Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
VESIcal Part I: An open-source thermodynamic model engine for mixed volatile (H2O-CO2) solubility in silicate melts
Published: 2020-12-08
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geochemistry, Planetary Geology, Planetary Sciences, Volcanology
Thermodynamics has been fundamental to the interpretation of geologic data and modeling of geologic systems for decades. However, more recent advancements in computational capabilities and a marked increase in researchers’ accessibility to computing tools has outpaced the functionality and extensibility of currently available modeling tools. Here we present VESIcal (Volatile Equilibria and [...]
International disparities in open access practices in the Earth Sciences
Published: 2020-12-08
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Background. Open Access (OA) describes the free, unrestricted access to and re-use of research articles. Recently, a new wave of interest, debate, and practice surrounding OA publishing has emerged. Objectives. The paper presented here focuses on international disparities in OA publication practices of the Earth Science community. We aim to provide an overview of actual publication practices and [...]
An Active Learning Pipeline to Detect Hurricane Washover in Post-Storm Aerial Images
Published: 2020-12-02
Subjects: Environmental Monitoring, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
We present an active learning pipeline to identify hurricane impacts on coastal landscapes. Previously unlabeled post-storm images are used in a three component workflow — first an online interface is used to crowd-source labels for imagery; second, a convolutional neural network is trained using the labeled images; third, model predictions are displayed on an interactive map. Both the labeler [...]
Stalagmite carbon isotopes suggest deglacial increase in soil respiration in Western Europe driven by temperature change
Published: 2020-12-02
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Climate, Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Speleology
The temperate region of Western Europe underwent dramatic climatic and environmental change during the last deglaciation. Much of what is known about the terrestrial ecosystem response to deglacial warming stems from pollen preserved in sediment sequences, providing information on vegetation composition. Other ecosystem processes, such as soil respiration, remain poorly constrained over past [...]
Listening for the Landing: Detecting Perseverance’s landing with InSight
Published: 2020-12-02
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The entry, descent, and landing (EDL) sequence of NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover will act as a seismic source of known temporal and spatial localization. We evaluate whether the signals produced by this event will be detectable at the InSight lander (3452~km away), comparing expected signal amplitudes to noise levels at the instrument. Modeling is undertaken to predict the propagation of the [...]
Carbonate clumped isotope analysis (Δ47) of 21 carbonate standards determined via gas source isotope ratio mass spectrometry on four instrumental configurations using carbonate-based standardization and multi-year datasets
Published: 2020-11-28
Subjects: Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Rationale: Clumped isotope geochemistry examines the pairing or clumping of rare, heavy isotopes in molecules and provides information about the thermodynamic and kinetic controls on their formation. Since clumped isotope measurements of carbonate minerals were first published 15 years ago, interlaboratory offsets in calibrations have been observed, and laboratory and community practices for [...]
High-resolution downscaled CMIP5 projections dataset of essential surface climate variables over Europe coherent with ERA5-Land reanalyses for climate change impact assessments
Published: 2020-11-26
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
A high-resolution climate projections dataset is obtained by statistically downscaling climate projections from the CMIP5 experiment using the ERA5-Land reanalyses from the Copernicus Climate Change service. The dataset is over Europe, has a spatial resolution of 0.10° x 0.10°, comprises 21 climate models and includes 5 surface daily variables: air temperature (mean, minimum, and maximum), [...]
High-resolution downscaled CMIP5 projections dataset of essential surface climate variables over the globe coherent with ERA5 reanalyses for climate change impact assessments
Published: 2020-11-26
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
A high-resolution climate projections dataset is obtained by statistically downscaling climate projections from the CMIP5 experiment using the ERA5 reanalyses from the Copernicus Climate Change service. The dataset is global has a spatial resolution of 0.25°x 0.25°, comprises 21 climate models and includes 5 surface daily variables: air temperature (mean, minimum, and maximum), precipitation, and [...]
A benthic light index of water quality in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Published: 2020-11-25
Subjects: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Good water quality is essential to the health of marine ecosystems, yet current metrics used to track water quality in the Great Barrier Reef are not strongly tied to ecological outcomes. There is a need for a better water quality index (WQI). Benthic light, the amount of light reaching the seafloor, is critical for coral and seagrass health and is strongly affected by water quality. It therefore [...]
Automatic Slowness Vector Measurements of Seismic Arrivals with Uncertainty Estimates using Bootstrap Sampling, Array Methods and Unsupervised Learning
Published: 2020-11-25
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Horizontal slowness vector measurements using array techniques have been used to analyse many Earth phenomena from lower mantle heterogeneity to meteorological event location. While providing observations essential for studying much of the Earth, slowness vector analysis is limited by the necessary and subjective visual inspection of observations. Furthermore, it is challenging to determine the [...]
Detection and forecasting of shallow landslides: lessons from a natural laboratory
Published: 2020-11-23
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Rapid shallow landslides are a significant hillslope erosion mechanism and limited understanding of their initiation and development results in persistent risk to infrastructure. Here, we analyse the slope above the strategic A83 Rest and be Thankful road in the west of Scotland. An inventory of 70 landslides (2003–2020) shows three types of shallow landslide, debris flows, creep deformation, and [...]
The development of intermittent multiphase fluid flow pathways through a porous rock
Published: 2020-11-18
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Intermittent fluid flow has recently been identified as an important transport mode for subsurface multiphase flow systems such as CO2 storage and natural gas production. However, due to experimental limitations, it has not been possible to identify why intermittency occurs at subsurface conditions and what the implications are for upscaled flow properties such as relative permeability. We [...]
How fast can minibasins translate down a slope? Observations from 2D numerical models
Published: 2020-11-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Minibasins are important features in salt-bearing basins and they are mostly found in salt-detached continental slopes where the sedimentary cover undergoes seaward translation. One question which is relevant to understand the structural evolution of salt-detached slopes is how fast can the sedimentary cover and the minibasins translate. The aim of this study is three-fold: 1) to compare [...]
Radiative feedbacks on land surface change and associated tropical precipitation shifts
Published: 2020-11-17
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Changes in land surface albedo and land surface evaporation modulate the atmospheric energy budget by changing temperatures, water vapor, clouds, snow and ice cover, and the partitioning of surface energy fluxes. Here idealized perturbations to land surface properties are imposed in a global model to understand how such forcings drive shifts in zonal mean atmospheric energy transport and zonal [...]
Boron isotopic signatures of melt inclusions from North Iceland reveal recycled material in the Icelandic mantle source
Published: 2020-11-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology
Trace element and volatile heterogeneity in the Earth's mantle is inuenced by the recycling of oceanic lithosphere through subduction. Oceanic island basalts commonly have high concentrations of volatiles compared to mid-ocean ridge basalts, but the extent to which this enrichment is linked to recycled mantle domains remains unclear. Boron is an ideal tracer of recycled subducted material, [...]