Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Engineering
Fusing physics-based and data-driven models to forecast and mitigate landslide collapse
Published: 2022-08-26
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Deep-seated landslides represent one of the most devastating natural hazards on earth, typically creeping at inappreciable velocities over several years be- fore suddenly collapsing with catastrophic speeds. They can have detrimental consequences to society, causing fatalities and prone to affect transportation infrastructures. In this study, we validate that monitoring the basal temperature of a [...]
Fog as unconventional water resource: mapping fog occurrence and fog collection potential for food security in Southern Bolivia
Published: 2022-08-22
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences
“Valles Cruceños” rural region, Bolivia, is characterized by an intrinsic water scarcity and an increasing pressure for food production by the neighboring and fast-sprawling city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Here, orographic fog is a daily phenomenon occurring all the year round, representing a sustainable water source for improving farmers’ resilience to dry spells and for promoting food security [...]
Recent rapid increase of cover crop adoption across the U.S. Midwest detected by fusing multi-source satellite data
Published: 2022-08-21
Subjects: Engineering
Cover crops have critical significance for agroecosystem sustainability and have been long promoted in the U.S. Midwest. Knowledge of the variations of cover cropping and the impacts of government policies remains very limited. We developed an accurate and cost-effective approach utilizing multi-source satellite fusion data, environmental variables, and machine learning to quantify cover cropping [...]
Algorithm theoretical basis document for GEDI footprint aboveground biomass density
Published: 2022-08-14
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) lidar is a multibeam laser altimeter on the International Space Station (ISS). GEDI is the first spaceborne instrument designed to measure vegetation height and to quantify aboveground carbon stocks in temperate and tropical forests and woodlands. This document describes the algorithm theoretical basis underpinning the development of the GEDI [...]
A new consistent framework for assignment of safe operating space to B2C and B2B industries for use in Absolute Environmental Sustainability Assessments
Published: 2022-07-25
Subjects: Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Sustainability
The planetary boundaries define a safe operating space for humanity to act within without potentially destabilizing the planet. The safe operating space is often used a sustainability reference in Absolute Environmental Sustainability Assessments (AESAs) where a share of the safe operating space (SoSOS) is assigned to the assessed activity. An identified challenge, is that current methods are [...]
Analytical and numerical models of viscous anisotropy: A toolset to constrain the role of mechanical anisotropy for regional tectonics and fault loading
Published: 2022-07-12
Subjects: Education, Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
To what extent mechanical anisotropy is required to explain the dynamics of the lithosphere is an important yet unresolved question. If anisotropy affects stress and deformation, and hence processes such as fault loading, how can we quantify its role from observations? Here, we derive analytical solutions and build a theoretical framework to explore how a shear zone with anisotropic viscosity can [...]
Intercomparison of deep learning architectures for the prediction of precipitation fields
Published: 2022-07-07
Subjects: Education, Engineering
In recent years, the use of deep learning methods has rapidly increased in many research fields. Similarly, they have become a powerful tool within the climate scientific community. Deep learning methods have been successfully applied for different tasks, such as identification of atmospheric patterns, weather extreme classification, or weather forecasting. However, due to the inherent complexity [...]
Advecting Superspecies: Efficiently Modeling Transport of Organic Aerosol with a Mass-Conserving Dimensionality Reduction Method
Published: 2022-06-26
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Chemistry, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Other Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The chemical transport model LOTOS-EUROS uses a volatility basis set (VBS) approach to represent the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) in the atmosphere. Inclusion of the VBS approximately doubles the dimensionality of LOTOS-EUROS and slows computation of the advection operator by a factor of two. This complexity limits SOA representation in operational forecasts. We develop a [...]
Mapping landslides through a temporal lens: An insight towards multi-temporal landslide mapping using the U-Net deep learning model
Published: 2022-06-25
Subjects: Engineering
Repeated temporal mapping of landslides is essential for investigating changes in landslide movements, legacy effects of the landslide triggering events, and susceptibility changes in the area. However, in order to perform such investigations, multi-temporal (MT) inventories of landslides are required. The traditional approach of visual interpretation from cloud-free optical remote sensing [...]
A Comprehensive Review of Ontologies in the Hydrology Towards Guiding Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Applications
Published: 2022-06-25
Subjects: Engineering
Open science presents a new approach for knowledge discovery, dissemination, and integrity. The idea behind open science is to reinforce research activities and create open knowledge networks by exploring, organizing, and sharing scientific data, as well as making research results transparent, open and integrated. Big data derived from remote sensing, ground-based measurements, models and [...]
A spatial framework for prioritizing biochar application to arable land: a case study for Sweden
Published: 2022-06-21
Subjects: Engineering
The biochar-agriculture nexus can potentially generate several benefits ranging from soil carbon sequestration to the reduction in nutrient leaching from arable soils. However, leveraging these benefits requires spatially-explicit information on suitable locations for biochar application. This study provides a flexible multicriteria framework that delivers spatial indications on biochar [...]
Regionalized life cycle assessment of present and future lithium production for Li-ion batteries
Published: 2022-06-21
Subjects: Engineering
Existing life cycle assessments (LCA) of lithium carbonate production from brines are mainly based on one single brine operation site, while many different lithium carbonate production routes have been developed in the past. Hence, current life cycle inventories do not capture the variability of brine sites and misestimate life cycle impacts. This study presents a systematic approach for LCA of [...]
Flood Susceptibility Mapping using Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process for Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Published: 2022-06-20
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering, Environmental Studies
Floods affect over 2.2 billion people worldwide, and their frequency is increasing at an alarming rate compared to other natural disasters. Presidential disaster declarations have issued increasingly almost every year in Iowa for the past 30 years, indicating that the state is on the rise of flood risk. While significant scientific and technological advancement is becoming available for many [...]
Variational and numerical modelling strategies for cost-effective simulations of driven free-surface waves
Published: 2022-06-17
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
A new, cost-effective and widely applicable tool is developed for simulating three-dimensional (3D) water-wave motion in the context of the maritime-engineering sector, with specific focus on the formation and analysis of extreme waves generated within in-house experimental wave tanks. The resulting ``numerical wave tank'' is able to emulate realistic sea states in which complex wave-wave or [...]
Notes from the Oil Patch: Planning for a Worker-Focused Transition in the Oil and Gas Industry
Published: 2022-06-17
Subjects: Engineering, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Systems Engineering
The energy transition portends major disruption to livelihoods of oil and gas workers and communities dependent on the fossil fuel industry. Managing this transition smoothly will require coordinated policy planning, community and place-based incentives, and structural reforms and support structures that carefully map the skills of the worker to opportunities in the clean energy economy.