Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Engineering
Engaging the Earth Science and Engineering Communities in Developing a River Morphology Information System (RIMORPHIS)
Published: 2023-06-29
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
ABSTRACT: River morphology data are critical for understanding and studying river processes and for managing rivers for multiple socio-economic uses. While such data have been acquired extensively over time, several issues hinder their use for river morphology studies such as data accessibility, variety of data formats, lack of data models for data storage, and lack of processing tools to [...]
Exploring the Complexity of Kerogen: A Comprehensive Review
Published: 2023-06-26
Subjects: Engineering
Kerogen, a naturally occurring organic material, is vital in petroleum geology and the formation of hydrocarbon reserves. This review provides an overview of its composition, classification, structural characteristics, thermal behavior, and applications. It explores advancements in analytical techniques and computational modeling, shedding light on kerogen's nature. Additionally, the review [...]
Technological Maturity of Aircraft-Based Methane Sensing for Greenhouse Gas Mitigation
Published: 2023-06-22
Subjects: Engineering, Environmental Monitoring, Oil, Gas, and Energy
Methane is a major contributor to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Identifying large sources of methane, particularly from the oil and gas sector, will be essential for mitigating climate change. Aircraft-based methane sensing platforms can rapidly detect and quantify methane point-source emissions across large geographic regions, playing an increasingly important role in industrial [...]
Global Inventory of Dissolved CO2 Sequestration Potential in Geothermal Systems
Published: 2023-06-20
Subjects: Engineering, Other Engineering
Geothermal electricity generation has low carbon emissions compared to hydrocarbon alternatives. Nevertheless, recent attention on emissions of magmatic CO2 and other non-condensable gases (NCG) has prompted interest in their capture and reinjection. The geothermal industry is uniquely placed to effect CO2 sequestration due to existing reinjection infrastructure (e.g., wells, pipes, pumps) and [...]
HydroCompute: An Open-Source Web-Based Computational Library for Hydrology and Environmental Sciences
Published: 2023-06-19
Subjects: Engineering
We present HydroCompute, a high-performance client-side computational library specifically designed for web-based hydrological and environmental science applications. Leveraging state-of-the-art technologies in web-based scientific computing, the library facilitates both sequential and parallel simulations, optimizing computational efficiency. Employing multithreading via web workers, [...]
A framework for the estimation of uncertainties and spectral error correlation in Sentinel-2 Level-2A data products
Published: 2023-06-16
Subjects: Engineering, Environmental Monitoring
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 (S2) satellite mission acquires high spatial resolution optical imagery over land and coastal areas. Delivering uncertainty estimates and spectral error correlation alongside S2 data products facilitates the constrain of retrieval algorithms, propagates further downstream the retrieval uncertainty, and fifinally makes informed decisions to end-users. This study [...]
Better Localized Predictions with Out-of-Scope Information and Explainable AI: One-Shot SAR Backscatter Nowcast Framework with Data from Neighboring Region
Published: 2023-06-10
Subjects: Civil Engineering, Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) provides 10-m weather-independent global Earth surface observations for various tasks such as land cover land use mapping, water body delineation, and vegetation change monitoring. However, the application of SAR imagery has been limited to retrospective tasks by a “first event then observation” rule. Recent studies have proven the feasibility of a one-shot forecast [...]
Multivariate Analysis and Anomaly Detection of U.S. Reservoir Sedimentation Dataset
Published: 2023-06-07
Subjects: Engineering
Sedimentation processes in reservoirs can jeopardize their functionality and compromise dam safety. Climate change and associated hydrologic uncertainty are introducing additional stressors to US reservoirs, and data-driven indicators of climate impacts on upstream soil erosion and reservoir’s sedimentation processes are crucial to evaluate their aggradation and life expectancy. The US Army Corps [...]
Non-structural Flood Mitigation Optimization at Community Scale: Middle Cedar Case Study
Published: 2023-06-07
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Risk Analysis
Flooding is the leading natural hazard in Iowa and has resulted in billions of dollars of damage to properties and critical infrastructure over the past couple of decades. Land alterations, urbanization, and changing precipitation regimes increase the magnitude and frequency of flood events. Considering the increasing risk, flood mitigation efforts are significant to reduce future losses. In this [...]
Considerations for Regional Simulations of Seaweed Carbon Dioxide Removal
Published: 2023-06-01
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
There is a growing interest in sequestering carbon dioxide via cultivation and sinking of seaweed in the ocean. Robust quantification of the viability of this marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) strategy requires deployment and interrogation of computer simulations that resolve coupling between turbulent oceanic circulation, biogeochemical fluxes, and cultivated seaweed with regional [...]
Artificial Energy General Intelligence AEGI
Published: 2023-06-01
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Artificial Energy General Intelligence (AEGI) is a natural progression of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) that caters to the energy industry. It is crucial to optimize the entire value chain involved in generating, transporting, and storing energy for the betterment of humanity, the environment, industry, and the scientific community. Most research efforts focus on a specific area of the [...]
Mind the gap: will slow progress on CO2 storage undermine net zero by 2050?
Published: 2023-05-19
Subjects: Engineering
A global path to net zero requires the permanent storage of carbon dioxide to reduce and remove atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions. We present an analysis of the gap between the CO2 storage required to meet net zero targets and the slow maturation of regional storage resources. We estimate that European storage rates need to increase 30-to-100x by 2030 to meet net zero by 2050. China and North [...]
Dynamics of episodic supershear in the 2023 M7.8 Kahramanmaraş/Pazarcik Earthquake, revealed by near-field records and computational modeling
Published: 2023-05-03
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The 2023 M7.8 Kahramanmaraş/Pazarcik earthquake was larger and more destructive than what had been expected. Here we analyzed near-field seismic records and developed a dynamic rupture model that reconciles different currently conflicting inversion results and reveals spatially non-uniform propagation speeds in this earthquake, with predominantly supershear speeds observed along the Narli fault [...]
How particle shape affects granular segregation in industrial and geophysical flows
Published: 2023-04-28
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Industrial and environmental granular flows commonly exhibit a phenomenon known as ``granular segregation," in which grains separate according to physical characteristics (size, shape, density), interfering with industrial applications (cement mixing, medicine and food production) and fundamentally altering the behavior of geophysical flows (landslides, debris flows, pyroclastic flows, [...]
Aboveground biomass estimates from UAV LiDAR improved via contextual learning in a Norway spruce forest
Published: 2023-04-19
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Forest structure analysis and biomass prediction systems are key tools for advancingforest trait-based ecology and management. Surveys using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAV) and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) systems have contributedto this field with increased accuracy in tree phenotyping. Moreover, methods combiningUAV LiDAR surveying and machine learning (ML) have also emerged to [...]