.
Observations of climate change & effects
Increase in Lower Stratospheric Water Vapor in the Past 100 Years Related to Tropical Atlantic Warming
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl090539
Delayed Retreat of the Summer Monsoon over the Indochina Peninsula Linked to Surface Warming Trends
DOI: 10.1002/joc.6938
Tropospheric thermal field variability over Poland in the context of climate change
DOI: 10.1002/joc.6933
Weakened evidence for mid-latitude impacts of Arctic warming
DOI: 10.1038/s41558-020-00954-y
Anthropogenic and Natural Contributions to the Lengthening of the Southern Hemisphere Summer Season
DOI: 10.1175/jcli-d-20-0084.1
Seasonal temperature and rainfall extremes 1911–2017 for Northern Australian population centres: challenges for human activity
DOI: 10.1007/s10113-020-01706-6
Analysing the trend of rainfall in Asir region of Saudi Arabia using the family of Mann-Kendall tests, innovative trend analysis, and detrended fluctuation analysis
DOI: 10.1007/s00704-020-03448-1
Spatio-temporal trends and variability of rainfall in Maharashtra, India: Analysis of 118 years
DOI: 10.1007/s00704-020-03452-5
Variation of Main Rainy?Season Precipitation in Eastern China and Relevance to Regional Warming
DOI: 10.1002/joc.6929
A bigger picture of how the Tibetan lakes change over the past decade revealed by CryoSat?2 altimetry
DOI: 10.1029/2020jd033161
Late 20th Century Indian Ocean Heat Content Gain Masked by Wind Forcing
A Potential Link Between the Southern Ocean Warming and the South Indian Ocean Heat Balance
DOI: 10.1029/2020jc016132
Instrumentation & observational methods of climate & global warming, effects
National indicators of climate changes, impacts, and vulnerability
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1007/s10584-020-02939-4
Detection of Melt Ponds on Arctic Summer Sea Ice from ICESat?2
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl090644
Modeling, simulation & projection of global warming & global warming effects MSWE
Reduced global warming from CMIP6 projections when weighting models by performance and independence
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/esd-11-995-2020
Projecting exposure to extreme climate impact events across six event categories and three spatial scales
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020ef001616
Tropical Rainfall Linked to Stronger Future ENSO?NAO Teleconnection in CMIP5 Models
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl088664
The Response of the Northern Hemisphere Storm Tracks and Jet Streams to Climate Change in the CMIP3, CMIP5, and CMIP6 Climate Models
DOI: 10.1029/2020jd032701
Evaluation and Projection of Surface Wind Speed over China Based on CMIP6 GCMs
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020jd033611
Potential impacts of climate change on wind and solar electricity generation in Texas
DOI: 10.1007/s10584-020-02891-3
21st century fate of the Mocho-Choshuenco ice cap in southern Chile
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/tc-2020-296 (preprint)
How aerosols and greenhouse gases influence the diurnal temperature range
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/acp-20-13467-2020
Contrasting recent and future ITCZ changes from distinct tropical warming patterns
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl089846
Temperature and rainfall extremes change under current, 1.5°C, 2.0°C and 3.0°C global warming across Indian climate zones
Open Access DOI: 10.1016/j.wace.2020.100291
Identifying future climate change and drought detection using CanESM2 in the upper Siem Reap River, Cambodia
DOI: 10.1016/j.dynatmoce.2020.101182
Changes in the characteristics of ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ Red Sea Trough over the Eastern Mediterranean in CMIP5 climate projections
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1007/s00704-020-03449-0
CMIP5 climate projections for the Yamzhog Yumco Basin: an environmental testbed for alpine lakes
DOI: 10.1007/s00704-020-03451-6
Future changes in precipitation for identified sub?regions in East Asia using bias?corrected multi?RCMs
DOI: 10.1002/joc.6936
Prediction and analysis of lake ice phenology dynamics under future climate scenarios across the Inner Tibetan Plateau
DOI: 10.1029/2020jd033082
Advances in climate & climate effects modeling, simulation & projection
Performance Evaluation of CMIP5 and CMIP6 Models on Heatwaves in Korea and Associated Teleconnection Patterns
DOI: 10.1029/2020jd032583
GrSMBMIP: intercomparison of the modelled 1980–2012 surface mass balance over the Greenland Ice Sheet
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/tc-14-3935-2020
Weaker links between zonal convective clustering and ITCZ width in climate models than in observations
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl090479
Interannual variability of the South Atlantic Ocean heat content in a high?resolution versus a low?resolution General Circulation Model
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl089908
Cryosphere & climate change
Centennial response of Greenland’s three largest outlet glaciers
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19580-5
21st century fate of the Mocho-Choshuenco ice cap in southern Chile
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/tc-2020-296 (preprint)
Modelling the evolution of Djankuat Glacier, North Caucasus, from 1752 until 2100 CE
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/tc-14-4039-2020
Necessary Conditions for Warm Inflow Towards the Filchner Ice Shelf, Weddell Sea
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020gl089237
Thermal effect of thermokarst lake on the permafrost under embankment
Open Access DOI: 10.1016/j.accre.2020.10.002
Paleoclimate
Holocene climatic changes in the Westerly-Indian Monsoon realm and its anthropogenic impact
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/cp-2020-141 (preprint)
Biology & global warming
Are we ready to track climate?driven shifts in marine species across international boundaries? ? A global survey of scientific bottom trawl data
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15404
Climate change facilitates a parasite’s host exploitation via temperature?mediated immunometabolic processes
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15402
Population variation in the thermal response to climate change reveals differing sensitivity in a benthic shark
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15422
Mountain treelines climb slowly despite rapid climate warming
DOI: 10.1111/geb.13214
Thermal mismatches in biological rates determine trophic control and biomass distribution under warming
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15395
GHG sources & sinks, flux
Soil organic carbon accumulation rates on Mediterranean abandoned agricultural lands
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143535
Higher temperature sensitivity of soil C release to atmosphere from northern permafrost soils as indicated by a meta?analysis
DOI: 10.1029/2020gb006688
First Pan-Arctic Assessment of Dissolved Organic Carbon in Permafrost-Region Lakes
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/bg-2020-408 (preprint)
The role of termite CH4 emissions on ecosystem scale: a case study in the Amazon rain forest (preprint)
Does export production measure transient changes of the biological carbon pump’s feedback to the atmosphere under global warming?
