Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The first seismo-volcanological observatory on Montserrat
Published: 2024-07-27
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The first seismo-volcanological observatory in the anglophone Caribbean was established on Montserrat in 1936, in response to a volcano-seismic crisis that began in in 1933. Staff at Montserrat’s agricultural office began routinely observing earthquake shocks in 1934. In 1936, following a scientific expedition dispatched by the Royal Society, an observatory was established at the Grove Botanical [...]
Signal and noise in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation at 26°N
Published: 2024-07-27
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is key to the redistribution of heat in the climate system. It is projected to weaken due to climate change. The RAPID mooring array observes the strength of the AMOC, showing an overall weakening of 1.0 Sv/decade from 2004–2023. However, the significance of this trend is controversial. Here we consider the RAPID observations in a [...]
Tomotectonics of Cordilleran North America since Jurassic times: double-sided subduction, archipelago collisions, and Baja-BC translation
Published: 2024-07-27
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
Tomotectonics hindcasts paleo-trenches, through the spatiotemporal superposition of subducted lithosphere (slabs imaged in the earth’s mantle) with plate reconstructions (constrained by seafloor isochrons). The two geophysical datasets are linked through the tomotectonic null hypothesis, that oceanic lithosphere sinks vertically down after entering in the mantle. This linkage permits simple and [...]
LATTE: Open-source, high-performance acoustic and elastic traveltime computation, tomography, and source location
Published: 2024-07-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Groundwater Exploration Methods in West Africa: A Review.
Published: 2024-07-25
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The focus of groundwater research has evolved, expanded, and adapted to meet the water demands of society. In recent years, discernible trends have emerged in groundwater studies, particularly in the domains of exploration and exploitation. Groundwater exploration in West Africa has predominantly been driven by demand and ease of accessing water in its hosting environment. In light of the [...]
rmacrostrat: An R package for accessing and retrieving data from the Macrostrat geological database
Published: 2024-07-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The geological record is a vast archive of information that provides the only empirical data about the evolution of the Earth. In recent years, concentrated efforts have been made to compile macrostratigraphic data into the online centralized database Macrostrat (https://macrostrat.org). Macrostrat is a global stratigraphic database containing information regarding surface and subsurface rock [...]
Relating Multi-Scale Plume Detection and Area Estimates of Methane Emissions: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis
Published: 2024-07-23
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Methodologies for inferring surface emissions of atmospheric trace gases can be categorized into plume detection and area-scale estimation. Plume detections are observations of emissions from either individual or clustered point sources. Area estimates are derived from top-down atmospheric flux inversion models or bottom-up inventories, which infer mean emissions typically over spatial scales [...]
Extreme warming of Amazon waters in a changing climate
Published: 2024-07-22
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In 2023, an unprecedented drought and heatwave severely impacted Amazon waters, leading to high mortality of fishes and river dolphins. Five of 10 lakes monitored showed exceptionally high daytime temperatures (>37°C), with one large lake reaching up to 41°C in the entire ~2-m deep water column, with up to 13°C of diel variation. Modeling show that high solar radiation, reduced water depth and [...]
Landscape response will reduce glacier sensitivity to climate change in High Mountain Asia
Published: 2024-07-22
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In High Mountain Asia (HMA) climate change threatens mountain water resources as glaciers melt, and the resulting changes in runoff and water availability are hypothesised to have considerable negative impacts on ecological and human systems. Numerous assessments of the ways in which glaciers will respond to climate warming have been published over the past decade. Many have used climate model [...]
Sensitivity of modelled mass balance and runoff to representations of debris and accumulation on the Kaskawulsh Glacier, Yukon, Canada
Published: 2024-07-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Runoff contributions from glacierized catchments are changing in response to accelerating mass loss. We reconstruct the 1980-2022 mass balance, runoff and water budget of the ~70% glacierized Kaskawulsh River headwaters in Yukon, Canada, using an enhanced temperature-index model driven by downscaled and bias-corrected reanalysis data. Debris is treated using melt-scaling factors based on [...]
Ground Motion Characteristics of Subshear and Supershear Ruptures in the Presence of Sediment Layers
Published: 2024-07-19
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
We investigate the impact of sediment layers on ground motion characteristics during subshear and supershear rupture growth. Our findings suggest that sediment layers may lead to local supershear propagation, affecting ground motion, especially in the fault parallel (FP) direction. In contrast to homogeneous material models, we find that in the presence of sediment layers, a larger fault normal [...]
On the Emergence of Tortured Phrases: A Threat to Scientific Integrity - The Example of 'Heavy Metal'
Published: 2024-07-17
Subjects: Education, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
For some time, I have advocated for banning the term "heavy metal" from scientific literature due to its frequent misuse, suggesting "potentially toxic element" as a replacement. The rise of "tortured phrases," generated by paraphrasing software to avoid plagiarism detection, now further threatens scientific integrity. These nonsensical terms complicate comprehension and dilute the clarity [...]
Amplifying Exploration of Regional Climate Risks: Clustering Future Projections on Regionally Relevant Impact Drivers Not Emission Scenarios
Published: 2024-07-17
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Hydrology, Meteorology, Other Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Risk Analysis
Climate impacts will continue to evolve over the coming decades, requiring regions worldwide to obtain actionable climate information. Global Climate Models (GCMs) are often used to explore future conditions, but the variability of projections among GCMs complicates regional climate risk assessments. This variability in future projections is only partly explained by the often-used emission [...]
Frontiers in attributing climate extremes and associated impacts
Published: 2024-07-17
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The field of extreme event attribution (EEA) has rapidly developed over the last two decades. Various methods have been developed and implemented, physical modelling capabilities have generally improved, the field of impact attribution has emerged, and assessments serve as a popular communication tool for conveying how climate change is influencing weather and climate events in the lived [...]
Volcanic arc structure controlled by liquid focusing from the slab — evidence from boron isotopes and trace elements
Published: 2024-07-16
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology
The rates and pathways of material transport from subducting plates to arc volcanoes control the long-term chemical evolution of the atmosphere, continents, and mantle. Arc magma compositions are commonly used as proxies for the state of the slab directly below a volcanic vent, under the assumption of vertical transport from the slab to the surface. Here, we present new boron (B) isotope and [...]