Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Environmental Sciences
The Anthropocene as a Multi-Level Stability Landscape Regimes, Transitions, and Reorganization of the Human–Earth System
Published: 2026-04-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Understanding the evolution of the human–Earth system over decadal-to-centennial timescales remains a central challenge in Earth system science. The Anthropocene is commonly described using trajectories, tipping elements, and scenario pathways, which capture non-linear dynamics but do not provide a unified representation of regime structure and transitions at planetary scale. Here we introduce a [...]
Meteorological Drought Magnitude, Duration, and Intensity in the Past and Future Climate of Eastern Tigray, Northern Ethiopia
Published: 2026-04-02
Subjects: Environmental Sciences
Drought assessment is a critical component of risk management in the comprehensive analysis of drought impacts. This study assessed the meteorological drought events under the past and future climate of Eastern Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, with the principal objective of enhancing early warnings and better drought disaster response mechanisms. To predict future climate, delta scenarios were created [...]
A LASSO-based reduced-form CMAQ model for predicting ozone and PM2.5 responses to emission changes in South Korea
Published: 2026-03-30
Subjects: Environmental Sciences
Reduced-form models of the Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling System (CMAQ) enable efficient prediction of air quality responses to emission changes. In this study, we developed a reduced-form CMAQ model based on the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) to approximate CMAQ outputs in high-dimensional settings where the number of emission variables exceeds the number of [...]
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 study of what locations are more resilient against the impacts of nuclear war, near-Earth objects, large-magnitude volcanic eruptions, large-scale cyberattacks, high altitude electromagnetic pulse, geomagnetic storms and pandemics. This shows there is no place on Earth which is resilient against all [...]
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: 2026-03-25
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 [...]
Urbanisation driven spectral–structural divergence in forest extent: threshold-based validation using GEDI LiDAR in Ekiti State, Nigeria
Published: 2026-03-22
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences
Forest degradation in rapidly urbanising tropical regions is often underestimated due to reliance on two-dimensional spectral indicators that inadequately capture vertical forest structure. This study evaluates the reliability of satellite-derived forest extent in Ekiti State, Nigeria, by integrating multi-sensor remote sensing data with spaceborne LiDAR from the Global Ecosystem Dynamics [...]
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