Preprints
There are 7999 Preprints listed.
Intertwining volcanoes and society in Chile through arts and interdisciplinary connections
Published: 2023-11-08
Subjects: Geography, Social and Behavioral Sciences
The separation between nature and society, of concern within social science and interdisciplinary discussions, has generated a division that often characterizes the way communities perceive their environment. The arts have played an important role in demonstrating the entanglement of Earth and society through their ability to frame and shape the dynamics of the Earth across sensations. This has [...]
Groundwater Ages in Intertill and Buried Valley Aquifers in Saskatchewan, Canada
Published: 2023-11-08
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Continental glaciations during the Pleistocene Epoch created complex systems of aquifers and aquitards across many northern regions of the Earth. The low hydraulic conductivities of glacial till aquitards suggest that limited recharge will reach the underlying aquifers, potentially preserving old groundwaters. Here, we characterize the recharge history in intertill and buried valley aquifers in [...]
ACCE DTP EDI Report 2023
Published: 2023-11-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Education, Environmental Sciences, Higher Education
Underrepresentation of minoritised and historically disadvantaged groups is prevalent in PhD recruitment, particularly in environmental sciences. The environmental science focussed ‘Adapting to the Challenges of a Changing Environment’ Doctoral Training Partnership (ACCE DTP) was awarded funding from the Natural Environment Research Council for an EDI-centred project. This project aimed to [...]
A late response of the sea-ice cover to Neoglacial cooling in the western Barents Sea
Published: 2023-11-09
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In high northern latitudes, the Middle to Late Holocene was a time of orbitally-induced atmospheric cooling. This led to increased sea-ice production in the Arctic Ocean and its export southward, a decrease in sea surface temperatures (SST), and glacier advances at least since 5-4 ka BP. However, the response of the ocean-climate system to decreasing insolation was not uniform. Our research shows [...]
Sedimentary biomarkers of human presence and taro cultivation reveal early horticulture in Remote Oceania
Published: 2023-11-10
Subjects: Paleontology, Sedimentology
Remote Oceania was among the last places settled by humans. However, the timing of initial human settlements and the early introduction of horticulture remain debated. We retrieved a sediment core close to Teouma, the oldest cemetery in Remote Oceania that reveals evidence of initial settlement, horticulture practice, and concurrent climatic conditions on the island of Efate, Vanuatu. Sedimentary [...]
How agriculture, droughts and diseases shaped the island environments of Remote Oceania over the last Millennium
Published: 2023-11-10
Subjects: Paleontology, Sedimentology
Over the past millennium, the Pacific Islands have experienced significant transformations, caused by different waves of human settlement and climatic variability. However, the paucity of archeological records coupled with the complex climatic setting of the tropical Pacific hinders our understanding of past environmental and societal changes. In this study, we employ a multi-proxy approach on [...]
In-situ quantification of carbonate species concentrations, pH and pCO2 in calcite fluid inclusions using confocal Raman spectroscopy.
Published: 2023-11-10
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Carbonate minerals are globally distributed on the modern and ancient Earth and are abundant in terrestrial and marine depositional environments. Fluid inclusions hosted by calcite retain primary signatures of the source fluid geochemistry at the time of mineral formation (i.e., pCO2) and can be used to reconstruct paleoenvironments. Confocal laser Raman spectroscopy provides a quick, [...]
Changing Landscapes in a Changing Climate: An Opportunity for Invasive Plants to Create a New Proxy for Recent Landslide Events
Published: 2023-11-11
Subjects: Education
The objective of this short communication is to review the impact resulting from climate change modifications in the landscape on the growth of invasive plant species within the Western Ghats region, with a specific emphasis on the state of Kerala in India. The study highlights the correlation between intense precipitation events and the frequency of landslides, which in turn facilitates ideal [...]
Defining Plastic Pollution Hotspots
Published: 2023-11-10
Subjects: Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Fresh Water Studies, Hydrology
Plastic pollution in the natural environment poses a growing threat to ecosystems and human health, prompting urgent needs for monitoring, prevention and clean-up measures, and new policies. To effectively prioritize resource allocation and mitigation strategies, it is key to identify and define plastic hotspots. UNEP’s draft global agreement on plastic pollution mandates prioritizing hotspots, [...]
Looking upstream: analyzing the protection of the drainage area of Amazon rivers
Published: 2023-11-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Sciences, Hydrology, Sustainability, Water Resource Management
In the Amazon, aquatic ecosystems provide essential ecosystem services, including transportation, food, and livelihoods for millions of species. Land use changes and management impact these ecosystem services, and these impacts are not limited to the specific areas where they occur but propagate downstream along the drainage network. However, assessment of the accumulated human footprint upstream [...]
Probabilistic assimilation of optical satellite data with physiologically based growth functions improves crop trait time series reconstruction
Published: 2023-11-13
Subjects: Agriculture
A sound understanding of plant growth is critical to maintaining future crop productivity under ongoing climate change. Remotely sensed time series of crop functional traits from optical satellite imagery are an invaluable tool for deriving appropriate management practices that facilitate risk mitigation and increase the resilience of agroecosystems. However, the availability of imagery is [...]
UpStream: A Modular, Metadata-First Architecture for Environmental Sensing During Intensive Observation Periods
Published: 2026-11-05
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Campaign-scale environmental sensing produces heterogeneous, high-frequency datasets that strain file- and portal-centric workflows and impede decision support. This paper presents UpStream, an API-first, metadata-supported, modular prototype for campaign-scale environmental sensor data. Co-designed with the SNIFFER air-quality laboratory, UpStream treats campaigns as first-class entities with [...]
Wildfires increasingly threaten oil and gas wells in the western United States with disproportionate impacts on marginalized populations
Published: 2023-11-15
Subjects: Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Oil, Gas, and Energy
The western United States is home to most of the nation’s oil and gas production and, increasingly, wildfires. We examined historical threats of wildfires for oil and gas wells, the extent to which wildfires are projected to threaten wells as climate change progresses, and exposure of human populations to these wells. From 1984–2019, we found that cumulatively 102,882 wells were [...]
Potential Volcanic Origin of the 2023 short-period Tsunami in the Izu Islands, Japan
Published: 2023-11-29
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
On October 8, 2023, at 21:40 UTC (6:40 on October 9 local time), a tsunami warning was declared for the Izu Islands and southwest Japan. This tsunami was initially considered to be associated with the M4.9 earthquake at 20:25 UTC (5:25 JST). However, we know events of this magnitude are far too small to generate observed tsunamis from coseismic deformation alone. In this study, we analyzed the [...]
Downsystem Grain-Size Trends and Mass Balance of an Ancient Wave-Influenced Sediment Routing System: Middle Jurassic Brent Delta, Northern North Sea, Offshore UK and Norway
Published: 2023-11-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy
We reconstruct upsystem-to-downsystem grain-size variations in the sediment routing systems of the data-rich Middle Jurassic Brent Group of the northern North Sea, using published stratigraphic, thickness, palaeogeographic, provenance and age constraints combined with representative core and wireline-log data. Facies associations provide a textural proxy for gravel, sand and mud grain-size [...]