Preprints
There are 6272 Preprints listed.
Utilizing Random Forest Machine Learning Models to Determine Water Table Flood Levels through Volunteered Geospatial Information
Published: 2021-04-27
Subjects: Applied Mathematics, Computer Sciences, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Many people use smartphone cameras to record their living environments through captured images, and share aspects of their daily lives on social networks, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. These platforms provide volunteered geographic information (VGI), which enables the public to know where and when events occur. At the same time, image-based VGI can also indicate environmental changes [...]
Six simple steps towards making GEES fieldwork more accessible and inclusive
Published: 2021-04-26
Subjects: Education, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Fieldwork is a defining aspect of Physical Geography, Earth and Environmental Science programme curricula. At its best, fieldwork offers students valuable opportunities to develop independent research skills in real-world situations, examine analogues for a range of scientific concepts, and socialise with peers. It offers experiences that are challenging to replicate using virtual/remote [...]
Note on the bulk estimate of the energy dissipation rate in the oceanic bottom boundary layer
Published: 2021-04-26
Subjects: Oceanography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The dissipation of the kinetic energy (KE) associated with oceanic flows is believed to occur primarily in the oceanic bottom boundary layer (BBL) where bottom drag converts the KE from mean flows to heat loss through irreversible mixing at molecular scales. Due to the practical difficulties associated with direct observations on small-scale turbulence close to the seafloor, most up-to-date [...]
Timing of iceberg scours and massive ice-rafting events in the subtropical North Atlantic
Published: 2021-04-26
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
High resolution seafloor mapping shows extraordinary evidence that massive (>300m thick) icebergs once drifted >5,000km south along the eastern United States, with over 700 iceberg scours now identified south of Cape Hatteras. Sediment cores collected from several buried scours show multiple plow marks are ~31,000 years old and align with Heinrich Event 3 (H3). An accompanying set of numerical [...]
Late Paleozoic–Early Mesozoic granitoids in the Khangay–Khentey basin, Central Mongolia: Implication for the tectonic evolution of the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean margin
Published: 2021-04-26
Subjects: Geochemistry, Geology
The Mongol–Okhotsk Belt is the youngest segment of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, which is the venue of the massive juvenile crust emplacement, and it is formation and evolutions are still pending problems. This paper presents the first up-to-date U-Pb zircon ages, Hf-in-zircon isotope, geochemical and whole-rock Nd isotope data from igneous rocks of the Khangay–Khentey basin, Central Mongolia. [...]
Optimal experiment design for bottom friction parameter estimation
Published: 2021-04-23
Subjects: Design of Experiments and Sample Surveys, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
It is common practice within numerical coastal ocean modelling to perform model calibration with respect to a bottom friction parameter. While many modelling studies employ a spatially uniform coefficient, within the parameter estimation literature the coefficient is typically taken to be spatially (or even temporally) varying. A parameter estimation experiment requires an appropriate set of [...]
LPDynR: a new tool to calculate the Land Productivity Dynamics indicator
Published: 2021-04-23
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy
As part of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 15 (Life on Land), the indicator 15.3.1 is adopted to measure the Land Degradation Neutrality. Land Degradation Neutrality is addressed as stable —or increasing— state in the amount and quality of land resources required to support ecosystem functions and services and enhance food security during a certain period of time. It is a binary indicator [...]
FROM THE PAST TO THE FUTURE: SPATIO-TEMPORAL DYNAMICS OF WATER-BALANCE IN A RAPIDLY URBANIZING KATHMANDU VALLEY WATERSHED OF NEPAL
Published: 2021-04-23
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering
The resources of the earth are under immense pressure due to the multiple anthropogenic influences. The land resources which largely attribute to the quality as well as quantity of the water, is facing extreme stress due to the rapid urbanization resulting from population growth as well as socio-economic development. It is imperative that the response of hydrological processes to the change in [...]
Release timing and duration control the fate of photolytic compounds in stream-hyporheic systems
Published: 2021-04-22
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Hydrology, Water Resource Management
Predicting environmental fate requires an understanding of the underlying, spatiotemporally variable interaction of transport and transformation processes. Photolytic compounds, for example, interact with both time-variable photolysis and the perennially dark hyporheic zone, generating potentially unexpected dynamics that arise from time-variable reactivity. This interaction has been found to [...]
Localised impacts and economic implications from high temperature disruption days under climate change
Published: 2021-04-22
Subjects: Climate, Environmental Studies
Most studies into the effects of climate change have headline results in the form of a global change in mean temperature. More useful for businesses and governments however are measures of localised impacts, and also of extremes rather than averages. We have addressed this by examining the change in frequency of exceeding a daily mean temperature threshold, defined as “disruption days”, as it is [...]
A Hydrologist’s Guide to Open Science
Published: 2021-04-22
Subjects: Climate, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Hydrology, Water Resource Management
Hydrologic research that is open, accessible, reusable, and reproducible will have the largest impact on the scientific community and broader society. While more and more members of the hydrology community and key hydrology organizations are embracing open science practices, technical (e.g., limited coding experience), resource (e.g., open access fees), and social (e.g., fear of being scooped) [...]
Experimental Determination of Mantle Solidi and Melt Compositions for Two Likely Rocky Exoplanet Compositions
Published: 2021-04-22
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
For rocky exoplanets, knowledge of their geologic characteristics such as composition and mineralogy, surface recycling mechanisms, and volcanic behavior are key to determining their suitability to host life. Thus, determining exoplanet habitability requires an understanding of surface chemistry, and understanding the composition of exoplanet surfaces necessitates applying methods from the field [...]
Bridging Spatiotemporal Scales of Normal Fault Growth During Continental Extension Using High-Resolution 3D Numerical Models
Published: 2021-04-21
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
Continental extension is accommodated by the development of kilometre-scale normal faults, which grow during metre-scale slip events that occur over millions of years. However, reconstructing the entire lifespan of a fault remains challenging due to a lack of observational data with spatiotemporal scales that span the early stage (<10^6 yrs) of fault growth. Using 3D numerical simulations of [...]
Decadal Evaluation of the AIRPACT Regional Air Quality Forecast System in the Pacific Northwest from 2009-2018
Published: 2021-04-21
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Air Indicator Report for Public Awareness and Community Tracking (AIRPACT) is a comprehensive, automated air quality forecast system that provides 48-hr in-advance air quality over the Pacific Northwest region (http://lar.wsu.edu/airpact/). Since 2001, the AIRPACT forecasting system has been successfully operated by Washington State University, with the financial support from the Northwest [...]
Poleward shift in the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds synchronous with the deglacial rise in CO2
Published: 2021-04-21
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The Southern Hemisphere westerly winds influence deep ocean circulation and carbon storage. While the westerlies are hypothesised to play a key role in regulating atmospheric CO2 over glacial-interglacial cycles, past changes in their position and strength remain poorly constrained. Here, we use a compilation of planktic foraminiferal delta-18O from across the Southern Ocean and emergent [...]