Preprints
There are 5889 Preprints listed.
A simulation-based study using boundary conditions of a thermal response for common building materials in a low-income housing for Kampala, Uganda
Published: 2025-05-24
Subjects: Materials Science and Engineering
Indoor thermal comfort is still a major issue in low-income housing in tropical urban areas like Kampala, Uganda, where passive design techniques are frequently the only practical way to manage heat. A boundary-condition-based thermal simulation of popular building materials, such as concrete walls, plastered brick walls, thatch roofing, and dark and light-colored metal roofs, is shown in this [...]
Integrated Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing approach to Groundwater Potential modelling in Trans Mara West and Narok West, Narok County, Kenya
Published: 2025-05-24
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering
Narok County is one of the arid and semi-arid counties in Kenya characterized by variable rainfall patterns and limited surface water resource. Therefore, groundwater is a critical source of water for the sustenance of lives and livelihoods in Narok. This study aimed to model groundwater potential in Narok West and Trans Mara West sub-counties using an integrated approach that combined Geographic [...]
Agri-food corporations’ role in water sustainability and water resilience of global supply chains
Published: 2025-05-24
Subjects: Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Sustainability, Water Resource Management
Agriculture is both a major contributor to water scarcity and highly vulnerable to it. The agri-food sector accounts for approximately 70% of global human water abstraction and 90% of water consumption, with irrigation practices leading to detrimental effects such as reduced streamflow, groundwater depletion, and environmental degradation. As water stress impacts crop and livestock productivity, [...]
Mapping the health harm of Bangladeshi brick kilns
Published: 2025-05-24
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Monitoring
Bangladesh suffers from poor air quality, with brick kilns as major contributors that remain difficult to regulate. We combine remotely-sensed data, machine learning, and air-quality models to locate 9,187 clay brick kilns (2014–2024), estimating their technology, activity status, and health effects. Active kilns peaked in 2019 and have since declined by 4% annually. Kiln emissions cause [...]
The Mesozoic Conundrum: Global Albedo Factors Resolve the Lack of Correlation Between Temperatures and CO2 Concentrations.
Published: 2025-05-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Plant Sciences
The "Mesozoic Conundrum" refers to the lack of correlation between CO₂ atmospheric concentration and global mean surface temperatures in Mesozoic climate reconstructions (Judd et al., 2024). Here, I show that Mesozoic forest cover, proxied by carbon burial flux (Nelsen et al., 2016), correlates strongly (R²=0.88, p<0.01) with GMST across the Mesozoic (252–66 Ma before present). The analysis [...]
Space-time data-driven modeling of wildfire initiation in the mountainous region of Trentino–South Tyrol, Italy
Published: 2025-05-23
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Multivariate Analysis, Probability, Statistical Models
Wildfires are complex hazards occurring worldwide, leading to substantial economic losses, fatalities, and carbon emissions. The interplay of climate change, land use alterations, and socioeconomic pressures is expected to further increase the frequency and intensity of wildfires. In this context, developing reliable, dynamic prediction tools is essential for risk mitigation. This work presents a [...]
Coral Reefs Span Borders, So Must Solutions: A Blueprint for International Cooperation for Coral Reef Conservation in Complex Political Environments
Published: 2025-05-23
Subjects: Biodiversity, Environmental Studies, Marine Biology
Coral reefs face escalating threats from climate change, yet reducing greenhouse gas emissions alone will not ensure their survival. Local and regional conservation efforts are urgently needed to address immediate, human-induced stressors and build resilience. Although conservation often begins locally, the interconnected nature of reef systems that span borders demands transboundary management, [...]
Archaean basalts record evidence of lithospheric extension prior to cratonisation
Published: 2025-05-23
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology
The dynamics of Earth’s early mantle remain enigmatic. A wide range of tectonic settings have been proposed for the Archaean eon prior to cratonisation, a time from which few samples are preserved in the geological record. Here, we reexamine this topic by estimating temperatures and depths of melt generation in the late Archaean mantle using a new geochemical data compilation of mafic igneous [...]
Subsurface hydrothermal alteration mapping in the Reykjanes Geothermal area using a combined geoelectrical approach.
Published: 2025-05-21
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology
The dynamic behavior of volcanic hydrothermal systems (VHS) and associated hydrothermal eruptions remains largely unknown, processes in VHS such as the circulation of hydrothermal fluids and formation of caprock give rise to a range of geophysical signals. Here we explore the combined use of three geo-electric methods: electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), induced polarization (IP), and [...]
Predicting Glacier Ice Melt with Machine Learning to Address Climate Change
Published: 2025-05-21
Subjects: Engineering
The accelerating decline in glacier mass due to climate change presents a significant threat to global water resources, sea levels, and ecosystem stability. This research integrates machine learning techniques to predict glacier ice melt patterns using historical mass balance data. Leveraging the publicly available global glacier mass balance dataset, the study investigates temporal trends [...]
Paleo extreme waves in the North Atlantic: geological evidence from Sal Island, Cape Verde Archipelago.
Published: 2025-05-21
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology
The northwestern coast of Sal Island (Cape Verde Archipelago) is characterized by a rocky shoreline that is regularly impacted by Atlantic swells exceeding 4 m in height and 20 s in period. Yet, the only significant geomorphic expression of wave action is an extensive boulder ridge situated atop a rocky cliff, up to 80–100 m inland and between 10 and 15 m above present sea level. The presence of [...]
Observations of Rayleigh and Love wave Azimuthal Anisotropy Across Alaska
Published: 2025-05-21
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Using ambient noise data from 10 s to 50 s period across Alaska, we confirm previous estimates of Rayleigh wave 2[psi] azimuthal anisotropy and present the first estimates of Rayleigh wave 4[psi] and Love wave 2[psi] and 4[psi] azimuthal anisotropy, where [psi] is the angle of propagation. As in earlier studies, the fast axis orientations of Rayleigh wave 2[psi] are mainly parallel to major [...]
ARIA: Artificial Intelligence for Sustainability Assessment
Published: 2025-05-21
Subjects: Environmental Engineering
ARIA (Artificial Intelligence for Sustainability Assessment) is a Python package designed to streamline the calculation of environmental impacts based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) framework. It leverages Brightway2 (Mutel, 2017) as its core infrastructure, enabling robust LCA modelling while automating several steps that traditionally require tedious manual effort. ARIA utilises large [...]
Biorestorer: Synthetic Succession for Soil Restoration in Arid and Degraded Regions
Published: 2025-05-21
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Desert Ecology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Life Sciences
Soil degradation in arid and semi-arid regions poses a critical threat to global ecological stability and food security. This paper introduces Biorestorer, a systems-based framework for initiating synthetic succession and synthetic pedogenesis in highly degraded or sterile substrates where natural recovery is infeasible. The Biorestorer concept integrates dual-temperature biochar, [...]
Heavy Metal Toxicity: A Major Driver of Past Biodiversity Crises?
Published: 2025-05-21
Subjects: Life Sciences
Whether today’s heavy metal pollution represents an unprecedented threat to biodiversity, in Earth’s history remains an open question. Here, we reassess the state-of-the-art research to evaluate whether heavy metal toxicity played a major role in past extinction events. Although there is evidence to heavy metal loading during several past biotic crises, direct causal links to extinctions are [...]