Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Breaking internal waves on sloping topography: connecting parcel displacements to overturn size, interior-boundary exchanges, and mixing
Published: 2024-04-05
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Internal waves impinging on sloping topography can generate mixing through the formation of near-bottom bores and overturns in what has been called the `internal swash' zone. Here we investigate the mixing generated during these breaking events, and the subsequent ventilation of the bottom boundary layer, across a realistic non-dimensional parameter space for the ocean using three-dimensional [...]
A Labeling Intercomparison of Retrogressive Thaw Slumps by a Diverse Group of Domain Experts
Published: 2024-04-05
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Deep-learning (DL) models have become increasingly beneficial for the detection of retrogressive thaw slumps (RTS) in the permafrost domain. However, comparing accuracy metrics is challenging due to unstandardized labeling guidelines. To address this, we conducted an experiment with 12 international domain experts from a broad range of scientific backgrounds. Using 3 m PlanetScope multispectral [...]
Estimating microphysical properties of ice clouds for climate modeling and remote sensing applications
Published: 2024-04-04
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Ice clouds pose crucial challenges in climate model simulations and remote sensing retrievals due to complicated mechanisms of ice cloud formation that span from micro scale to planetary wave scale. Despite numerous attempts to parameterize these processes, many questions remain unanswered. This technical note provides a summary of the most common and recent studies on ice clouds and compiles [...]
Development of a Snow Growth Model for Rimed Snowfall
Published: 2024-04-04
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
A snow growth model for rimed snowfall (SGMR) was developed based on the growth processes of vapor deposition, aggregation, and riming. The SGMR is initialized by radar reflectivity (Z) at the cloud top and thereafter simulates the vertical evolution of size spectra. The SGMR is based on the zeroth- and second-moment conservation equations with respect to mass, and thus conserves the number [...]
Progress in Understanding North American Monsoon Using a Climate Model
Published: 2024-04-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The North American Monsoon is a seasonal shift in the large-scale circulation that supplies 60-80% of annual rainfall in northwestern Mexico and 30-40% in the US southwest. Regional climate models have shown that summer precipitation prediction over North America is the poorest in the Monsoon region. Most climate models do not account for a crucial mechanism of Monsoon: the boundary layer [...]
Improving Subsidence Modelling of Different Depth Domains in the Mekong Delta
Published: 2024-03-31
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Mekong delta, one of the largest deltas in the world, is densely populated and important for food production. As the delta plain is lowly elevated, less than a meter on average above local sea level, it is vulnerable to sea-level rise and land subsidence. The delta experiences high rates of natural compaction at its coast) while human activities associated with land-use change , urbanisation [...]
Explaining land subsidence variation along the north coast of Java for Semarang and Pekalongan, Indonesia
Published: 2024-03-31
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
This study investigates the significant land subsidence in the cities of Semarang and Pekalongan on the north coast of Java. High land subsidence rates of several cm up to dm per year have being reported, directly contributing to relative sea-level rise. This research uses PS-InSAR data to analyze the spatial and temporal variations in subsidence and identify its causes, which are expected to be [...]
Global environmental plastics dispersal under OECD policy scenarios towards 2060
Published: 2024-03-30
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Plastics occupy a central role in the global economy, yet cause significant damage to ecosystems and human health. Recent studies and OECD reports have provided comprehensive roadmaps to reduce the environmental impacts of plastics, based on coordinated global action to reduce plastic consumption and improve waste management and recycling. Leakage of mismanaged plastic waste to aquatic [...]
Predicting the onset of subglacial drainage channels
Published: 2024-03-28
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The sliding speed of glaciers depends strongly on the water pressure at the ice-sediment interface, which is controlled by the efficiency of water transport through a subglacial hydrological system. The least efficient component of the system consists of ‘distributed’ flow everywhere beneath the ice, whereas the ‘channelised’ drainage through large, thermally eroded conduits is more efficient. To [...]
Can spinodal decomposition occur during decompression-induced vesiculation of magma?
Published: 2024-03-28
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Volcanic eruptions are driven by decompression-induced vesiculation of supersaturated volatile components in magma. The initial phase of this phenomenon has long been described as a phase of nucleation and growth. Recently, it was proposed that spinodal decomposition (an energetically spontaneous phase separation that does not require the formation of a distinct interface) may occur during [...]
The Equator Project Research School and Mentoring Network: evaluated interventions to improve equity in geoscience research
Published: 2024-03-26
Subjects: Education, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
There is a well-documented racial and ethnic diversity crisis in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) subjects in the Global North that leads to inequities in who does environmental research. The Equator project set out to increase participation and retention of UK-domiciled Black, Asian and minority ethnic students in GEES research by developing evidence-based, ring-fenced, fully [...]
An inventory of phreatomagmatic volcanoes in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt
Published: 2024-03-20
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The formation of phreatomagmatic volcanoes (PVs) usually involves small volumes of magma but also very violent eruptive activity. Along the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB) the basic conditions that favor water-magma interaction are provided by the presence of frequent small-volume monogenetic volcanism and several inter-montane lacustrine basins. The TMVB is a Plio-Quaternary continental [...]
Sink of eddy energy by submesoscale sea surface temperature variability in a coupled regional model
Published: 2024-03-20
Subjects: Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Air-sea interaction impacts ocean energetics via modifications to the exchange of momentum and buoyancy. Prior work at the submesoscale has largely focused on mechanisms related to the eddy kinetic energy (EKE), such as the current feedback on stress, which generates negative wind work, or variations in sea surface temperature (SST) that modify surface winds. However, less is known about the [...]
Tracing Andean Origins: A Machine Learning Framework for Lead Isotopes
Published: 2024-03-19
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
This study uses machine learning techniques to facilitate the geolocation of Andean lead isotopes, a novel approach in this geographical context. Two predictive models for latitude and longitude were developed based on the compilation of a database of the lead isotope ratios 206Pb/204Pb, 207Pb/204Pb, and 208Pb/204Pb from multiple Andean provinces. These models were cross-validated using [...]
A review on how Big Data can help to monitor the environment and to mitigate risks due to climate change
Published: 2024-03-18
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Climate change triggers a wide range of hydrometeorological, glaciological and geophysical processes that span across vast spatiotemporal scales. With the advances in technology and analytics, a multitude of remote sensing, geodetic and in situ instruments have been developed to effectively monitor and help comprehend the Earth's system including its climate variability and the recent anomalies [...]