Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Earth Sciences
Practical Reproducibility in Geography and Geosciences
Published: 2022-03-28
Subjects: Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Higher Education
Reproducible research is often perceived as a technological challenge, but it is rooted in the challenge to improve scholarly communication in an age of digitisation. When computers become involved and researchers want to allow other scientists to inspect, understand, evaluate, and build upon their work, they need to create a research compendium that includes the code, data, computing [...]
A state estimate of Siberian summer temperature and moisture availability during the Last Glacial Maximum combining pollen records and climate simulations
Published: 2022-03-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ~21.000 years before present) was a period with significantly lower global mean temperature, large Northern Hemisphere ice sheets, and low CO2 concentrations. Unlike other high-latitude areas, Siberia was not covered by a terrestrial ice sheet. Climate simulations with LGM boundary conditions show large inter-model differences especially in Northern Siberia, which [...]
Aerosol-rainfall relationship over the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region from observations
Published: 2022-03-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences
Water is an essential element of life and rainfall. The amount of rainfall directly affects the spatial and temporal distribution of water resources on the Earth. Rainfall has direct impact on agricultural production, daily life activities, and human health. Atmospheric aerosols are essential for rainfall formation; therefore, understanding how dust compositions and distributions affect the [...]
Greenland ice sheet vulnerability under diverse climatic warming scenarios
Published: 2022-03-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Sea-level rise of even one meter will have drastic global impacts. Melting the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) would raise sea level by 7.4 meters. There is an urgent need to improve predictions of how quickly the GIS will contribute its first meter of sea-level rise, and from where on the ice sheet that water will come. Estimating the volume of Greenland ice that was lost during past warm periods [...]
Geochronology and formal stratigraphy of the Sturtian Glaciation in the Adelaide Superbasin
Published: 2022-03-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
The glaciogenic nature of the Yudnamutana Subgroup was first recognized over a century ago, and its global significance was recognized shortly after, with the eventual postulation of a global Sturtian Glaciation and Snowball Earth theory. Much debate on the origin and timing of these rocks, locally and globally, has ensued in the years since. A significant corpus of research on the lithology, [...]
Climate sensitivity & resistance since the Industrial Revolution
Published: 2022-03-22
Subjects: Earth Sciences
Climate sensitivity is a fundamental yet uncertain metric of Earth’s response to anthropogenic forcing; its temporal evolution in particular is poorly constrained yet critical for leveraging historical observations for future projections. A Bayesian energy balance model indicates a 83% (84%) probability that the climate sensitivity increased (decreased) from 1900-1940 (1940-2010). These trends [...]
A source model for earthquakes near the nucleation dimension
Published: 2022-03-22
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Earthquake self-similarity is a controversial topic, both observationally and theoretically. Theory predicts a finite nucleation dimension, implying a break of self-similarity below a certain magnitude. While observations of non self-similar earthquake behavior have been reported, their interpretation is challenging due to trade-offs between source and path effects and assumptions on the [...]
Mid- to Late Neoproterozoic Development and Provenance of the Adelaide Superbasin
Published: 2022-03-22
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
Late Tonian sequences of the Adelaide Superbasin were witness to the birth of the proto-Pacific Ocean during the breakup of Rodinia. Understanding the sedimentology and provenance of these rocks from across the basin is key to understanding their deposition over c. 70 million years, the local palaeogeography, and leads to a better understanding of the early development of the proto-Pacific Ocean. [...]
Reducing the Uncertainty of Multi-Well Petrophysical Interpretation from Well Logs via Machine-Learning and Statistical Models
Published: 2022-03-22
Subjects: Analysis, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geophysics and Seismology, Mining Engineering, Multivariate Analysis, Statistical Methodology, Statistical Models
Well-log interpretation provides in situ estimates of formation properties such as porosity, hydrocarbon pore volume, and permeability. Reservoir models based on well-log-derived formation properties deliver reserve-volume estimates, production forecasts, and help with decision making in reservoir development. However, due to measurement errors, variability of well logs due to multiple [...]
Automated machine learning to evaluate the information content of tropospheric trace gas columns for fine particle estimates over India: a modeling testbed
Published: 2022-03-20
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Atmospheric Sciences, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
India is largely devoid of high-quality and reliable on-the-ground measurements of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Ground-level PM2.5 concentrations are estimated from publicly available satellite Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) products combined with other information. Prior research has largely overlooked the possibility of gaining additional accuracy and insights into the sources of PM using [...]
Internal Planetary Feedbacks, Mantle Dynamics, and Plate Tectonics
Published: 2022-03-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Planetary Geophysics and Seismology, Planetary Sciences, Tectonics and Structure
Isolating planetary feedbacks, and feedback analysis, are prevalent aspects of climate and Earth surface process science. An under appreciation of internal planet feedbacks, and feedback analysis for plate tectonics research, motivate this chapter. We review feedbacks that influence the Earth's thermal evolution and expand them to include magmatic history and planetary water budgets. The [...]
On the estimation of landslide intensity, hazard and density via data-driven models
Published: 2022-03-17
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences
Maps that attempt to predict landslide occurrences have essentially stayed the same since Brabb, E.E., Pampeyan, E.H. and Bonilla, M.G. (1972) Landslide susceptibility in San Mateo County, California (No. 360), US Geological Survey. The tools have certainly changed in fifty years. But, the geomorphological community addressed and still addresses this issue by estimating whether a given slope is [...]
Rapid tremor migration during few minute-long slow earthquakes in Cascadia
Published: 2022-03-17
Subjects: Earth Sciences
Slow earthquakes are now commonly found to display a wide range of durations, moments, and slip and propagation speeds. But not all types of slow earthquakes have been examined in detail. Here we probe tremor bursts with durations between 1 and 30 minutes, which are likely driven by few minute-long bursts of aseismic slip. We use a coherence based technique to detect thousands of tremor bursts [...]
Self-replicating subduction zone initiation by polarity reversal
Published: 2022-03-15
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Tectonics and Structure
Subduction zones have recurrently formed on Earth. Previous studies have, however, suggested that they are unlikely to start in the interior of a pristine ocean. Instead, they seem to be more likely to form from another pre-existing subduction zone. One widely cited conceptual model to start new subduction zones is polarity reversal, resulting from the shutdown of a pre-existent subduction zone [...]
Fire-vegetation interactions in Arctic tundra and their spatial variability
Published: 2022-03-15
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Plant Sciences, Remote Sensing, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Circumpolar tundra has experienced a greater increase in temperatures compared to any other biome, with a magnitude of the increase nearly three times the global average. Widespread shrubification associated with pronounced observed warming is gradually transforming the tundra ecosystem structure and function. This study confirms that a shrub-dominated fire-biomass positive feedback loop is [...]