Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Urban Sprawl and Traffic-Related Air Pollution in Greater Gaborone: A Spatial Analysis of the Land Use–Transport–Environment Relationship
Published: 2026-09-23
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Rapid urban sprawl in many Sub-Saharan African cities has significantly reshaped urban mobility patterns, resulting in longer commuting distances, increased private vehicle dependence, and growing pressure on major transport corridors. These trends have important implications for environmental quality, urban sustainability, and climate resilience. This paper investigates the spatial relationship [...]
Changes to the Madden-Julian Oscillation with Surface Temperature Warming in Aquaplanet Simulations
Published: 2026-09-23
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Interactions between waves and the mean-state in the tropics are of fundamental importance for reliable future projection of tropical waves and their impacts under anthropogenic climate change. The Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) is the dominant source of weather variability over many parts of the globe on intraseasonal timescales. In this study, we investigate the influence of mean-state changes [...]
Assessment of methods for collection, preservation, and storage of water samples for dissolved methane and nitrous oxide concentration measurements
Published: 2026-09-23
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) are potent greenhouse gases produced and consumed in freshwater and marine systems. Their measurement in water is challenging due to contamination risks at various sampling, storage, and analysis stages. Samples that are stored before analysis are commonly preserved with mercuric chloride (HgCl2), which is highly toxic. To date, no studies have conducted a [...]
DispSAC: Surface-wave dispersion inversion using soft actor-critic reinforcement learning
Published: 2026-09-23
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Surface-wave inversion (SWI) is widely used to image shear-wave velocity structure in the crust and upper mantle. Locally linearized methods offer computational efficiency but can be sensitive to the initial model and regularization, whereas Bayesian sampling methods can characterize model uncertainty at substantial computational cost. Neural networks provide another route to efficient inversion, [...]
Skillful Seasonal Tropical Cyclone Prediction with AI Weather--Climate Models Forced by Dynamically Predicted SSTs
Published: 2026-09-22
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
AI weather-climate models are far cheaper than dynamical seasonal prediction models and have shown skillful tropical cyclone (TC) prediction under persisted sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies, but their skill under dynamically predicted ocean boundary conditions, benchmarked against an established dynamical seasonal prediction system, is untested. We evaluate eight seasonal hindcast [...]
Topology-Aware Quality Control of Triangulated Terrain Models Using Local Euler Curvature and Elevation-Filtration Curves
Published: 2026-09-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geomorphology, Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Triangulated irregular networks (TINs) are widely used to represent topography and bathymetry, but their quali-ty control is usually dominated by geometric criteria such as minimum angle and aspect ratio, which do not test whether connectivity errors have changed the topology of the mesh. We present a topology-aware quali-ty-control framework based on a local Euler-curvature identity and on [...]
Pareidolia in the Taupō volcanic zone: How misconstructed survey cartography condemned the white terrace, wonder of the world
Published: 2026-09-19
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Chaotic conditions prevailed after the 1886 Tarawera eruption, when the loss of the Pink and White Terraces, New Zealand’s Eighth Wonder of the World, was rapidly declared. Four days after the eruption, surveyor Percy Smith approached about four kilometres from his supposed site of the White Terrace and mistakenly identified what he described as a “west opening horseshoe bay” adjacent to a hill, [...]
One Plate to find Them, How a unique surviving photograph confirmed the Hochstetter Paradigm and located the White Terrace—Eighth Wonder of the World
Published: 2026-09-19
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
This empirical research analyses a unique vintage photographic plate that confirms the location of a lost Wonder of the World, the Pink and White Terraces. Their location has been debated since 1886 when they were buried in a volcanic eruption. The paper is a meta-analysis that develops a Parallax Effect methodology with a Skyline Gauge to consolidate and test all 1886–2024 claims to the White [...]
Reconstructing a 140-Year Historiography of Misinterpretation: A Forensic Reassessment of the Tarawera Eruption and the Pink and White Terraces
Published: 2026-09-19
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The eruption of Mount Tarawera on 10 June 1886 devastated the region and buried one of the Victorian world’s natural wonders, prompting widespread concern across the British Empire. The fate of the Pink and White Terraces has long been treated as settled: that both formations were destroyed. This paper re-examines that conclusion through an historiographic and spatial analysis of the [...]
The BLiSS model: Four-way triangulation of a buried 293-m horizon at the White Terrace site, Taupō Volcanic Zone
Published: 2026-09-19
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Following the 1886 Mount Tarawera eruption, the Pink and White Terraces, New Zealand’s Eighth Wonder of the World, were widely assumed to have been destroyed and/or submerged in the new Lake Rotomahana, which formed in the Rotomahana crater. This research records how independent historical, geological, topographic, and geophysical evidence can be combined to solve a problem that none of these [...]
Compound Supershear Rupture During the 2026 Venezuela Earthquake Doublet
Published: 2026-09-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The 24 June 2026 Venezuela earthquake doublet occurred along a complex transform-fault system. Teleseismic P waves encompassing both cataloged events were analyzed using potency density tensor inversion with seven structure models. All models indicate predominantly eastward rupture over approximately 220 km, including several stages of supershear propagation. Three apparent rupture stalls [...]
Incommensurate Global Cold-Seep Area Constructions and Their Consequences for an Iron-Bound Organic-Carbon Stock
Published: 2026-09-18
Subjects: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Global biogeochemical inventories require a spatial domain that is commensurate with the measured concentration, sediment mass, and ecosystem state. We re-evaluate the area term used by Ye et al. (2026) to estimate 142–218 Tg C of iron-bound organic carbon (Fe-OC) in the upper 30 cm of mature cold-seep sediment. Two primary results emerge. First, Ye et al. state that cold seeps occupy less than [...]
Causal Network Analysis of Heavy Snowfall Systems: North American Great Lakes vs. Sea of Japan Coast
Published: 2026-09-18
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
This study conducts a hydro-climatic comparative analysis of two regions prone to heavy urban snowfall: the eastern shores of the North American Great Lakes (Lake-Effect Snow: LES) and the coast of the Sea of Japan (Sea-Effect Snow: SES). We introduce a quantitative metric—water vapor conversion efficiency (η= snowfall amount /PW)—and apply a data-driven causal discovery framework (DirectLiNGAM). [...]
Evaluating Biochar Crediting Protocols for Durable Carbon Removal
Published: 2026-09-17
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
As biochar expands as a source of carbon credits it has become increasingly clear that there are major differences among biochar protocols. This variation can make it challenging for producers to choose protocols and can make it difficult for buyers to understand the comparative value of different certified biochar credits, and in both these cases investor confidence is jeopardized. Here we [...]
Variance-ranked sound speed bases misclassify the surface duct: limits of profile RMSE as a proxy for acoustic prediction skill in the Bay of Bengal
Published: 2026-09-17
Subjects: Geography, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Remote Sensing, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Sound speed profile (SSP) estimation from surface observables is operationally mature and is evaluated almost universally by profile root-mean-square error. Using 19,934 Argo profiles from the Bay of Bengal (2005–2020), season-stratified empirical orthogonal function (EOF) bases, and BELLHOP transmission loss (TL) at 500 Hz, 1500 Hz and 3500 Hz over 24 held-out locations, we show that this metric [...]