Preprints
There are 5976 Preprints listed.
OpenOBS: Open-source, low-cost optical backscatter sensors for water quality and sediment-transport research
Published: 2021-06-17
Subjects: Environmental Monitoring, Fluid Dynamics, Fresh Water Studies, Geomorphology, Oceanography, Sedimentology, Water Resource Management
Optical backscatter sensors (OBSs) are commonly used to measure the turbidity, or light obscuration, of water in fresh and marine environments and various industrial applications. These turbidity measurements are commonly calibrated to yield total suspended solids (TSS) or suspended sediment concentration (SSC) measurements for water quality, sediment transport, and diverse other research and [...]
Matchup Characteristics of Sea Surface Salinity using a High-resolution Ocean Model
Published: 2021-06-16
Subjects: Oceanography
Sea surface salinity (SSS) satellite measurements are validated using in situ observations usually made by surfacing Argo floats. Validation statistics are computed using matched values of SSS from satellites and floats. This study explores how the matchup process is done using a high-resolution numerical ocean model, the MITgcm. One year of model output is sampled as if the Aquarius and Soil [...]
Will it float? Rising and settling velocities of common macroplastic foils
Published: 2021-06-15
Subjects: Environmental Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering
Plastic accumulates in the environment because of insufficient waste handling and the materials' high durability. Better understanding of plastic behaviour in the aquatic environment is needed to estimate transport and accumulation, which can be used for monitoring strategies, prevention measures, and plastic clean-up activities. Plastic transport models benefit from accurate description of [...]
An Outsized Role for the Labrador Sea in the Multidecadal Variability of the Atlantic Overturning Circulation
Published: 2021-06-15
Subjects: Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Climate models are essential tools for investigating intrinsic North Atlantic variability related to variations in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), but recent observations have called into question the fidelity of models that emphasize the importance of Labrador Sea processes. A multi-century pre-industrial climate simulation that resolves ocean mesoscale eddies has a [...]
A new tropical cyclone surge index incorporating the effects of coastal geometry, bathymetry and storm information
Published: 2021-06-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Risk Analysis
This study presents a new storm surge hazard potential index (SSHPI) for estimating tropical cyclone (TC) induced maximum surge levels at a coast. The SSHPI incorporates parameters that are often readily available at real-time: intensity in 10-minute maximum wind speed, radius of 50-kt wind, translation speed, coastal geometry, and bathymetry information. The inclusion of translation speed and [...]
Turbulent flow effects in hydraulic fracture propagation in permeable rock
Published: 2021-06-14
Subjects: Fluid Dynamics, Hydraulic Engineering, Hydrology, Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing, Oil, Gas, and Energy
This chapter considers a model for a radial hydraulic fracture propagation in a permeable, linear elastic rock formation driven by a point source fluid injection. The linear elastic fracture mechanics theory controls the quasi-static propagation. The hydraulic fracturing fluid is slickwater -- pure water solution with polymeric additives which allow reducing the fluid flow friction in the [...]
Remote bed-level change and overwash observation with low-cost ultrasonic distance sensors
Published: 2021-06-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Few datasets exist of high-frequency, in situ measurements of storm overwash, an essential mechanism for the subaerial maintenance of barrier islands and spits. Here we describe a new sensor platform for measuring bed-level change and estimating overwash inundation depths. Our MeOw (Measuring Overwash) stations consist of two ultrasonic distance sensors, a microprocessor board, and a camera and [...]
Ubiquity of human-induced changes in climate variability
Published: 2021-06-12
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Biogeochemistry, Climate, Earth Sciences, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
While climate change mitigation targets necessarily concern maximum mean state changes, understanding impacts and developing adaptation strategies will be largely contingent on how climate variability responds to increasing anthropogenic perturbations. Here we present a new 100-member large ensemble of climate change projections conducted with the Community Earth System Model version 2 to examine [...]
Mapping carbon stocks in Central and South America with SMAP vegetation optical depth
Published: 2021-06-12
Subjects: Engineering, Life Sciences
Mapping carbon stocks in the tropics is essential for climate change mitigation. Passive microwave remote sensing allows estimating carbon from deep canopy layers through the Vegetation Optical Depth (VOD) parameter. Although their spatial resolution is coarser than that of optical vegetation indices or airborne Lidar data, microwaves present a higher penetration capacity at low frequencies [...]
The relative importance of wind-driven and chimney effect cave ventilation: Observations in Postojna Cave (Slovenia)
Published: 2021-06-11
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Density-driven chimney effect airflow is the most common form of cave ventilation, allowing gas exchange between the outside and the karst subsurface. However, cave ventilation can also be driven by other mechanisms, namely winds. We discuss the mechanism and dynamics of wind-driven ventilation using observations in Postojna Cave, Slovenia. We show how seasonal airflow patterns driven by the [...]
Constraining families of dynamic models using geological, geodetic and strong ground motion data: the Mw 6.5, October 30th, 2016, Norcia earthquake, Italy
Published: 2021-06-10
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology
The 2016 Central Italy earthquake sequence is characterized by remarkable rupture complexity, including highly heterogeneous slip across multiple faults in an extensional tectonic regime. The dense coverage and high quality of geodetic and seismic data allow to image intriguing details of the rupture kinematics of the largest earthquake of the sequence, the Mw 6.5 October 30th, 2016 Norcia [...]
Environment, absolute? The quality infrastructure of the planetary boundaries
Published: 2021-06-10
Subjects: Environmental Sciences
Quality infrastructure plays a key role in sustainable development. Achieving a harmonious relationship between humanity and nature requires better measurement, monitoring and management of environmental processes, from local to global scales. Human-caused climate change, biodiversity loss, perturbation of Earth’s biogeochemical cycles, and chemical pollution are global environmental processes [...]
Flexural strike-slip basins
Published: 2021-06-10
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Strike-slip faults are classically associated with pull-apart basins where continental crust is thinned between two laterally offset fault segments. Here we propose a subsidence mechanism to explain the formation of a new type of basin where no substantial segment offset or syn-strike-slip thinning is observed. Such “flexural strike-slip basins” form due to a sediment load creating accommodation [...]
A Reduced Order Approach for Probabilistic Inversions of 3D Magnetotelluric Data II: Joint inversion of 3D MT and Surface-Wave Data
Published: 2021-06-10
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology
Joint probabilistic inversions of magnetotelluric (MT) and seismic data has great potential for imaging the thermochemical structure of the lithosphere as well as mapping fluid/melt pathways and regions of mantle metasomatism. In this contribution we present a novel probabilistic (Bayesian) joint inversion scheme for 3D MT and surface-wave dispersion data particularly designed for large-scale [...]
Advancing on the Promises of Techno-ecological Nature-based Solutions: A Framework for Green Technology in Water Supply & Treatment
Published: 2021-06-10
Subjects: Environmental Engineering, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Other Civil and Environmental Engineering, Sustainability, Water Resource Management
Nature-based Solutions (NBS) are increasingly proposed for effectively and adaptively addressing societal challenges such as water security and natural disasters. However, NBS that are exclusively reliant on natural processes are not fit-for-purpose for the provision of safe drinking water—some range of built technology is required. There is a wide spectrum of techno-ecological NBS—“green [...]