Preprints
There are 7628 Preprints listed.
Comparing the effect of organic matter quality on aerobic and anaerobic greenhouse gas production in a temperate peatland
Published: 2026-09-16
Subjects: Environmental Sciences
Peatlands have an outsized contribution to both carbon storage and methane (CH4) emissions relative to their land surface area. The factors controlling these fluxes are uncertain, but critical to predicting the future trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions from peatlands. While the biochemical composition of organic matter (termed organic matter “quality”) has been shown to be correlated with its [...]
Rapid declines in UK PM2.5 reflect coordinated reductions in regional nitrate and continental influence
Published: 2026-09-15
Subjects: Life Sciences
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is a major environmental risk factor for premature mortality globally. Although PM2.5 concentrations have declined across Europe since the 1990s, recent progress has shown signs of slowing, raising concerns over the achievability of increasingly stringent ambient air quality targets. Ambient PM2.5 concentrations across the UK underwent a rapid and sustained decline [...]
Coral connectivity: How biophysical modelling choices shape connectivity inference
Published: 2026-09-15
Subjects: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Understanding coral connectivity is essential for predicting metapopulation dynamics and guiding restoration under accelerating climate change. Connectivity facilitates the exchange of organisms among reefs and can promote recovery following disturbance. Biophysical models are widely used to predict and explore coral connectivity; however, their estimates carry substantial uncertainty arising [...]
Soil organic carbon change in UK mineral and organo-mineral soils since 2000: a systematic evidence map and critical narrative synthesis
Published: 2026-09-15
Subjects: Soil Science
Soil organic carbon is increasingly embedded in United Kingdom climate and land-use policy, yet the empirical basis for estimating its long-term change in mineral and organo-mineral soils remains uncertain. We conducted a systematic evidence map and critical narrative synthesis of peer-reviewed and grey literature published between 2000 and 2025 to evaluate soil organic carbon stocks and changes [...]
Efficient measurement of marine sedimentary porewater pH and oxygen concentrations using optical sensors
Published: 2026-09-15
Subjects: Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
Porewater oxygen concentrations and pH exert substantial influence on sediment diagenesis and potentially towards the reliability of palaeoceanographic records. However, these fundamental chemical parameters are not systematically measured during sea-going expeditions. This study presents an easy, inexpensive and effective method to measure marine sediment porewater oxygen and pH levels using [...]
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 [...]
Inside the Extinction Envelope: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis of Paleoclimate Extinction Markers with Comments on the Necessary Array of Last-Threshold Interventions
Published: 2026-09-14
Subjects: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Every element of the causal chain that produced the five largest mass extinctions of the last half-billion years is presently active in the Earth system. The rate of the modern perturbation exceeds every peer-reviewed paleoclimate reference case. A six-intervention portfolio, deployed together at wartime industrial scale beginning now, is the physically necessary and sufficient response. The [...]
Surface-wave sensitivity to anisotropy in a 3D seismogeodynamics mantle plume model.
Published: 2026-09-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology
High-resolution anisotropic seismic images of the upper mantle provide fundamental constraints on mantle plume dynamics and mantle deformation. Seismic tomography has come far by using travel-time and waveform (phase) information but has exploited amplitude information only to a limited extent. Here, we calculate adjoint sensitivity kernels to assess the value of incorporating amplitude [...]
Spatial Coupling of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Vegetation Activity, Groundwater Nitrate Occurrence, and Soil Environments Across Denmark: A 5-km Spatial Association and Soil-Stratified Analysis
Published: 2026-09-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences
Integrated environmental assessment increasingly requires the joint analysis of atmospheric emissions, vegetation dynamics, groundwater quality, and soil context rather than isolated thematic mapping. We developed a Denmark-wide 5-km analytical grid in EPSG:25832 containing 1,803 cells and harmonized four continuous environmental indicators: CO2 and CH4 emissions from EDGAR, vegetation activity [...]
Very-high-resolution optical imagery reveals key clues to the Langtang Lirung ice–rock avalanche
Published: 2026-09-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Ice–rock avalanches and resulting cascading processes are increasingly recognized to pose an exceptional risk to high-mountain systems. Once initiated, they often transition from dense multiphase mixtures to water-saturated debris flows and even hyper-concentrated floods, thus attaining sufficient runout potential to move from highly remote to populated regions. The event that originated from the [...]
Plasticity more than (linear elastic crack) Propagation may govern standard Propagation Saw Test in snow: evidence from “Fracture toughness of mixed-mode anticracks in highly porous materials” experiments1
Published: 2026-09-14
Subjects: Engineering
An extensive experimental campaign of propagation saw tests (PST) has recently been conducted, enabling systematic investigation of critical cut length vs. slope angle in snowpacks1. PST is considered crucial for understanding avalanche release. Using a linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) framework built upon a linear elastic analysis, it was concluded that not a theoretical but a [...]
The depths and thicknesses of the magma bodies that fed some of the largest Quaternary eruptions on Earth
Published: 2026-09-14
Subjects: Geology, Volcanology
Volcanic systems are critical for the evolution and dynamics of the Earth; yet, our understanding of the plumbing systems that feed eruptions is hampered by our inability to directly observe magmas at depth. We present a compilation of matrix-glass data and rhyolite-MELTS pre-eruptive storage pressures for eleven Quaternary VEI 6+ caldera-forming eruptions worldwide with volumes ranging from 35 [...]
Bounded at both ends: the detection window of routine 12-day C-band InSAR at rock–ice avalanche sources
Published: 2026-09-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology
A negative result from satellite radar — "no precursory deformation was detected" — carries no information unless the range of signals the measurement could have detected is reported alongside it. We measure that range at two rock–ice avalanche sources, Langtang Lirung, Nepal (2026) and Ronti Peak, India (2021), using a single procedure, and identify four determinants of it that are site-specific [...]
From an everyday device to professional instrumentation. A framework for Portable Geoscience Learning Infrastructure and its illustrative application to ITA ARANDU MS
Published: 2026-09-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology
Geoscience education depends on practices that connect classroom learning with field settings: observing, locating, measuring, recording, comparing evidence, reasoning under uncertainty, and constructing interpretations. Digital fieldwork allows some of these practices to be undertaken with mobile devices, yet digital convenience, instrumental accuracy, and learning are not equivalent. This paper [...]
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.