Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Physics
Microplastic transport and settling in the ocean: an interactive online teaching model to communicate scaling in environmental pollution
Published: 2024-11-21
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Education, Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics, Science and Mathematics Education
Microplastics pervade the sea surface, the water column, and the deep seafloor. They are vectors for other pollutants, such as heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants. A question remains as to how microplastics reach the seabed, over what time scales, and where they will end up. Many plastics initially float due to their low density, or to being incorporated into items with air cavities, [...]
How can Light Pollution over the City of Mumbai be Assessed and Reversed?
Published: 2024-10-05
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Physics
Light pollution, which adversely affects entire ecosystems, is a lesser-known but completely reversible form of pollution. The financial capital of India, Mumbai has been experiencing a steady rise in light pollution levels. This research article aims to answer the question “How can light pollution over the city of Mumbai be assessed and reversed?” It uses satellite data to map radiance levels [...]
Al Hawi, a 4-km-wide impact structure in northern Saudi Arabia
Published: 2024-09-23
Subjects: Astrophysics and Astronomy, Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics, Planetary Geology, Planetary Sciences, The Sun and the Solar System
The northern region of Saudi Arabia hosts several impact craters and structures. This paper describes the discovery of a 4-km-wide complex impact structure located in the paleozoic sedimentary rocks of northern Saudi Arabia 210 kilometers north east of the city of Tabuk. The impact structure is composed of a central peak displaying intense folding and shock metamorphism surrounded by an inner [...]
TROPICAL STORM SURGE: FORMATION, IMPACT, AND RECENT ADVANCES IN ITS PREDICTION TOWARDS DEVELOPING MITIGATION STRATEGIES
Published: 2024-07-19
Subjects: Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Other Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics, Planetary Sciences
Tropical storm surge poses significant risks to coastal areas, necessitating precise prediction for effective emergency preparedness and mitigation. Recent advances in numerical models such as SLOSH, ADCIRC, and FVCOM have revolutionized storm surge forecasting by accurately simulating complex hydrodynamic processes, bolstered by ADCIRC's use of high-resolution grids and parallel computing for [...]
Three-dimensional mineral dendrites reveal a non-classical crystallization pathway
Published: 2024-03-04
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Fluid Dynamics, Geochemistry, Mineral Physics, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics
Manganese (Mn) dendrites are a common type of mineral dendrite that typically forms two-dimensional structures on rock surfaces. Three-dimensional (3D) Mn dendrites in rocks have rarely been reported, hence their growth implications have largely escaped attention. Here, we combine high-resolution X-ray and electron-based data with numerical modelling to give the first detailed description of [...]
Excited state lifetime of electron trapping centres in alkali feldspars
Published: 2023-11-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Mineral Physics, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics
The development of the infrared photoluminescence (IRPL) signal enables the direct non-destructive probing of the trapped electron population in feldspars. Whilst IRPL offers new perspectives for luminescence dating, it also enables detailed, site-selective measurements of the dosimetric defects emitting IRPL at 880 nm (IRPL880) and 955 nm (IRPL955), allowing improved understanding of [...]
Complementary classifications of aeolian dunes based on morphology, dynamics, and fluid mechanics
Published: 2023-10-03
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Fluid Dynamics, Geomorphology, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics, Planetary Geomorphology, Planetary Sciences, Sedimentology
Dunes form where winds blow over a bed of mobile sediment grains – conditions that are common in our solar system. On Earth, dunes abound in arid continental interiors and along sandy coastlines. Dune fields have also been recognized on Venus, Mars, Saturn's moon Titan, and Pluto. In response to the different boundary conditions and other environmental forcings, dunes adopt a rich diversity [...]
Inferring Inherent Optical Properties of Sea Ice Using 360-Degree Camera Radiance Measurements
Published: 2023-05-18
Subjects: Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Optics, Physics
In this work, we demonstrate the utilization of a compact, consumer-grade 360-degree camera for measuring the in-ice spectral angular radiance distribution. This novel technique allows for the instantaneous acquisition of all radiometric quantities at a given depth with a non-intrusive probe. This gives the opportunity to monitor the light field structure (mean cosines) from the atmosphere to the [...]
Linear analysis of ice-shelf topography response to basal melting and freezing
Published: 2023-04-28
Subjects: Applied Mathematics, Dynamic Systems, Earth Sciences, Fluid Dynamics, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics
Floating ice shelves in Antarctica and Greenland limit land-ice contributions to sea level rise by resisting the flow of grounded ice. Melting at the surface and base of ice shelves can lead to destabilisation by promoting thinning and fracturing. Basal melting often results in channelised features that manifest as surface topography due to buoyancy. The assumption of hydrostatic flotation [...]
Three-dimensional fluid-driven stable frictional ruptures
Published: 2021-09-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics
We investigate the quasi-static growth of a fluid-driven frictional shear crack that propagates in mixed mode (II+III) on a planar fault interface that separates two identical half-spaces of a three-dimensional solid. The fault interface is characterized by a shear strength equal to the product of a constant friction coefficient and the local effective normal stress. Fluid is injected into the [...]
Modeling P waves in seismic noise correlations: Advancing fault monitoring using train traffic sources
Published: 2021-06-19
Subjects: Applied Mathematics, Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physics
The theory of Green's function retrieval essentially requires homogeneously distributed noise sources. Even though these conditions are not fulfilled in nature, low-frequency (<1 Hz) surface waves generated by ocean-crust interactions have been used successfully to image the crust with unprecedented spatial resolution. In contrast to low-frequency surface waves, high-frequency (>1 Hz) body waves [...]
Yield estimation of the 2020 Beirut explosion using open access waveform and remote sensing data
Published: 2020-12-22
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Earth Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics, Statistics and Probability
We report on a multi-technique analysis using publicly available data for investigating the huge, accidental explosion that struck the city of Beirut, Lebanon, on August 4, 2020. Its devastating shock wave led to thousands of injured with more than two hundred fatalities and caused immense damage to buildings and infrastructure. Our combined analysis of seismological, hydroacoustic, infrasonic [...]
Anatomy of Strike Slip Fault Tsunami-genesis
Published: 2020-12-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Engineering, Fluid Dynamics, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics
Tsunami generation from earthquake induced seafloor deformations has long been recognized as a major hazard to coastal areas. Strike-slip faulting has generally been believed as insufficient for triggering large tsunamis, except through the generation of submarine landslides. Herein, we demonstrate that ground motions due to strike-slip earthquakes can contribute to the emergence of large [...]
Extreme curvature of shallow magma pathways controlled by competing stresses
Published: 2020-10-30
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physics
Eruptions at shield volcanoes often occur from radially aligned linear fissures fed by blade-like magma-filled cracks (dykes). The fissures of the 2018 Sierra Negra eruption were scattered on the flank of the volcano. Space-borne radar interferometric data (InSAR) revealed that, unexpectedly, part of the eruption was fed by a 15 km long, tortuous and flat-lying crack (sill). Here we develop a [...]
An analytical solution to the Navier–Stokes equation for incompressible flow around a solid sphere
Published: 2020-08-25
Subjects: Applied Mathematics, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Fluid Dynamics, Mechanical Engineering, Other Mechanical Engineering, Partial Differential Equations, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Physics, Special Functions
This paper is concerned with obtaining a formulation for the flow past a sphere in a viscous and incompressible fluid, building upon previously obtained well-known solutions that were limited to small Reynolds numbers. Using a method based on a summation of separation of variables, we develop a general analytical solution to the Navier--Stokes equation for the special case of axially symmetric [...]