Preprints
There are 5726 Preprints listed.
A baseline for microplastic particle occurrence and distribution in Great Bay Estuary
Published: 2021-02-18
Subjects: Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
We extracted and analyzed microplastics (MP) in archived sediment cores from Great Bay Estuary (GBE) in the Gulf of Maine region of North America. Results indicated that MP are distributed in GBE sediments, 0-30 cm, at an average occurrence of 116 ± 21 particles g-1 and that morphology varies by site and depth. Analysis by sediment depth and age class indicated that MP accumulation increased over [...]
Accelerating the Lagrangian particle tracking of residence time distributions and source water mixing towards large scales
Published: 2021-02-18
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Travel/residence time distributions (TTDs/RTDs) are important tools to evaluate the vulnerability of catchments to contamination and understand many aspects of catchment function and behavior. In recent years, the calculation of TTDs/RTDs based on the Lagrangian particle tracking approach together with the integrated hydrologic modeling has become a popular counterpart to analytical approaches [...]
Insights into the nature of plume-ridge interaction and outflux of H2O from the Galápagos Spreading Centre
Published: 2021-02-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Volcanology
The flow of high-temperature and compositionally-enriched material between mantle plumes and nearby spreading centres influences up to 30% of the global mid-ocean ridge system and represents a significant, but currently unconstrained, flux of volatiles out of the mantle. Here we present new analyses of H2O, F, Cl and S in basaltic glass chips from an archetypal region of plume-ridge interaction, [...]
How EU policies could reduce nutrient pollution in European inland and coastal waters?
Published: 2021-02-16
Subjects: Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Planetary Biogeochemistry, Water Resource Management
Intensive agriculture and densely populated areas represent major sources of nutrient pollution for European inland and coastal waters, altering the aquatic ecosystems and affecting their capacity to provide ecosystem services and support economic activities. Ambitious water policies are in place in the European Union (EU) for protecting and restoring aquatic ecosystems under the Water Framework [...]
The 3D Structure of Northern Hemisphere Blocking Events: Climatology, Role of Moisture, and Response to Climate Change
Published: 2021-02-16
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate
We present a comprehensive composite analysis of the 3D structure of blocks and its response to future climate change over North Pacific, North Atlantic, and Russia in summers and winters. Using reanalysis and two large-ensemble datasets from CESM1 and GFDL-CM3, we investigate the following: The climatology of 3D structure, physical processes governing the temperature anomaly associated with [...]
Laponite gels - visco-elasto-plastic analogues for geological laboratory modelling
Published: 2021-02-16
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Laponite ® is a synthetic clay that, depending on concentration, temperature and curing time, forms a clear, transparent thixotropic fluid or brittle visco-elasto-plastic gel when mixed with water. Here we present the results of rheological and mechanical testing of gel-forming Laponite RD (LRD) to evaluate its suitability as a rock analogue in laboratory analogue experiments. Rheological tests [...]
Co- and postseismic slip behaviors extracted from decadal seafloor geodesy after the 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake
Published: 2021-02-16
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Investigations of the co- and postseismic processes of the 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake provide essential information on the seismic cycle in the Japan Trench. Although various postseismic models have been proposed, no consensus has been reached, especially on the along-strike extensions of the main rupture due to the lack of conclusive evidence, even in the coseismic process. To decompose the [...]
Structural and stratigraphic development of Offshore NW Sulawesi, Indonesia
Published: 2021-02-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
The area of the Offshore NW Sulawesi lies between eastern Sundaland (Borneo) and the North Arm of Sulawesi. Possible influences on the basins include Paleogene rifting in the Celebes Sea and Makassar Strait, Neogene subsidence and uplift in Borneo, late Neogene subduction at the present-day North Sulawesi Trench, and displacements related to the Palu-Koro Fault. This study presents the results of [...]
Numerical modeling of Earth's dynamic surface: a community approach
Published: 2021-02-14
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Glaciology, Hydrology, Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing, Other Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Soil Science, Stratigraphy
Computational modelling occupies a unique niche in Earth environmental sciences. Models serve not just as scientific technology and infrastructure, but also as digital containers of the scientific community's understanding of the natural world. As this understanding improves, so too must the associated software. This dual nature---models as both infrastructure and hypotheses---means that [...]
Halokinetic modulation of sedimentary thickness and architecture: a numerical modelling approach
Published: 2021-02-13
Subjects: Earth Sciences
Subsurface salt flow can deform overlying strata and influence contemporaneous sedimentary processes. Studying salt-sediment interactions is challenging in the subsurface due to poor imaging adjacent to salt, and in the field due to the dissolution of halite. Discrete Element Modelling provides an efficient and inexpensive tool to model stratigraphy and deformation around salt structures, which [...]
Two-sided turbulent surface layer parameterizations for computing air-sea fluxes
Published: 2021-02-13
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Standard methods for determining air – sea fluxes typically rely on bulk algorithms set in the frame of Monin-Obukhov stability theory (MOST), using ocean surface fields and atmosphere near-surface fields. In the context of coupled ocean – atmosphere simulations, the shallowest ocean vertical level is usually used as bulk input and by default, the turbulent closure is one-sided: it extrapolates [...]
Analysis of fine particulates from fuel burning in a reconstructed building at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, Turkey and implications for respiratory health in early settled communities
Published: 2021-02-11
Subjects: Earth Sciences
The use of wood, dung and other biomass fuels can be traced back to early prehistory. Whilst the study of prehistoric fuel use and its environmental impacts is well established, there has been little investigation of the health impacts this would have had, particularly in the Neolithic period, when people went from living in relatively small groups, to living in dense settlements. The UNESCO [...]
High-resolution observations of the North Pacific transition layer from a Lagrangian float
Published: 2021-02-11
Subjects: Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
A crucial region of the ocean surface boundary layer (OSBL) is the strongly-sheared and -stratified transition layer (TL) separating the mixed layer from the upper pycnocline, where a diverse range of waves and instabilities are possible. Previous work suggests that these different waves and instabilities will lead to different OSBL behaviours. Therefore, understanding which physical processes [...]
Modeling and SAR Imaging of the Sea Surface: a Review of the State-of-the-Art with Simulations
Published: 2021-02-10
Subjects: Oceanography
Among other remote sensing technologies, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has become firmly established in the practice of oceanographic research. Despite solid experience in this field, comprehensive knowledge and interpretation of ocean/sea and vessel wave signatures on radar images are still very challenging. This is not only due to the complex mechanisms involved in the SAR imaging of moving [...]
Using Landsat and Sentinel Imagery to Monitor Alfalfa and Grass Pastures in Western Colorado
Published: 2021-02-10
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Crop phenology of alfalfa and grass pasture fields on the western slope of Colorado, USA, was tracked using an NDVI time series derived from Landsat 7 (ETM+), Landsat 8 (OLI) and Sentinel 2a MSI to obtain high temporal frequency information of crop growth stages. These perennial pastures, which occupy a majority of irrigated land in the region and typically have more than one growing/cutting [...]