Natural weathering processes are removing CO₂ from the air in a wide range of environments across continents and ocean. Until recently these ‘CO₂ vacuum cleaners’ were often studied separately, without properly examining their complex interactions. Now, an international team of Earth scientists is proposing an integrated vision of the many factors that influence the removal of atmospheric CO₂ from the highest mountain peaks to the deep ocean floor, including their various interactions. The so-called weathering continuum provides a much more complete picture on what controls and regulates the natural removal of CO₂, which could help in the development of enhancing weathering techniques.

In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Earth Sciences, a team of researchers improved the precipitation simulation over the Tibetan Plateau using the Weather Research and Forecasting model with an optimized convective entrainment scheme and a turbulent orographic form drag scheme.