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020gl089928
Global patterns and climate controls of terrestrial ecosystem light use efficiency
DOI: 10.1029/2020jg005908
Evaluation of Bursa metropolitan greenhouse Gas inventory and reduction targets
DOI: 10.1016/j.uclim.2020.100717
Direct response of tree growth to soil water and its implications for terrestrial carbon cycle modelling
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15397
Much stronger tundra methane emissions during autumn freeze than spring thaw
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15421
Recognizing the complexity of soil organic carbon dynamics in vegetated coastal habitats
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15426
CO2 removal & mitigation science & engineering
Sinking CO2 in supercritical reservoirs
Open Access DOI: 10.1002/essoar.10503991.2
Advancing carbon management through the global commoditization of CO2: the case for dual-use LNG-CO2 shipping
DOI: 10.1080/17583004.2020.1840871
Geoengineering climate
Is solar geoengineering ungovernable? A critical assessment of governance challenges identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1002/wcc.690
Solar geoengineering may not prevent strong warming from direct effects of CO2 on stratocumulus cloud cover
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2003730117
Climate change communications & cognition
Eco-reproductive concerns in the age of climate change
DOI: 10.1007/s10584-020-02923-y
The ‘end of the world’ vs. the ‘end of the month’: understanding social resistance to sustainability transition agendas, a lesson from the Yellow Vests in France
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1007/s11625-020-00877-9
On the nature of eco-anxiety: How constructive or unconstructive is habitual worry about global warming?
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101528
Agronomy & climate change
Current rice models underestimate yield losses from short?term heat stresses
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15393
Economics & finance of climate change & mitigation
Distributional Impacts of Carbon Pricing: A Meta-Analysis
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1007/s10640-020-00521-1
An assessment of the potential of using carbon tax revenue to tackle poverty
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/abb55d
Cost of avoided carbon: Optimizing power supply in southern India
DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111988
Emission tax vs. permit trading under bounded rationality and dynamic markets
DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2020.112009
Carbon pricing and COVID-19
DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2020.1831432
A continued role of short-lived climate forcers under the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.5194/esd-11-977-2020
Climate change mitigation & adaptation public policy research
Accountability and data-driven urban climate governance
DOI: 10.1038/s41558-020-00953-z
Regulatory and social dynamics of voluntary agreement adoption: The case of voluntary energy efficiency and GHG reduction agreement in South Korea
DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111903
Climate change impacts on human health
The relationship between dysentery and climatic parameters in Iran
DOI: 10.1016/j.uclim.2020.100697
Profile Eestimates for the analysis of climatic and socio-sanitary vulnerability to dengue in municipalities in Northeast Brazil
DOI: 10.1016/j.uclim.2020.100712
The effects of climatic and environmental factors on heat-related illnesses: A systematic review from 2000 to 2020
DOI: 10.1016/j.uclim.2020.100720
Climate change adaptation
Awareness of urban climate adaptation strategies –an international overview
Open Access DOI: 10.1016/j.uclim.2020.100705
Seasonal temperature and rainfall extremes 1911–2017 for Northern Australian population centres: challenges for human activity
DOI: 10.1007/s10113-020-01706-6
Water scarcity, climate adaptation, and armed conflict: insights from Africa
DOI: 10.1007/s10113-020-01713-7
Climate change impacts on human culture
Catastrophic climate change, population ethics and intergenerational equity
DOI: 10.1007/s10584-020-02899-9
Potential impacts of climate change on wind and solar electricity generation in Texas
DOI: 10.1007/s10584-020-02891-3
Other
Atlantic Deep Water Formation Occurs Primarily in the Iceland Basin and Irminger Sea by Local Buoyancy Forcing
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl091028
Quantifying Contributions of Internal Variability and External Forcing to Atlantic Multidecadal Variability Since 1870
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020gl089504
Spatial and temporal variability of brown carbon in United States: implications for direct radiative effects
DOI: 10.1029/2020gl090332
Informed opinion, nudges & major initiatives
Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation: Reviews of Observational and Modeling Advances – an Introduction
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1029/2020jc016745
National indicators of climate changes, impacts, and vulnerability
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1007/s10584-020-02939-4
Arctic Ocean Freshening Linked to Anthropogenic Climate Change: All Hands on Deck
Open Access DOI: 10.1002/essoar.10504220.1
Significance Statements Communicate Our Science More Widely
Open Access pdf DOI: 10.1175/ei-d-20-0024.1
Climate change literature and information gaps in mountainous headwaters of the Columbia River Basin
DOI: 10.1007/s10113-020-01721-7
Using big data analytics to synthesize research domains and identify emerging fields in urban climatology
DOI: 10.1002/wcc.688
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Posted by Doug Bostrom on Wednesday, 18 November, 2020
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