Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Other Earth Sciences
Horizontal Strain Rate estimation from InSAR Observations and the Strapdown Method
Published: 2026-10-23
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Other Earth Sciences
Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) is able to estimate ground-surface displacements, but interpreting deformation mechanisms and infrastructure risk requires analysis of spatial displacement gradients. The recently introduced strapdown method enables three-dimensional displacement velocities to be estimated from InSAR observations alone, including the east and north components [...]
The Ill-Posed Question of Global Mean Temperature
Published: 2026-10-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The question "Does a global temperature exist?" was answered in the negative by C. Essex, R. McKitrick, and B. Andresen (EMA), who showed that different choices of mean yield different signs of the global temperature trend. We take EMA’s result as our point of departure and argue that its root cause is more fundamental than the particular data set or averaging formula employed: the very notion of [...]
GeoAgent: An Agent-Based QGIS Plugin for Natural-Language-Driven Geospatial Analysis with Multi-Backend Large Language Model Support
Published: 2026-10-01
Subjects: Computer and Systems Architecture, Geographic Information Sciences, Other Earth Sciences, Spatial Science
Geospatial analysis is essential across the earth and environmental sciences, yet conventional geographic information systems (GIS) rely on a procedure-oriented paradigm that demands substantial operational expertise. We present GeoAgent, an open-source QGIS plugin that enables goal-driven geospatial workflows through natural language conversation powered by large language models (LLMs). GeoAgent [...]
Model-Based Assessment of Geogenic Radon Exposure in Chaco Canyon and Adjacent Ancestral Puebloan Residential Settings
Published: 2026-09-29
Subjects: Environmental Chemistry, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Public Health, Geochemistry, Other Earth Sciences, Other Environmental Sciences, Other Physics, Paleontology, Sustainability
Naturally occurring radon-222 and its short-lived alpha-emitting progeny are important sources of environmental radioactivity in enclosed, earth-contact spaces, yet their potential relevance to archaeological built environments has rarely been quantified. Here we evaluate chronic radon exposure in Chaco Canyon, where Ancestral Pueblo people occupied earth-contact and semi-subterranean rooms [...]
Hidden periodicity in LiDAR point-count rasters
Published: 2026-09-26
Subjects: Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
LiDAR point-count rasters can contain regular stripes that are not present in the surveyed scene. They arise when the fixed step on which LAS files store coordinates, often 1 cm, interacts with the grid used to count points. We identify three mechanisms, grid mismatch, floating-point boundary rounding and uneven filling of stored positions, predict where each pattern appears and how strong it is, [...]
Leveraging Ocean Data and Models: Building the Data Infrastructure, Workforce, and Modeling Capacity to Synthesize Earth’s Ocean Observations
Published: 2026-09-25
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Atmospheric Sciences, Biogeochemistry, Climate, Computer Sciences, Databases and Information Systems, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Fresh Water Studies, Geology, Hydrology, Meteorology, Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing, Oceanography, Other Earth Sciences, Other Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
NASA’s aquatic and marine research enterprise within the overarching NASA Biosphere Program is entering an era of unprecedented data abundance. MODIS and the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission already generate ocean color data at rates that strain legacy processing and archiving workflows, and forthcoming missions will add further volume and complexity. These satellite [...]
Phanerozoic atmosphere and ocean conditions estimated by a continuous climate and multi-box ocean model
Published: 2026-09-15
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Geochemistry, Other Earth Sciences
The Phanerozoic Eon has witnessed marked fluctuations in Earth’s climate and the concentrations of elements conducive to life. Understanding what has driven these changes to the Earth system over such a long timeframe has traditionally used ‘box models’ which split the Earth into a small number of chemical reservoirs, with many models utilising a single, combined ocean-atmosphere reservoir. This [...]
Thin the heat-trapping blanket of superpollutants and CO2 to slow the rate of warming by half
Published: 2026-09-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Other Earth Sciences
With the collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) revealed as rate-dependent, it is critical to quickly cut the rate of warming in half, which would require an ambitious combination of fast mitigation of short-lived climate pollutants, CO2 mitigation, and removal of CO2 and other GHGs.
A transparent constrained stochastic framework for urban expansion forecasting and future service-network screening: Cape Town demonstration using annual building evidence, empirical land constraints, spatial hindcasting, and multi-horizon ensembles
Published: 2026-09-09
Subjects: Other Earth Sciences
Spatial forecasts of urban expansion require separate, auditable answers to two questions: how much built area is assumed to appear, and where it is allocated. This study presents a constrained stochastic workflow and demonstrates it for metropolitan Cape Town, South Africa. Annual Open Buildings Temporal building-presence surfaces for 2016–2023 are harmonised to a 10 m grid and cleaned with a [...]
Probabilistic assessment of tropical cyclone recovery burden across US Atlantic and Gulf Coast counties
Published: 2026-08-27
Subjects: Climate, Other Earth Sciences
Tropical cyclones cause widespread damage to housing and infrastructure, and recovery is often slow and uneven. Climate risk assessments quantify the likelihood and direct impacts of extreme events, but post-disaster recovery remains largely absent from these models, limiting our ability to assess long-term resilience. We therefore integrate simplified recovery modeling into probabilistic [...]
State-Dependent Biophysical Processes Prevented a Late Paleozoic Snowball Earth
Published: 2026-08-21
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Terrestrial vegetation modulates Earth’s climate through two distinct pathways—biogeochemically drawing down CO2 through enhanced organic carbon burial [1, 2] and silicate weathering [3, 4], and biophysically altering surface energy and water balances through potentially competing albedo and evapotranspiration changes [5, 6]. Although the biogeochemical pathway is widely invoked to explain the [...]
Hydroclimatic Regime Shifts and Compound Heat–Dry Events in Rajshahi Division, Bangladesh: Integrating Thermal Gradients, Change-Point Detection, and Heat-Driven Dryness Dynamics (1992–2022)
Published: 2026-08-07
Subjects: Climate, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Hydrology, Meteorology, Other Earth Sciences, Other Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Statistical Models
Hydroclimatic variability and compound climate extremes are increasingly affecting monsoon-dominated regions of South Asia, particularly drought-prone northwestern Bangladesh. However, integrated assessments of thermal dynamics, atmospheric moisture, land–atmosphere coupling, and compound heat–dry events remain limited in the regional context. Therefore, this study investigated long-term [...]
Moving fast without breaking things: The benefits of preprinting for CDR research
Published: 2026-08-05
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Other Earth Sciences, Other Environmental Sciences
Advocates of preprinting usually focus on its benefits to individual researchers — more feedback, citations, and visibility. We argue its greater value is collective: preprinting improves scientific coordination, which the carbon dioxide removal field needs in order to move fast without sacrificing rigor.
Permafrost degradation as a heterogeneous mosaic of tipping and non-tipping behaviour
Published: 2026-08-04
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Other Earth Sciences
Permafrost thaw can occur as widespread gradual thaw, or as abrupt thaw. Abrupt thaw can occur on decadal or shorter timescales and produce large, often irreversible changes to landscapes, ecosystems, and infrastructure. These changes are frequently described as tipping points, yet the underlying mechanisms differ substantially in their feedback structure, reversibility, and capacity for [...]
Clay Characterization of Tiller Flotten Quick Clay
Published: 2026-07-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Mineral Physics, Other Earth Sciences, Soil Science
In this study, we investigate the mineralogical and physicochemical properties of the Tiller–Flotten quick clay formation in Trondheim, Norway. The objective is to enhance our understanding of particle interactions within this quick clay system, thereby contributing to the development of more environmentally friendly stabilization strategies. A comprehensive suite of analytical techniques was [...]