Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Calling for a National Model Benchmarking Facility
Published: 2023-04-14
Subjects: Biology, Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Other Life Sciences, Physical and Environmental Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Sciences, Systems Biology
The modern world uses predictive computer models for many important purposes, including weather predictions, epidemic management, flood forecasting and warnings, and economic policymaking. We need to know how much we can trust the projections of these models, not only to achieve more accurate projections for systems, but also to undertake scientific learning about systems by incrementally testing [...]
Plastic as a Sediment – A Universal and Objective practical solution to growing ambiguity in plastic litter classification schemes
Published: 2023-04-10
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
There is a universal and growing challenge of ambiguity in plastic classification schemes, which affects the predictability of plastic accumulation in all environments world-wide. Plastic pollution is an ever-growing global issue, and understanding plastic items and their sedimentological relationship is a solution to this increasing concern. Definitions of micro- meso- and macro- plastic is [...]
Examining the power supplied to Earth's dynamo by magnesium precipitation and radiogenic heat production
Published: 2023-04-06
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Mineral Physics, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Sciences
We examine magnesium and potassium solubility in liquid Fe mixtures, representative of Earth’s core composition, in equilibrium with liquid silicate mixtures representative of an early magma ocean. Our study is based on the calculation of the chemical potentials of MgO and K2O in both phases, using density functional theory. For MgO, we also study stability against precipitation of the solid [...]
DiadFit: An Open-Source Python3 Tool for Peak fitting of Raman Data from silicate melts and CO2 fluids
Published: 2023-04-04
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Mineral Physics, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology
We present DiadFit - an open-source Python3 tool for efficient processing of Raman spectroscopy data collected from fluidinclusions, melt inclusions and silicate melts. DiadFit is optimized to fit the characteristic peaks from CO2 fluids (Fermi diads,hot bands, 13C), gas species such as SO2, N2, solid precipitates (e.g., carbonates), and Ne emission lines with easily tweakablebackground positions [...]
Has Tropical Cyclone Disaster Risk Increased in Bangladesh: Retrospective Analysis of Storm Information, Disaster Statistics, and Mitigation Measures
Published: 2023-03-31
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Risk Analysis, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Tropical cyclone (TC) disaster risk has likely increased in Bangladesh since the beginning of the 21st century. It is primarily due to the cumulative impact of rising coastal exposures such as population, insufficient funding to address disaster risks, and ineffective utilization of century-old early warning signals for TC. From 2000 to 2020, the average number of people affected by a Category [...]
Widespread Wood Placement and Regrading Drive Lateral Connectivity and Reworking of the Channel and Floodplain in a Valley Bottom Reset to Stage 0
Published: 2023-03-31
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Valley bottom process reset, or the excavation of high surfaces and fill of incised channels combined with large wood addition, is a new method for creating multi-channel river-wetland corridors (also referred to as Stage 0 valley bottoms). Valley bottom process reset seeks to increase lateral flow and sediment connectivity to retain flow and sediment and kickstart geomorphic processes that may [...]
Reconciling fast and slow cooling during planetary formation as recorded in the main group pallasites
Published: 2023-03-31
Subjects: Cosmochemistry, Other Planetary Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geology, Planetary Sciences
Pallasite meteorites contain evidence for vastly different cooling timescales: rapid cooling at high temperatures (K/yrs) and slow cooling at lower temperatures (K/Myrs). Pallasite olivine also shows contrasting textures ranging from well-rounded to angular and fragmental, and some samples record chemical zoning. Previous pallasite formation models have required fortuitous changes to the parent [...]
A novel fluoro-electrochemical technique for classifying diverse marine nanophytoplankton
Published: 2023-03-31
Subjects: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
To broaden our understanding of pelagic ecosystem responses to environmental change, it is essential that we improve the spatio-temporal resolution of in situ monitoring of phytoplankton communities. A key challenge for existing methods is in classifying and quantifying cells within the nanophytoplankton size range (2-20µm). This is particularly difficult when there are similarities in [...]
N-S versus E-W extension in the Tibetan plateau: Are they driven by the same dynamics?
Published: 2023-03-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The tectonic history of the Himalaya-Tibet Mountain Range records two important extensional tectonic events: 1) N-S extension in the Himalaya-Tibet transition zone, and 2) E-W extension in the southern and central Tibet, manifested in the form of east-west and north-south striking normal faults, respectively. The N-S extensional event (~22 Ma) started to commence earlier than the E-W extension [...]
Viscosity of anhydrous and hydrous peridotite melts
Published: 2023-03-24
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The melt viscosity (η) of anhydrous and hydrous peridotite was investigated using a multipronged approach combining micropenetration viscometry, conventional DSC, flash DSC and Brillouin spectroscopy. Raman spectroscopy measurements were used to verify the absence of crystallization and/or degassing during high-temperature measurements of these extremely reactive glasses and melts, ensuring that [...]
Continental configuration controls the base-state water vapor greenhouse effect: lessons from half-land, half-water planets
Published: 2023-03-24
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The distribution of land and ocean on Earth’s surface shapes the global atmospheric circulation and climate by modulating fluxes of water and energy between the surface and the atmosphere. Here we rearranged land in an idealized climate model to explore the effect of eight simplified continental configurations on global climate, finding several counterintuitive results. The limited capacity of [...]
Sea ice concentration satellite retrievals influenced by surface changes due to warm air intrusions: A case study from the MOSAiC expedition.
Published: 2023-03-24
Subjects: Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Warm air intrusions over Arctic sea ice can rapidly change the snow and ice surface conditions and can alter sea ice concentration (SIC) estimates derived from satellite- based microwave radiometry without altering the true SIC. Here we focus on two warm moist air intrusions that produced surface glazing during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate [...]
Displacement hazard from distributed ruptures in strike-slip earthquakes
Published: 2023-03-19
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Widespread distributed fracturing during earthquakes threatens infrastructure and lifelines. We combine high-resolution rupture maps from the five major surface-rupturing strike-slip earthquakes in southern California and northern Mexico since 1992 to incorporate the displacements produced by distributed ruptures into a probabilistic displacement hazard analysis framework. Through analysis of the [...]
The Future of Developed Barrier Systems - Part I: Pathways Toward Uninhabitability, Drowning, and Rebound
Published: 2023-03-17
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Developed barrier systems (barrier islands and spits) are lowering and narrowing with sea-level rise (SLR) such that habitation will eventually become infeasible or prohibitively expensive in its current form. Before reaching this state, communities will make choices to modify the natural and built environment to reduce relatively short-term risk. Simulations conducted using a new coupled [...]
The Stirring Tropics: The Ubiquity of Moisture Modes and Moisture-Vortex
Published: 2023-03-17
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Observationsofcolumnwatervaporinthetropicsshowsignificantvariationsinspaceandtime,indicatingthatitisstrongly influenced by the passage of weather systems. It is hypothesized that many of the influencing systems are moisture modes, systems whose thermodynamics are governed by moisture. On the basis of four objective criteria, results suggest that all oceanic convectively-coupled tropical [...]