Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Environmental Sciences
Advancing forest aboveground biomass mapping by integrating GEDI with other Earth Observation data using a cloud computing platform: A case study of Alabama, United States
Published: 2024-04-06
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Climate, Earth Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Forest Management, Other Forestry and Forest Sciences
Forest aboveground biomass (AGB) is a crucial indicator for monitoring carbon and requires accurate quantification. This study aimed to advance AGB estimation using open access Earth observation (EO) data and cloud computing, focusing on Alabama, USA. The specific objectives were to: (1) develop a workflow for creating a 30 m forest AGBD map with GEDI, using GEE, (2) evaluate and compare [...]
Using mixed siliciclastic-bioclastic sediments as a natural analogue for plastic-rich systems
Published: 2024-04-05
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geology, Sedimentology
Mixed siliciclastic-bioclastic sediments and systems represent an analogue to understanding the behaviour and impact of plastic sediments in natural environments. The integration of knowledge derived from different mixed systems can enhance our comprehension of depositional processes, bedform morphology, and plastic distribution as well as assess the potentiality of siliciclastic-bioclastic [...]
INSIGHTS INTO THE NATURAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY OF TYPHA ORIENTALIS (RAUPŌ) IN AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND
Published: 2024-04-04
Subjects: Environmental Sciences
A new multi-proxy paleo database for lake ecosystem and catchment change in Aotearoa New Zealand (ANZ) points to the potential resource and ecosystem service roles of Typha orientalis (raupō). In the context of chronic wetland degradation in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past century, this iconic yet enigmatic wetland plant can be viewed, alternately, as an invasive threat; a valuable cultural [...]
Improving Urban Climate Adaptation Modelling in the Community Earth System Model (CESM) Through Transient Urban Surface Albedo Representation
Published: 2024-04-03
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Civil Engineering, Climate, Computational Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sciences
Increasing the albedo of urban surfaces, through strategies like white roof installations, has emerged as a promising approach for urban climate adaptation. Yet, modelling these strategies on a large scale is limited by the use of static urban surface albedo representations in the Earth system models. In this study, we developed a new transient urban surface albedo scheme in the Community Earth [...]
Assessing effects of agriculture value added, industry value added and imports value added percentage to GDP on CO2 emissions in Bangladesh: An ARDL and NARDL approach.
Published: 2024-03-28
Subjects: Environmental Sciences
The study aims to evaluate the impact of Bangladesh's agricultural and industrial sectors on CO2 emissions using advanced modeling techniques, namely autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) models. Time-series data ranging from 1990 to 2022 are analyzed to ensure data stationarity, employing the augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test. Subsequently, [...]
A consistent terminology to communicate ground-related uncertainty
Published: 2024-03-26
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Risk Analysis, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Statistics and Probability
Engineering geology is highly affected by uncertainty related to the geology, geotechnical parameters, models used and methods. While the technical aspects of ground-related uncertainty are increasingly investigated, the terminology to communicate uncertainty (i.e. phrases such as “it is very likely that”) has not yet been unified and experts use it however they see fit. The problem arises that [...]
The effect of different meteorological factors on the concentrations of air pollutants.
Published: 2024-03-19
Subjects: Environmental Sciences
The concentration of harmful air pollutants is increasing and one of the reasons is meteorological factors. It is necessary to identify how much influence factors like wind speed, atmospheric pressure, temperatures, and humidity have on the spread of air pollutants. Here we review studies that show a correlation between meteorological factors and synthesize how such factors influence the [...]
On evaporation kinetics of multicomponent aerosols: Characteristic times and implications for volatility measurements.
Published: 2024-03-16
Subjects: Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Transport Phenomena
This paper presents a theoretical analysis of the evaporation of individual compounds from an aerosol in vapor-free conditions, demonstrating that the evaporation of mixture components is interconnected via the ratio of their characteristic times. These characteristic times are proportional to the square of the initial particle diameter and inversely proportional to the compound saturation vapor [...]
Carbon dioxide migration along faults at the Illinois Basin – Decatur Project revealed using time shift analysis of seismic monitoring data
Published: 2024-03-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences
Large scale underground storage of CO2 is being deployed worldwide to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere. Modelling studies have investigated the possible risks from the CO2 migrating along faults, but this has not yet been observed. We were able to identify such CO2 migration at a commercial-scale, demonstration CO2 storage project, the Illinois Basin - Decatur Project, including [...]
Wildfire smoke exposure and mortality burden in the US under future climate change
Published: 2024-03-12
Subjects: Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Sciences, Public Health, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Wildfire activity has increased in the US and is projected to accelerate under future climate change. However, our understanding of the impacts of climate change on wildfire smoke and health remains highly uncertain. Here we quantify the mortality burden in the US due to wildfire smoke fine particulate matter (PM2.5) under future climate change. We construct an ensemble of statistical and machine [...]
Linking local climate scenarios to global warming levels: Applicability, prospects and uncertainties
Published: 2024-03-09
Subjects: Climate, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Global warming levels (GWLs) are increasingly becoming a central concept in climate change studies. In recent years, their integrative quality for climate change impact analysis has been demonstrated, and methodological advancements have helped to compensate for some inherent shortfalls of the concept. However, their applicability at the regional level is debatable, and no study to date has [...]
Plant controls over tropical wetland nitrous oxide dynamics: a review
Published: 2024-03-07
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Tropical wetlands are an important global source of greenhouse gas emissions, including nitrous oxide, a potent and long-last greenhouse gas. Tropical wetland ecosystems can be highly heterogeneous, featuring a variety of vegetation types, from grasses through to palms and mangroves. A variety of plant-mediated processes can exert key controls over wetland plant/soil nitrogen transportation and [...]
EStreams: An Integrated Dataset and Catalogue of Streamflow, Hydro-Climatic Variables and Landscape Descriptors for Europe
Published: 2024-03-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Hydrology
Global hydrology datasets have become increasingly available, contributing to important scientific advances. However, in Europe, only a few such datasets were published and they only capture a fraction of the wealth of information national data providers have. We present “EStreams”, an extensive catalogue of openly available stream records and a dataset of hydro-climatic variables and landscape [...]
Groundwater in the age of plastic
Published: 2024-03-01
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences
Among the emerging contaminants, microplastics (1-5,000 µm) are becoming an important issue due to their ubiquity in the environment. However, research on this emerging contaminant has been conducted mainly in marine surface waters while microplastics (MPs) are now being found in even the most remote parts of the environment. For example, in groundwater which is the primary water source which [...]
Estimating irrigation water use from remotely sensed evapotranspiration data: Accuracy and uncertainties across spatial scales
Published: 2024-02-29
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Hydrology, Sustainability, Water Resource Management
Irrigated agriculture is the dominant use of water globally, but most water withdrawals are not monitored or reported. As a result, it is largely unknown when, where, and how much water is used for irrigation. Here, we evaluated the ability of remotely sensed evapotranspiration (ET) data, integrated with other datasets, to calculate irrigation water withdrawals and applications in an [...]