Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Engineering
GeoAI-based Urban Environmental Forecasting: A Remote Sensing Driven Hybrid Deep Learning and Machine Learning Framework
Published: 2025-05-03
Subjects: Education, Engineering
This study presents a hybrid GeoAI forecasting framework for long-term environmental monitoring in Dhaka, Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated and environmentally degraded megacities in the Global South. Using a 25-year record (2000–2024) of multi-source satellite and climate data, we modeled monthly trends in five key variables: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Bare Soil [...]
Protection of subterranean water infrastructure in an abrupt sunlight reduction scenario
Published: 2025-04-30
Subjects: Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
An abrupt sunlight reduction scenario (ASRS) could result from a nuclear war, supervolcanic eruption, or asteroid/comet impact, reducing global temperatures for over a decade and leaving subterranean water pipes vulnerable to freezing. This paper builds on previous work assessing the extent of vulnerable water pipes in a severe ASRS, and assesses the feasibility of two methods of pipe protection: [...]
Reliability of Contrast-Based Automated Fracture Detection from Decimeter Resolution Aerial Imagery
Published: 2025-04-30
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geology, Geotechnical Engineering, Other Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
Aerial imagery that captures outcrop exposures of rocks enables the characterization of structural discontinuities such as faults and fractures across large and difficult-to-access areas. These datasets provide an opportunity to analyze the characteristics of fault and fracture networks as analogues for the subsurface. The application of automated interpretation methods to imagery has the [...]
Comparative analysis of the stage-discharge rating operated in gradual varied flows with alternative streamflow monitoring approaches
Published: 2025-04-30
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Streamflow data derived from stage-discharge (HQRC) are reported without uncertainty compelling users to treat them as absolute and deterministic. However, ignoring uncertainty is no longer viable, as data users increasingly demand confidence in measurements - especially for cross-agency comparisons and scientific or legal scrutiny. This paper investigates a major factor affecting the accuracy of [...]
Pathways to Carbon Neutrality: A Review of CO2 Reduction Strategies
Published: 2025-04-29
Subjects: Engineering
The global climate crisis, driven largely by the escalating levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, has prompted an urgent need for effective mitigation strategies. CO2, the predominant greenhouse gas, is primarily released through fossil fuel combustion, industrial processes, and deforestation. Its continuous accumulation in the atmosphere has led to severe climate disruptions, including [...]
Streamflow Hysteresis Analysis through a Deep Dive Budget of the St Venant Momentum Terms
Published: 2025-04-25
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering
Hysteretic conditions entail non-unique time-independent relationships in flow variables and are prevalent in the unsteady flow regime of most rivers worldwide. Estimation errors associated with the inability of current monitoring techniques to resolve hysteresis effects could have profound implications when the recorded data is used for water resources management and flood forecasting. A deep [...]
Back to Basics: On the Proper Determination of Free-Surface Slope (FSS) in Gradually Varied Open Channel Flows
Published: 2025-04-25
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering
This study is a fundamental evaluation of the fluvial wave propagation in river reaches affected by hysteresis, one of the most complex open-channel topics, materialized in loops and lags among hydraulic variables. Hysteresis processes are still understudied as measurements in natural streams for the whole wave propagation duration are hardly available, while the data from existing gaging sites [...]
An integrated approach for characterizing and selecting climate change scenarios: Focusing on variability and extremeness
Published: 2025-04-24
Subjects: Engineering
This study presents a novel integrated approach for selecting optimal combinations of global climate models (GCMs) and shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) to assess the impact of climate change on the aquatic environment. The method proposed in this study considers the comprehensive spatial and temporal ranges of climate projections, specifically focusing on the variability and extremeness of [...]
Can large language models effectively reason about adverse weather conditions?
Published: 2025-04-24
Subjects: Engineering
This paper seeks to answer the question “can Large Language Models (LLMs) effectively reason about adverse weather conditions?”. To address this question, we utilized multiple LLMs to harness the US National Weather Service (NWS) flood report data spanning from June 2005 to September 2024. Bidirectional and Auto-Regressive Transformer (BART), Bidirectional Encoder Representations from [...]
Sustainable AI infrastructure: A scenario-based forecast of water footprint under uncertainty
Published: 2025-04-24
Subjects: Engineering
The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing is creating a significant but often overlooked impact on global water resources. This paper presents a global assessment of water consumption in AI-driven data centres, distinguishing between water consumption for operational use at the facility, off-site water consumption related to electricity generation, and embodied water [...]
Infrared Backradiation under low humidity conditions: An Evaluation of Greenhouse Gas Impact
Published: 2025-04-19
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
This study examines the impact of greenhouse gases (GHG) on infrared back radiation (IRBR) in extreme desert and midlatitude winter conditions. Employing MODTRAN simulations, pyrgeometer measurements and energy balance fit models, we assess the impacts of CO₂, Argon (Ar), N2O and R-134a. Results indicate that increasing CO₂ concentrations yield a very limited additional IRBR effect, whereas [...]
Missing well logs prediction method based on K-nearest neighbors regression
Published: 2025-04-14
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In petroleum exploration, well logs are crucial for reservoir characterization. However, missing well logs frequently occur due to tool failures or economic constraints, which can impede accurate subsurface modeling. This research presents a method for predicting missing well logs using the K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) regression algorithm, trained on data from the University of Kansas. The study [...]
Comparative Analysis of Flood Risk Zoning and Susceptibility Assessment for the Western Corn Belt Plains using Geospatial Techniques
Published: 2025-04-11
Subjects: Education, Engineering
Flooding is among the most destructive natural hazards, causing severe socioeconomic and environmental impacts. Accurate flood susceptibility assessment is critical for effective mitigation and sustainable resource planning. This study integrates Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing (RS), and multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods to evaluate flood vulnerability across four [...]
Differential Impacts of Marine Heatwaves and Coldwaves on Air-Sea CO2 Flux Across Global Oceans
Published: 2025-04-10
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The contrasting impacts of marine heatwaves (MHWs) and marine cold waves (MCWs) on the ocean carbon cycle remain insufficiently understood. Based on observational and reanalysis data from 1990 to 2019, this study investigates the global-scale responses of air-sea CO2 fluxes (FCO2) to MHWs and MCWs. Results reveal that MHWs and MCWs exert opposing influences on FCO2, with the magnitude of [...]
Quantifying potential carbon dioxide removal via enhanced weathering using porewater from a field trial in Scotland
Published: 2025-04-08
Subjects: Engineering
Enhanced weathering (EW) is cited as a promising carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategy, and is being rapidly commercialized. Rigorous monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) are essential to ensure carbon claims are accurate and carbon credits are not mis-sold. MRV protocols incorporate multiple approaches, including soil and porewater sampling. This paper calculates potential CDR from [...]