Preprints
There are 5519 Preprints listed.
Exceptional retreat of Kangerlussuaq Glacier, east Greenland, between 2016 and 2018
Published: 2018-12-28
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Kangerlussuaq Glacier is one of Greenland’s largest tidewater outlet glaciers, accounting for approximately 5% of all ice discharge from the Greenland ice sheet. In 2018 the Kangerlussuaq ice front reached its most retreated position since observations began in 1932. We determine the relationship between retreat and: (i) ice velocity; and (ii) surface elevation change, to assess the impact of the [...]
Ice shelf stability and the brittle–ductile transition
Published: 2018-12-21
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Fracturing processes limit the ability of floating ice shelves to stabilize marine ice sheets. Here, I argue that ice shelves are most susceptible to fracture when their thickness is less than the brittle–ductile transition thickness H*?, defined as the depth at which the overburden pressure equals the local yield strength in tension. A fracture mechanical analysis, compared with time-lapse [...]
Comparing the Euro 2k reconstruction to a regional climate model simulation
Published: 2018-12-20
Subjects: Climate, Earth Sciences, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
We do not expect simulations and reconstructions of past climate change to agree on the exact evolution of past climate variations. Simulations with sophisticated climate models present spatially discrete but complete estimates, which are consistent relative to the implemented physics and their uncertain forcing data. Reconstruction methods statistically infer past changes from natural archives [...]
Cyclic preservation of Fe/Mn-redox fronts in sediments of an oligotrophic, ventilated deep-water lake (Lago Fagnano, Tierra del Fuego)
Published: 2018-12-20
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
Changing redox conditions in lakes are captured in their sediments, and are often influenced by climate. Their study therefore allows tracing past climate change on (sub-) annual to longer time-scales. In Lago Fagnano (54°S Argentina/Chile), an oligotrophic and deep-ventilated soft-water lake, cyclic alternations of light grey clay and dark green to black laminae are preserved throughout the [...]
Different stacking patterns along an active fold-and thrust-belt—Acerenza Bay, Southern Apennines (Italy)
Published: 2018-12-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
Traditional sequence stratigraphic models provide limited understanding of internal complexity and variability when applied to mixed siliciclastic-carbonate strata accumulated in tectonically active settings. Coeval Lower Pleistocene (Gelasian) shallow-marine, mixed siliciclastic-carbonate depositional wedges accumulated within an active piggy-back basin along the southern Italy fold-and [...]
Land surface temperature estimation at the global scale using satellite observations
Published: 2018-12-19
Subjects: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Engineering, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Aim of this paper is to offer a brief overview of satellite based LST estimation fundamentals, discuss the main design principles of the corresponding algorithms, present some examples of the global scale LST and land surface emissivity products from the literature that were derived using satellite observations, and finally highlight different challenges in the described measurement process. [...]
Report for the Yujiang Government on the China-UK Knowledge Exchange Project for the Red Soil Critical Zone
Published: 2018-12-19
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Nature and Society Relations, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Knowledge exchange (KE) has been increasingly used to translate the scientific findings to produce outputs that inform land users and policy makers to lead to the sustainable environmental management. As part of the wider China-UK Critical Zone (CZ) programme, a KE research project was conducted to help ensure research results can be more effectively delivered to those who need them. Following on [...]
Attributing Historical and Future Evolution of Radiative Feedbacks to Regional Warming Patterns using a Green’s Function Approach: The Preeminence of the Western Pacific
Published: 2018-12-18
Subjects: Climate, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Global radiative feedbacks have been found to vary in global climate model (GCM) simulations. Atmospheric GCMs (AGCMs) driven with historical patterns of sea-surface temperatures (SST) and sea-ice concentrations produce radiative feedbacks that trend toward more negative values, implying low climate sensitivity, over recent decades. Freely-evolving coupled GCMs driven by increasing CO2 produce [...]
Intensity-Duration-Frequency curves at the global scale
Published: 2018-12-18
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Hydraulic Engineering, Hydrology, Meteorology, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Water Resource Management
Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curves usefully quantify extreme precipitation over various durations and return periods for engineering design. Unfortunately, sparse, infrequent or short observations hinder the creation of robust IDF curves in many locations. This paper presents the first global, multi-temporal (1 to 360 hours) dataset of Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) parameters at 31 km [...]
Can we relate the surface expression of dike-induced normal faults to subsurface dike geometry?
Published: 2018-12-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology
Dikes feed volcanic eruptions and drive crustal extension on Earth and other planetary bodies. Yet many dikes do not reach the surface, instead triggering normal faulting and graben formation in overlying rock. Whilst dike-induced faults provide a surficial and accessible record of active and ancient diking, unlocking these archives is difficult because we do not know how faults grow above or [...]
Report for the Puding Government on the China-UK Karst Knowledge Exchange Project
Published: 2018-12-13
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Geography, Nature and Society Relations, Physical and Environmental Geography, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Water Resource Management
The report summaries the first stage output from the Knowledge Exchange (KE) research carried out in one of China’s rural areas in the karst landscape, aiming to understand the local knowledge sharing dynamic and learning preference of stakeholders. A social science survey was carried out in November 2016 in 7 villages of Puding County to 15 county leaders, 8 town leaders and 24 village leaders [...]
The Warnie Volcanic Province: A Jurassic Volcanic Province in Central Australia
Published: 2018-12-12
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Stratigraphy, Volcanology
The Cooper and Eromanga Basins of South Australia and Queensland are the largest onshore hydrocarbon 9 producing region in Australia. Igneous rocks have been documented infrequently within end of well reports over 10 the past 34 years, with a late Triassic to Jurassic age determined from well data. However, the areal extent and 11 nature of these basaltic rocks were largely unclear. Here, we [...]
The retreat pattern of glaciers controls the occurrence of turbidity currents on high-latitude fjord deltas
Published: 2018-12-12
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology
Glacier and ice sheet mass loss as a result of climate change is driving important coastal changes in Arctic fjords. Yet, limited information exists for Arctic coasts regarding the influence of glacial erosion and ice mass loss on the occurrence and character of turbidity currents in fjords which themselves affect delta dynamics. Here, we show how glacial erosion and the production of meltwaters [...]
Tracing marine cryptotephras in the North Atlantic during the Last Glacial Period: Improving the North Atlantic marine tephra framework
Published: 2018-12-12
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Tephrochronology is increasingly being recognised as a key tool for the correlation of disparate palaeoclimatic archives, underpinning chronological models and facilitating climatically independent comparisons of climate proxies. Tephra frameworks integrating both distal and proximal tephra occurrences are essential to these investigations providing key information on their spatial distributions, [...]
Tracing marine cryptotephras in the North Atlantic during the Last Glacial Period: Identification, characterisation and depositional controls
Published: 2018-12-12
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Tephrochronology is increasingly being utilised as a key tool for improving chronological models and correlating disparate palaeoclimatic sequences. For many sedimentary environments, however, there is an increased recognition that a range of processes may impart a delay in deposition and/or rework tephra. These processes can affect the integrity of tephra deposits as time-synchronous markers, [...]