Preprints
There are 5755 Preprints listed.
Characterising the flow-boundary zone in fluidised granular currents
Published: 2023-06-09
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Pyroclastic Density Currents (PDCs) are hazardous flows of hot gas and volcanic particles which have a diverse range of flow behaviours and depositional mechanisms. Here we use defluidising granular currents, analogous to dense PDCs, to examine the region known in the volcanological literature as the flow-boundary zone. This consists of the lower part of the current and upper part of its [...]
Formation of back-arc basins by lithospheric warping: examples of the Andaman, Bismarck and Banda Sea basins
Published: 2023-06-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences
Back-arc basins represent an intriguing phenomenon of the lithospheric evolution. They are the places of potential subduction initiation, what makes them highly important features within the theory of plate tectonics. The circumstances of their origin and life cycle are not well understood and whether the retreat of subduction is a cause or consequence of back-arc basin development remains an [...]
GIS-Based Modelling of Soil Erosion Risk categories County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Published: 2023-06-09
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Soil erosion is one of the major global concerns. Such a process can occur naturally, at different rates. However, under extreme conditions, soil erosion can accelerate and present a risk to ecosystems, loss of food supply (loss of agricultural lands), and lead to episodic landslides. The present study employs Geographic Information Systems and functions to predict possible risks connected to [...]
Diamond open access with preregistration: a new publishing model for palaeontology
Published: 2023-06-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Paleontology
The current academic publishing model is systemically unfit for purpose. The academic publishing ecosystem is dominated by a few large for-profit publishing houses which, at every stage of the publication process, transform academic work and public resources into private profit. Although extracting substantial profits, these publishing houses themselves add little value to the final published [...]
Seismic Stratigraphy of Contourite Drift Deposits Associated with the Loop Current on the Eastern Campeche Bank, Gulf of Mexico
Published: 2023-06-09
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology, Oceanography, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
The Loop Current is a key component of global circulation via the northward transport of warm, salty water and an important influence on Gulf of Mexico hydrography. Understanding how the Loop Current will respond to ongoing anthropogenic warming is critically important, but the history of the Loop Current is poorly known. Here, we present the results of a high resolution (3-8 m) multichannel [...]
Universal techniques for mineral identification in thin-section
Published: 2023-06-08
Subjects: Education, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Mineral identification using an optical microscope forms a key part of every introductory course in Earth Sciences. The presence or absence of particular minerals and their textural relationships to one another - that is, the visual impression of the size, shape, and arrangement of grains/crystals/particles in a rock - act as keys to the origin and evolution of the Earth system. Indeed, many [...]
Barriers to, and opportunities for off-grid sanitation provision in the rapidly urbanizing city of Mekelle, Ethiopia: Reimagining human waste as “brown gold” for environmental management and livelihood improvement
Published: 2023-06-08
Subjects: Higher Education
Inappropriate or poorly constructed sanitation is becoming one of the major challenges confronting rapidly urbanizing cities in the global south such as Ethiopia. This study was carried out to understand the sanitation and solid waste management challenges present in the city of Mekelle, in order to identify opportunities for sustainable faecal and solid waste management. This involved [...]
A paradigm shift towards decentralized cloud-integrated spatial data infrastructures: Lessons learned and solutions provided for public authorities
Published: 2023-06-08
Subjects: Agriculture, Computer and Systems Architecture, Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing, Sustainability
Digital transformation is a key to turn public authorities into organisations that make decisions based on data-driven insights. The use of big geodata can enable public authorities to tackle complex sustainability issues. However, the efficient management of large amounts of geodata through implementing viable data infrastructures represents a major challenge for public authorities. In this [...]
Assessment of Oceanographic Conditions during the North Atlantic EXport Processes in the Ocean from RemoTe Sensing (EXPORTS) Field Campaign
Published: 2023-06-07
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
This manuscript presents an overview of NASA’s EXport Processes in the Ocean from Remote Sensing 2021 Field Campaign in the North Atlantic (EXPORTS NA) and provides quantitative and dynamical descriptions of the physical processes modulating water transformations during the study. A major programmatic goal was to conduct the sampling in a Lagrangian mode so that ocean ecological and [...]
Assessing Decadal Variability of Subseasonal Forecasts of Opportunity using Explainable AI
Published: 2023-06-07
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Identifying predictable states of the climate system allows for enhanced prediction skill on the generally low-skill subseasonal timescale via forecasts with higher confidence and accuracy, known as forecasts of opportunity. This study takes a neural network approach to explore decadal variability of subseasonal predictability, particularly during forecasts of opportunity. Specifically, this work [...]
A new OSL dose model to account for post-depositional mixing of sediments
Published: 2023-06-07
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Statistical Models, Statistics and Probability
In applications of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating to unconsolidated sediments, the burial age of a sample of grains is estimated using statistical models of the distribution of the experimentally determined equivalent doses of the grains, together with estimates of the environmental dose rate. For grains that have been vertically mixed after deposition (e.g., due to bioturbation), [...]
Automated shear-wave splitting analysis for single- and multi- layer anisotropic media
Published: 2023-06-07
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Shear-wave velocity anisotropy is present throughout the earth. The strength and orientation of anisotropy can be observed by shear-wave splitting (birefringence) accumulated between earthquake sources and receivers. Seismic deployments are getting ever larger, increasing the number of earthquakes detected and the number of source-receiver pairs. Here, we present a new software package, SWSPy, [...]
Climate controls on compound solar and wind droughts in Australia
Published: 2023-06-07
Subjects: Climate, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Solar and wind power are central to Australia’s renewable energy future, which implies an energy sector vulnerable to weather and climate variability. Alignment of weather systems and the influence of large-scale climate modes of variability risks widespread reductions in solar and wind resources, and could induce grid-wide impacts. We therefore systematically analyse the relationship between [...]
Investigating the Relationship Between Sea Surface Temperature and the Mechanical Efficiency of Tropical Cyclones
Published: 2023-06-07
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Previous studies have investigated how sea surface temperature (SST) affects the potential intensity of tropical cyclones (TCs). However, this is an upper bound only on the maximum near-surface azimuthal winds, and does not fully account for the effects of atmospheric moisture. Potential intensity might not vary in the same way as the total kinetic energy (WKE) of a TC would with changing SST. [...]
Multivariate Analysis and Anomaly Detection of U.S. Reservoir Sedimentation Dataset
Published: 2023-06-07
Subjects: Engineering
Sedimentation processes in reservoirs can jeopardize their functionality and compromise dam safety. Climate change and associated hydrologic uncertainty are introducing additional stressors to US reservoirs, and data-driven indicators of climate impacts on upstream soil erosion and reservoir’s sedimentation processes are crucial to evaluate their aggradation and life expectancy. The US Army Corps [...]