Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Earth Sciences
Retrieving Chl-a and total suspended solids in in-land waters using EnMAP simulated data
Published: 2022-05-27
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences
The Environmental Mapping and analysis program (EnMAP) is a new Earth observation satellite which will use imaging spectroscopy to obtain a diagnostic characterisation of the Earth's surface and record changes. Since we hypothesis that imaging spectroscopy can significantly improve the accuracy of predicting and assessing water quality traits of small in-land waters, our study investigates the [...]
Where should hydrology go? An early-career perspective on the next IAHS Scientific Decade: 2023-2032
Published: 2022-05-22
Subjects: Earth Sciences
This paper shares an early-career perspective on potential themes for the upcoming International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) scientific decade (SD). This opinion paper synthesizes six discussion sessions in western Europe identifying three themes that all offer a different perspective on the hydrological threats the world faces and could serve to direct the broader hydrological [...]
Researching Natural Hazards: The Harmful Legacy of Colonialism in Geoscience.
Published: 2022-05-20
Subjects: Earth Sciences
Geoscience is a colonial science; its agenda was to survey and map landscapes in colonised nations which could be exploited to grow colonial empire's wealth at the expense of the local population. Natural hazard processes have been part of these landscapes, however their colonial legacy is sometimes neglected in discussions in how to live with them today. Former colonised nations' interactions [...]
Geometry and growth of syn-tectonic plutons emplaced in thrust shear zones: Insights from Abu Ziran Pluton, Egypt
Published: 2022-05-20
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
Coupling of deformation and magmatism has been reported in several old orogenic belts, particularly along thrust faults and shear zones. The syn-kinematic plutons in exhumed shear zones offer the best opportunity to understand the complex relationship between magmatism and regional deformation. The present paper investigates the geometry and internal structure of granite plutons emplaced in [...]
Deep Compressed Seismic Learning for fast location and moment tensor inferences with natural and induced seismicity
Published: 2022-05-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Fast detection and characterization of seismic sources is crucial for decision-making and warning systems that monitor natural and induced seismicity. However, besides the laying out of ever denser monitoring networks of seismic instruments, the incorporation of new sensor technologies such as Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) further challenges our processing capabilities to deliver short [...]
Probabilistic Assessment of Antarctic Thermomechanical Structure: Impacts on Ice Sheet Stability
Published: 2022-05-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Mineral Physics, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Statistical Methodology
Uncertainty in present-day glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) rates represents at least 44% of the total gravity-based ice mass balance signal over Antarctica. Meanwhile, physical couplings between solid Earth, sea level and ice dynamics enhance the dependency of the spatiotemporally varying GIA signal on three-dimensional variations in mantle rheology. Improved knowledge of thermomechanical [...]
Time-Dependent Decrease in Fault Strength in the 2011--2016 Ibaraki-Fukushima Earthquake Sequence
Published: 2022-05-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Tectonics and Structure
Two near-identical Mw 5.8 earthquakes in 2011 and 2016 ruptured the Mochiyama Fault in the Ibaraki-Fukushima region of Japan. The unusually short repeat time between the two earthquakes provides a rare opportunity to estimate the evolution of stress on a fault through an earthquake cycle, as the stress drop in the first earthquake provides a reference value from which we can infer variations [...]
Caravan - A global community dataset for large-sample hydrology
Published: 2022-05-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Hydrology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
High-quality datasets are essential to support hydrological science and modeling. Several CAMELS (Catchment Attributes and Meteorology for Large-sample Studies) datasets exist for specific countries or regions, however these datasets lack standardization, which makes global studies difficult. This paper introduces a dataset called Caravan (a series of CAMELS) that standardizes and aggregates [...]
Defining renewable groundwater use and its relevance to sustainable groundwater management
Published: 2022-05-19
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Groundwater systems are commonly, but variously, defined as renewable or non-renewable based on natural fluxes of recharge or on estimates of aquifer storage and groundwater residence time. However, we show here that the principle of capture challenges simple definitions so that a groundwater system cannot be renewable or non-renewable in and of itself, but only with reference to how the [...]
A Practical Guide to Virtual Outcrop Photogrammetry in Earth Science
Published: 2022-05-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In 2021, a photogrammetric model of a 7 km coastal cliff section of the Tjörnes Peninsula, NE Iceland was constructed to provide a “virtual geological outcrop” at a spatial resolution of approximately 5 cm or less. Field expedition planning and post-expedition processing were somewhat hampered by a lack of freely accessible guiding resources. This document presents a first-hand case study of [...]
Sorption vs Adsorption: the words they are a-changin', not the phenomena
Published: 2022-05-17
Subjects: Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences
In this discussion, we highlight that the terms sorption and adsorption are often confused and misused in many articles. Even if one thought their formal definition is well known, this does not appear to be the case. We recommend encouragement to adopt the word adsorption only when fully supported by appropriate data and using the sorption terminology when it is more speculative, typically in [...]
Quantifying excess heavy metal concentrations in drainage basins using conservative mixing models
Published: 2022-05-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geochemistry, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sustainability, Water Resource Management
High concentrations of heavy metals and other pollutants in river sediments can have detrimental effects on the ecosystem and humans. The composition of river sediments throughout drainage basins therefore provides important information for environmental monitoring. An obvious first step for using river sediment compositions for monitoring is to quantify natural baseline concentrations. Once [...]
Hydraulic fracturing: Laboratory evidence of the brittle-to-ductile transition with depth
Published: 2022-05-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geology, Petroleum Engineering
Understanding the propagation of hydraulic fracture (HF) is essential for effectively stimulating the hydrocarbon production of unconventional reservoirs. Hydraulic fracturing may induce distinct failure modes within the formation, depending on the rheology of the solid and the in-situ stresses. A brittle-to-ductile transition of HF is thus anticipated with increasing depth, although only scarce [...]
Building New Tools Outside the Browser: A New Look at Custom Stand-Alone Applications for Earth Data Access and Visualization
Published: 2022-05-03
Subjects: Earth Sciences
Today, the debate between online services and installable applications is often characterized as an either-or, winner-take-all situation. In the earth sciences, how-ever, due to data handing and visualization needs, a combination of online, service-oriented architecture (SOA) tools and custom installable applications holds the most promise if these data resources are to be used by a greater and [...]
The signature of lithospheric anisotropy at post-subduction continental margins: new insight from XKS splitting analysis in northern Borneo
Published: 2022-05-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
The relative paucity of recent post-subduction environments globally has meant that, so far, little is known about tectonic processes that occur during and after subduction termination, as previously convergent tectonic plates adjust to the new stress regime. The region of Southeast Asia that now encompasses northern Borneo has been host to two sequential episodes of subduction—both now [...]