Preprints
There are 4713 Preprints listed.
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 [...]
A labeling intercomparison of retrogressive thaw slumps by a diverse group of domain experts
Published: 2024-04-05
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Deep-learning (DL) models have become increasingly beneficial for the detection of retrogressive thaw slumps (RTS) in the permafrost domain. However, comparing accuracy metrics is challenging due to unstandardized labeling guidelines. To address this, we conducted an experiment with 12 international domain experts from a broad range of scientific backgrounds. Using 3m PlanetScope multispectral [...]
Different model assumptions about plant hydraulics and photosynthetic temperature acclimation yield diverging implications for tropical forest resilience
Published: 2024-04-04
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Tropical forest photosynthesis can decline at high temperatures due to (1) biochemical responses to increasing temperature and (2) stomatal responses to increasing vapor pressure deficit (VPD), which is associated with increasing temperature. It is challenging to disentangle the influence of these two mechanisms on photosynthesis in observations, because temperature and VPD are tightly correlated [...]
Unified in diversity: Unravelling emerging knowledge on drought impact cascades via participatory modeling
Published: 2024-04-04
Subjects: Geography
Diverse groups exhibit enhanced capabilities in tackling complex problems compared to individuals. Also, involving diverse stakeholders has been shown to improve the understanding of complex social-ecological systems. Considering this, we investigated how pooling the knowledge of diverse stakeholder crowds can create new, emergent knowledge on cascading drought impacts. We define ‘emergent [...]
Wastewaters co-produced with shale gas drive slight regional salinization of groundwater
Published: 2024-04-04
Subjects: Geochemistry, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Water Resource Management
While unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD) is changing the world economy, processes that are used during UOGD such as high-volume hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) have been linked with water contamination. Water quality risks include leaks of gas and salty fluids (brines) that are co-produced at wellpads. Identifying the cause of contamination is difficult, however, because UOG wells [...]
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 [...]
Estimating microphysical properties of ice clouds for climate modeling and remote sensing applications
Published: 2024-04-04
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Ice clouds pose crucial challenges in climate model simulations and remote sensing retrievals due to complicated mechanisms of ice cloud formation that span from micro scale to planetary wave scale. Despite numerous attempts to parameterize these processes, many questions remain unanswered. This technical note provides a summary of the most common and recent studies on ice clouds and compiles [...]
Development of a Snow Growth Model for Rimed Snowfall
Published: 2024-04-04
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
A snow growth model for rimed snowfall (SGMR) was developed based on the growth processes of vapor deposition, aggregation, and riming. The SGMR is initialized by radar reflectivity (Z) at the cloud top and thereafter simulates the vertical evolution of size spectra. The SGMR is based on the zeroth- and second-moment conservation equations with respect to mass, and thus conserves the number [...]
The influence of mantle structure on dynamic topography in southern Africa
Published: 2024-04-03
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology
Due to relatively high terrain and negligible active tectonics, the southern Africa region boasts over thirty independent estimates of dynamic topography. These published estimates display a wide variance due to both the variety of methods used in computation and a lack of constraints on the regional mantle structure. Here we show that a focus on regional mantle structure is important to generate [...]
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 [...]
Detection of sea ice floe flooding in the Southern Ocean using Sentinel-1 SAR imagery.
Published: 2024-04-03
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering
During the summer months in the Antarctic, perennial and seasonal sea ice floes flood. Flooding is caused by snow at the surface weighing down the ice, causing a negative freeboard and flooding the basal snow layer with seawater. This creates a brine-slush layer. Alternatively, or simultaneously, meltwater can percolate through the snow and flood the surface of the ice floe. The appearance of [...]
Progress in Understanding North American Monsoon Using a Climate Model
Published: 2024-04-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The North American Monsoon is a seasonal shift in the large-scale circulation that supplies 60-80% of annual rainfall in northwestern Mexico and 30-40% in the US southwest. Regional climate models have shown that summer precipitation prediction over North America is the poorest in the Monsoon region. Most climate models do not account for a crucial mechanism of Monsoon: the boundary layer [...]
Problems with Greenhouse Gas Life Cycle Analyses of U.S. LNG Exports and Locally Produced Coal
Published: 2024-04-01
Subjects: Climate, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Oil, Gas, and Energy
Exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States are growing rapidly, and the United States government must balance a multiplicity of interests in deciding to what extent the growth of LNG exports should be further encouraged. Its decisions must be consistent with the Natural Gas Act, which mandates that exports of natural gas be in the public interest. In the current administration, [...]
Improved daily PM2.5 estimates in India reveal inequalities in recent enhancement of air quality
Published: 2024-04-01
Subjects: Environmental Studies
Poor ambient air quality represents a substantial threat to public health globally. However, accurate measurement of air quality remains challenging in many parts of the world, including in populous countries like India, where ground monitors are scarce yet exposure and health burdens are expected to be high. This lack of precise measurement impedes understanding of how pollution exposure changes [...]
Improving Subsidence Modelling of Different Depth Domains in the Mekong Delta
Published: 2024-03-31
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Mekong delta, one of the largest deltas in the world, is densely populated and important for food production. As the delta plain is lowly elevated, less than a meter on average above local sea level, it is vulnerable to sea-level rise and land subsidence. The delta experiences high rates of natural compaction at its coast) while human activities associated with land-use change , urbanisation [...]