Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Environmental Sciences
Building a representative UAV RGB reference dataset for national-scale satellite mapping of invasive goldenrods (Solidago spp.): an efficient workflow and accuracy drivers
Published: 2026-03-28
Subjects: Environmental Sciences
Reliable wall-to-wall mapping of invasive plants from satellite imagery depends on representative reference data and transparent quality control. Here we present a nationally distributed UAV RGB reference dataset and an end-to-end workflow designed to support national-scale satellite mapping of invasive goldenrods (Solidago spp.) in Poland. During the peak flowering period (August–September [...]
A snag for nutrient fertilization: decoupled production and export
Published: 2026-03-28
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Environmental Sciences, Life Sciences, Marine Biology, Microbiology, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Interest in nutrient fertilization waned after inconclusive field experiments, but has resurged. Collating Southern Ocean \textit{in-situ} observations and available fertilization simulations, we find phytoplankton primary production and organic carbon export are uncorrelated in the largest high-nutrient-low-chlorophyll (HNLC) region, while model estimates cast doubt on realistic deployments [...]
No place to hide? Regional resilience and vulnerability to global catastrophic risk
Published: 2026-03-27
Subjects: Agriculture, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Food Science, Forest Sciences, Geography, Public Health
What places on Earth are most resilient to global catastrophic risk (GCR)? We provide the first systematic study of what locations are more resilient to a range of catastrophic threats. We reviewed the literature on resilience factors against the impacts of nuclear war, near-Earth objects, large-magnitude volcanic eruptions, large-scale cyberattacks, high altitude electromagnetic pulse, [...]
Geological controls on Underground Hydrogen Storage in depleted gas fields
Published: 2026-03-27
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geology, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Other Civil and Environmental Engineering, Sustainability
The geological storage of hydrogen is an alternative for large-scale energy storage in support of expanding renewable energy systems. The North Sea has hundreds of depleted gas fields that are potential storage sites. Robust screening procedures are necessary to select the most suitable reservoirs in terms of geology. This study investigates the geological controls on hydrogen storage in depleted [...]
Decadal Evolution of Supraglacial Hydrology on the Nivlisen Ice Shelf: From Localized Ponding to Spatially Synchronized Hydrofracture Forcing (2015-2026)
Published: 2026-03-27
Subjects: Computational Engineering, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics
Understanding the mechanical response of Antarctic ice shelves to surface meltwater is critical for evaluating their structural stability. This study presents 11 austral summer seasons (AS 2015-2016 to AS 2025-2026) assessment of supraglacial melt pond dynamics and their mechanical implications for the Nivlisen Ice Shelf grounding zone using Landsat-8/9 imagery combined with in-situ validation [...]
Dataset of DInSAR wrapped phase signals for AI-based automated detection and classification of mass movements
Published: 2026-03-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
With the growing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in remote sensing of mass movements, available datasets for model training and validation are increasingly needed. Although Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (DInSAR) is a widely used technique for studying mass movements, wrapped interferograms remain less exploited, and the importance of geomorphological expertise in their [...]
Analyzing Seasonal Variations in Air Quality with Google Earth Engine: A Case Study of Chattogram, Bangladesh
Published: 2026-03-26
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Sciences
Air pollution is a serious environmental challenge in Bangladesh, significantly affecting public health and the ecosystem. This study considers analyzing the seasonal fluctuation of air quality in Chattogram by analyzing 13 significant areas near the industrial zone by using Google Earth Engine (GEE) to explore the SENTINEL-5P satellite data for key pollutants, including nitrogen dioxide (NO2), [...]
A Systematic Review of Arsenic, Lead, and Manganese Occurrence through Drinking Water in East Africa
Published: 2026-03-26
Subjects: Environmental Sciences
Toxic metals (TMs) harm human health, causing cancers, irreversible neurocognitive impairment, and cardiovascular disease. Drinking water is an important source of exposure to TMs. However, current peer-reviewed literature does not adequately capture or synthesize the extent of TM occurrence in drinking water in East Africa. The goal of this systematic review is to report and synthesize available [...]
Spatiotemporal Assessment of Urbanisation and Deforestation Impacts on Forest Structure and Vegetation Health in Ekiti State, Nigeria Using Multi-Sensor SAR, Optical, and GEDI Data.
Published: 2026-03-22
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences
Nigeria’s urban population is projected to reach 70% by 2050, highlighting the urgent need for sustainable land management strategies. This study integrates multi-sensor SAR (ALOS PALSAR, Sentinel-1), optical imagery (Landsat, Sentinel-2), and spaceborne LiDAR (GEDI) to quantify the impacts of urbanization and deforestation on forest structure in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Using Random Forest and [...]
A Systematic Review of Toxic Metals Occurrences through Drinking Water in Ghana
Published: 2026-03-18
Subjects: Environmental Sciences
Toxic metals (TMs) are metallic contaminants that cause adverse health effects even at low exposure levels. Arsenic (As), Manganese (Mn), Lead (Pb), and Cadmium (Cd) are among these contaminants of concern, causing irreversible developmental damage to children (Pb), as well as cardiovascular disease (Pb) and cancers (As) in adults. Arsenic and Manganese are primarily geogenic groundwater [...]
Temporal Analysis of Site-Level Methane Emissions from Nearly One Thousand Upstream Oil and Gas Facilities Equipped with Fixed-Point Continuous Monitoring Systems
Published: 2026-03-18
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Temporal variability in methane emissions from oil and gas facilities may significantly impact the accuracy of measurement-based emissions inventories and the effectiveness of measurement-based mitigation policies. Yet the existing knowledge of duration, frequency, and magnitude of emission events remains very limited. A deeper understanding of these temporal characteristics is therefore [...]
WetlandMapper: A Python package for automatic wetland mapping, dynamics classification, and cover-type characterisation from multispectral time-series data
Published: 2026-03-17
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences
Beyond efficiency: Sufficiency unlocks deep decarbonization of U.S. residential sector
Published: 2026-03-16
Subjects: Climate, Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Decarbonization strategies in the residential sector have largely focused on lowering the carbon intensity of energy supply and improving end-use efficiency. Sufficiency, defined as avoiding unnecessary energy demand while maintaining well-being, remains largely unquantified in national energy system analyses. We quantify how structural sufficiency (dwelling size and housing form) and behavioral [...]
Probabilistic modelling of pharmaceutical pollution risk from sewage treatment work discharges using a Bayesian Network: application to a Scottish river catchment
Published: 2026-03-16
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Hydrology, Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health, Statistical Models, Statistics and Probability, Water Resource Management
Pharmaceuticals are increasingly recognised as a class of emerging contaminants of concern in rivers. Their continuous release from human use and variable removal in sewage treatment works (STWs) can produce ecologically relevant concentrations and contribute to antimicrobial resistance. We developed a probabilistic catchment-scale model based on a Bayesian Network (BN) to quantify pharmaceutical [...]
Territorially-Specialized Machine Learning Models for Wildfire Risk Prediction Across Argentina Using Satellite Data and H3 Hexagonal Grids
Published: 2026-03-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences
Wildfire risk prediction in large, ecologically diverse countries requires models that account for regional variation in fire drivers. We present GeoAlertAR-ML, a wildfire risk prediction system for Argentina that uses an ensemble of regionally specialized Random Forest classifiers operating over a national hexagonal grid of 13,231 H3 cells. Unlike global fire danger indices or single-model [...]