Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
From sectoral silos to climate hegemony: analysis of global urban policies (1984-2025)
Published: 2026-04-23
Subjects: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Contemporary urban environmental governance faces a paradox: while international frameworks advocate integration, climate discourse appears to subsume. This study analyzed 202 urban policies from 85 countries (1984-2025) using various methods, temporal discourse analysis, keyword co-occurrence networks, framing detection, and sentiment analysis. Policies accelerated exponentially, with 2010-2025 [...]
A proposal for a horizontal vector approach in 3D electrical resistivity tomography and its associated geometric factor
Published: 2026-04-22
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) is commonly implemented with collinear electrode arrays that measure only electric-field components along the survey line, neglecting horizontal variations in other directions. While this limitation is acceptable in 2D ERT, it can be significant in 3D settings with complex geometry and strong resistivity contrasts. To address this issue, we propose an [...]
Erosion-driven changes in soil cation exchange capacity quantified using barium isotopes
Published: 2026-04-22
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Soil Science
Human activities have perturbed the balance between rates of soil erosion and formation, driving declines in soil quality. However, quantifying these soil imbalances remains challenging, especially at large scales. Here we present a novel isotope mass balance approach that can be used to quantify river catchment wide rates of change in cation exchange capacity (CEC), a key soil quality metric, in [...]
Mesozoic ocean plate stratigraphy reveals a Franciscan plate separating Farallon and North America
Published: 2026-04-22
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Ocean plate stratigraphy preserved in the Franciscan Complex recorded the Mesozoic plate tectonic evolution of the North American Cordillera and eastern Pacific basin. New and published ocean floor and accretion ages for Jurassic–Cretaceous oceanic crust, derived from detrital zircons and radiolarians, indicate that eastward younging ocean floor existed between the Farallon and North American [...]
First-principles theory for Earth's tropical-midlatitude climate boundary
Published: 2026-04-22
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In Earth's climate, the boundary between the tropics and midlatitudes is a key determinant of temperature and precipitation characteristics, influencing human societies through daily weather, atmospheric chemistry, carbon cycling, and vegetation distribution. The physical origin of these climate zones has been investigated through idealized simulations, observations, and state-of-the-art climate [...]
A hybrid physics–ML framework for integrating groundwater dynamics into land surface modeling
Published: 2026-04-22
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Settling and Rising Dynamics of River Litter
Published: 2026-04-22
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Global assessments of river litter transport, accumulation, and export to the oceans remain constrained because the particle-scale hydrodynamic variables governing litter movement are currently unknown. We resolve this by explaining the vertical dynamics of full-scale river litter in quiescent water through multi-camera, three-dimensional trajectory reconstructions of over a thousand litter items [...]
A Meteorological Indicator for Particulate Matter Emissions: Adapting the Hot-Dry-Windy Index to Predict Feedlot Evening Dust Peaks
Published: 2026-04-21
Subjects: Agriculture, Animal Sciences, Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Particulate matter emissions from cattle feedlot operations pose significant challenges to both livestock productivity and air quality in surrounding communities. The evening dust peak (EDP) has been documented for decades, but comprehensive long-term studies examining its meteorological drivers are very limited. While laboratory and field-scale investigations have demonstrated that feedlot [...]
Regional Economic Impacts and Emission Responses under Solar Radiation Modification
Published: 2026-04-20
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Nature and Society Relations, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Solar Radiation Modification (SRM) has been proposed as a potential tool to limit increases in global or regional temperatures caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. While previous research has extensively examined the climate system's response to various SRM strategies, as well as their aggregate economic consequences, the regional distribution of economic impacts has received less [...]
Storm life cycle modulates extreme hydroclimate impact risk: a Great Lakes Region case study
Published: 2026-04-18
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Fresh Water Studies, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Extratropical cyclones (ETCs) drive hydroclimate variability in the Great Lakes, yet their impacts vary widely between events. Here, we classify ETCs into two storm types using an unsupervised clustering approach based on storm properties and evolution. The resulting classes differ systematically in life cycle stage at Great Lakes entry. Using bootstrap-estimated risk ratios and risk differences, [...]
Beyond universal access: mapping regional inequalities and spatial coldspots in India’s WaSH sector toward SDG 6
Published: 2026-04-17
Subjects: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
National averages can conceal significant sectoral disparities and long-standing subnational injustices, despite the fact that India’s flagship programs had significantly improved access to water and sanitation. This report provided a thorough, data-driven evaluation of the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) in all 37 Indian states and union territories (UTs) using 25 indicators. Pearson’s [...]
Meteorite Classification Using Triple Oxygen Isotopes
Published: 2026-04-17
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
For decades, measurements of all three isotopes of oxygen have been made in a handful of specialized laboratories around the world. These measurements either confirm meteorite classifications or prevent misclassification of terrestrial materials. Isotope geochemists making these measurements, in collaboration with meteorite enthusiasts and scientists, frequently receive questions regarding best [...]
Beyond national averages: a multi-method assessment of sub-national environmental sustainability and inequality in India
Published: 2026-04-17
Subjects: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
India’s rapid economic growth regularly jeopardizes its environmental foundation, although important sub-national differences were typically hidden by national-level evaluations. For all 37 Indian states and union territories (UTs), this study creates the Composite index of Environmental Sustainability (CoES), a comprehensive multi-dimensional framework that integrates 36 indicators across 4 [...]
VolcAshDB open services for visualization and semi-automated classification of volcanic ash particles
Published: 2026-04-16
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Volcanic ash particles contain critical pieces of information about their origin and the processes driving the eruptive activity. However, the classification of particles into different types (juvenile, lithic, free crystal, altered material) is not standardized and varies from observer to observer. As a result, datasets produced by different research groups are often difficult or not possible to [...]
A moving wave probe reveals a friction kernel hidden by phase averaging in turbulence
Published: 2026-04-16
Subjects: Fluid Dynamics, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Coarse-graining routinely discards fluctuations whose one-time mean vanishes, yet irreversible transport is controlled by two-time correlations. Here we introduce a moving-probe protocol that detects transport channels hidden by this discard operation. A prescribed wave-like carrier isolates a chosen bilinear coupling in a stochastic bath. Three falsifiable controls distinguish genuine [...]