Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Geomorphology
Satellite-derived shorelines for monitoring of sandy beaches: a benchmark study
Published: 2023-07-10
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Geomorphology, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Satellite remote sensing is becoming a widely used monitoring technique in coastal sciences. Yet, no benchmarking studies exist that compare the performance of popular satellite-derived shoreline (SDS) mapping algorithms against standardized sets of inputs and validation data. Here we present a new benchmarking framework to evaluate the accuracy of shoreline change observations extracted from [...]
Assessing vertical accuracy and spatial coverage of ICESat-2 and GEDI spaceborne lidar for creating global terrain models
Published: 2023-07-06
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Geomorphology, Remote Sensing
Digital elevation models (DEMs) are a necessity for modelling many large-scale environmental processes. In this study, we investigate the potential of data from two spaceborne lidar altimetry missions, ICESat-2 and GEDI—with respect to their vertical accuracies and planimetric data collection patterns—as sources for rasterisation towards global DEMs. We validate the terrain [...]
A theory of stochastic fluvial landscape evolution
Published: 2023-06-23
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Statistics and Probability
Geometries of eroding landscapes contain important information about geologic, climatic, biotic and geomorphic processes. They are also characterised by variability, which makes disentangling their origins challenging. Observations and physical models of fluvial processes, which set the pace of erosion on most continents, emphasise complexity and variability. In contrast, the spectral content of [...]
Macroplastic fragmentation in rivers
Published: 2023-05-25
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Geomorphology, Hydrology, Other Earth Sciences, Other Environmental Sciences, Sedimentology
The process of macroplastic (>0.5 cm) fragmentation results in the production of smaller plastic particles (micro- and nanoplastics), which threaten biota and human health and are difficult to remove from the environment. The global coverage and long retention times of macroplastic waste in fluvial systems (ranging from years to centuries) create long-lasting and widespread potential for its [...]
Harmonizing GCW Cryosphere Vocabularies with ENVO and SWEET: Towards a General Model for Semantic Harmonization
Published: 2023-05-17
Subjects: Databases and Information Systems, Geomorphology, Glaciology, Other Earth Sciences
This paper presents the specific process we, as part of the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) Semantic Harmonization Cluster, used to harmonize terms from the Global Cryosphere Watch (GCW) compilation of cryospheric terms with the Semantic Web for Earth and Environmental Terminology (SWEET) and the Environment Ontology (ENVO). In addition, we summarize a number of leading practices which [...]
Permafrost extent sets drainage density in the Arctic
Published: 2023-05-03
Subjects: Geomorphology
Amplified warming of high latitudes and rapid thaw of frozen ground threatens permafrost carbon stocks. The presence of permafrost modulates water infiltration and flow, as well as sediment transport, on soil-mantled slopes, influencing the balance of advective fluvial processes to diffusive processes on hillslopes in ways that are different from temperate settings. These processes that shape [...]
Assessing multi-hazard susceptibility to cryospheric hazards: lesson learnt from an Alaskan example
Published: 2023-04-28
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Geomorphology, Glaciology, Statistical Models
Classifying a given landscape on the basis of its susceptibility to surface processes is a standard procedure in low to mid-latitudes. Conversely, these procedures have hardly been explored in periglacial regions, primarily because of the limited presence of human settlements and, therefore, the little need for risk assessment. However, global warming is radically changing this situation and [...]
A high-resolution temporal framework to understand the reach-scale controls on wood budgeting
Published: 2023-04-07
Subjects: Environmental Monitoring, Geomorphology, Hydrology, Physical and Environmental Geography, Remote Sensing
Large active channels usually store more wood than channels with a narrow flow because of the availability of large unvegetated bars for wood deposition and inner functioning that usually supplies more wood through channel shifting. However, the dynamics of the wood supply (wood input, output, or stability) can vary substantially over time and the drivers are largely unknown. To explore them, we [...]
Complex seabed geomorphology shaped by various oceanographic processes: a case study from the Gippsland Basin, offshore south-eastern Australia
Published: 2023-04-04
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Sedimentology
The Gippsland Basin is located in the southeastern continental margin of Australia and hosts a variety of important marine resources. Recent high-resolution seabed mapping reveals that seabed morphology is extremely complex in different regions of the Gippsland Basin (i.e. northern, central and southern regions), ranging from scarps, cyclic step trains, channels, canyons, gullies, and giant [...]
The Application of CNN-Based Image Segmentation for Tracking Coastal Erosion and Post-Storm Recovery
Published: 2023-03-31
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Geomorphology
Coastal erosion due to extreme events can cause significant damage to coastal communities and deplete beaches. Post-storm beach recovery is a crucial natural process that rebuilds coastal morphology and reintroduces eroded sediment to the subaerial beach. However, monitoring the beach recovery, which occurs at various spatiotemporal scales, presents a significant challenge. This is due to, [...]
Widespread Wood Placement and Regrading Drive Lateral Connectivity and Reworking of the Channel and Floodplain in a Valley Bottom Reset to Stage 0
Published: 2023-03-31
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Valley bottom process reset, or the excavation of high surfaces and fill of incised channels combined with large wood addition, is a new method for creating multi-channel river-wetland corridors (also referred to as Stage 0 valley bottoms). Valley bottom process reset seeks to increase lateral flow and sediment connectivity to retain flow and sediment and kickstart geomorphic processes that may [...]
Ferdinand von Hochstetter’s November 1860 Folio of New Zealand survey data and the location of the Pink and White Terraces
Published: 2023-03-17
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology
This research utilises Ferdinand von Hochstetter’s unpublished November 1860 Folio of survey data from the first major terrestrial topographical and geological survey in New Zealand. The Folio data enable the reconstruction of the survey across the North Island to Lake Rotomahana, with unique bearings to the lost Pink and White Terraces. Originally prepared for the purposes of cartographic [...]
Structure and Morphology of an Active Conjugate Relay Zone, Messina Strait, Southern Italy
Published: 2023-03-10
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
Messina Strait is a narrow fault-bounded marine basin that separates the Calabrian peninsula from Sicily in southern Italy. It sits in a seismically active region where normal fault scarps and raised Quaternary marine terraces record ongoing extension driven by southeastward rollback of the Calabrian subduction zone. A review of published studies and new data shows that normal faults in the [...]
Rapid seaward expansion of seaport footprints worldwide
Published: 2023-02-25
Subjects: Civil Engineering, Geographic Information Sciences, Geomorphology, Other Environmental Sciences, Physical and Environmental Geography, Remote Sensing, Sustainability
As global maritime traffic increases, seaports grow to accommodate and compete for higher volumes of trade throughput. However, growth trajectories of seaport footprints around the world have gone unmeasured, likely because of a lack of readily available spatio-temporal data. Here, we use geospatial analysis of global satellite imagery from 1990–2020 to show that 65 seaports among the world's top [...]
Extrapolation based regionalized re-evaluation of the global estuarine surface area
Published: 2023-02-24
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Hydrology
At the interface between the continental and oceanic domains, estuaries are essential components of the land-ocean aquatic continuum that play a significant role in biogeochemical cycles, as they transform and export large amounts of carbon and nutrients from rivers to coastal waters. Because of this intense biogeochemical processing, they are significant ecosystems in terms of greenhouse gas [...]