Preprints
There are 6976 Preprints listed.
Food trade disruption after global catastrophes
Published: 2024-06-29
Subjects: Agriculture, Human Geography, International and Area Studies, Nature and Society Relations, Other Geography
The global food trade system is resilient to minor disruptions but vulnerable to major ones. Major shocks can arise from global catastrophic risks, such as abrupt sunlight reduction scenarios (e.g., nuclear war) or global catastrophic infrastructure loss (e.g., due to severe geomagnetic storms or a global pandemic). We use a network model to examine how these two scenarios could impact global [...]
A global open-source dataset of monthly irrigated and rainfed cropped areas (MIRCA-OS) for the 21st century
Published: 2024-07-01
Subjects: Agriculture
Crop production is among the most extensive human activities on the planet – with critical importance for global food security, land use, environmental burden, and climate. Yet despite the key role that croplands play in global land use and Earth systems, there remains little understanding of how spatial patterns of global crop cultivation have recently evolved and which crops have contributed [...]
Littoral activity in the lava deltas of 2021 eruption on Cumbre Vieja Volcanic Rift, La Palma (Canary Islands): constraints on explosive water-magma interaction
Published: 2024-07-01
Subjects: Earth Sciences
Tephra jets are a characteristic explosive phenomenon of lava deltas built by pāhoehoe or ‘a‘ā lava flows. Field observations made during the growth of the 2021 South Lava Delta (La Palma island), emplaced under a 100–150 m high marine cliff, show tephra jets driven by penetration of seawater through the external lava breccia into the interior of ‘a‘ā lava flows entering the ocean. However, this [...]
Micro-Scale Mapping of Soil Organic Carbon: The Potential of Soft X-Ray Spectromicroscopy
Published: 2024-07-04
Subjects: Agriculture, Environmental Sciences, Soil Science
Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays a crucial role in soil fertility, productivity, and global carbon cycling. However, the mechanisms governing SOC persistence and turnover are not fully understood, hindering effective carbon management strategies. Especially limiting are challenges to visualize and characterize spatial distribution patterns of SOC within the intact soil. This study presents a novel [...]
Probability of Detection and Multi-Sensor Persistence of Methane Emissions from Coincident Airborne and Satellite Observations
Published: 2024-07-02
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Satellites are becoming a widely used measurement tool for methane detection and quantification. The landscape of satellite instruments with some methane point-source quantification capabilities is growing. Combining information across available sensor platforms could be pivotal for understanding trends and uncertainties in source-level emissions. However, to effectively combine information [...]
Unraveling the crop yield response under ... through the deployment of a drought index
Published: 2024-07-03
Subjects: Engineering
Extensive research has explored the impact of shading on vegetation growth and crop yield (CY) under agrivoltaic (APV) systems. These studies have revealed a notable connection between shading and CYs, with certain crop varieties showing benefits from shadings e.g., Berries and Leafy Vegetables, Forage remaining largely unaffected, and some crops e.g., Cereals, Grain Legumes, Fruits, and Root [...]
Increasingly seasonal jet stream raises risk of co-occurring flooding and extreme wind in Great Britain
Published: 2024-07-03
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Hydrology, Multivariate Analysis
Insurers and risk managers for critical infrastructure such as transport or power networks typically do not account for flooding and extreme winds happening at the same time in their quantitative risk assessments. We explore this potentially critical underestimation of risk from these co-occurring hazards through studying events using the regional 12 km resolution UK Climate Projections for a [...]
Mechanisms for upstream migration of firn aquifer drainage: preliminary observations of Helheim Glacier, Greenland
Published: 2024-07-03
Subjects: Glaciology
Surface meltwater can influence subglacial hydrology and ice dynamics if it reaches the ice sheet’s base. Firn aquifers store meltwater and drain into wide crevasses marking the aquifer’s downstream boundary, indicating water from firn aquifers drives hydrofracture to establish the upglacier-most surface-to-bed hydraulic connections. Yet, sparse observations limit our understanding of the [...]
Counting currents: resolving contradictory records of eruption history created by unsteady pyroclastic density current dynamics
Published: 2024-07-16
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Ignimbrite lithofacies analysis can be used to interpret the number and behaviour of pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) generated during a Plinian eruption, through identification of flow units in the rock record. However, pyroclastic stratigraphic successions are rarely complete and without breaks around a volcano, complicating regional analysis of hiatus markers. This study uses entrachron [...]
Building quantitative skills with a simplified physical model of coastal storm deposition
Published: 2024-07-04
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Educational Methods, Geomorphology, Higher Education, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
This article describes an exercise for a physical laboratory experiment designed to enable physical geography students to practice transferrable quantitative skills through inquiry-based learning. The exercise is a deliberately simplified physical model of storm-driven coastal overwash typical of low-lying coastal barrier systems. The experiment can be trialled in anything from a baking pan or [...]
Uranium-series isotopes as tracers of physical and chemical weathering in glacial sediments from Taylor Valley, Antarctica
Published: 2024-07-04
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Glaciology, Soil Science
The McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica formed by extensive glacial erosion, yet currently exhibit hyperarid polar conditions characterized by limited chemical and physical weathering. Efficient chemical weathering occurs when moisture is available, and polythermal subglacial conditions may accommodate ongoing mechanical weathering and valley incision. Taylor Valley hosts several Pleistocene [...]
Excitable Dynamics of Neoproterozoic to Early Paleozoic Atmospheric and Ocean Oxygen
Published: 2024-07-04
Subjects: Biogeochemistry
The geochemical carbon isotope and redox proxy record indicates that Earth’s surface oxygenation involved a prolonged period of extreme variability in atmospheric and oceanic oxygen, spanning from the early Neoproterozoic to the early Paleozoic. This variability has been linked to external tectonic and evolutionary forcings, as well as to internal nonlinear feedbacks related to the [...]
HydroSignal: Open-Source Internet of Things Information Communication Platform for Hydrological Education and Outreach
Published: 2024-07-16
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Engineering Education, Environmental Engineering
This paper introduces HydroSignal, a low-cost, open-source platform designed to transform environmental monitoring and hydrological data visualization, making it accessible to educators, students, and the general public. By integrating internet of things (IoT) technology with a user-friendly web interface, HydroSignal enables real-time data acquisition and visualization of key hydrological [...]
Interplay of slow-slip faults beneath Mexico City induces intense seismicity over months
Published: 2024-07-10
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In February 2023, a long seismic sequence began in western Mexico City causing widespread panic and some damage to housing infrastructure. On May 11 and December 14, two Mw3.2 mainshocks occurred at less than 700 m depth. Unprecedented satellite interferograms captured tectonic deformations in the two epicentral zones during the days surrounding the earthquakes. Data analysis revealed extended [...]
Evaluating the Flood Vulnerability of Urban Areas in Polk County, Iowa using Social-Ecological-Technological Framework
Published: 2024-07-08
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Risk Analysis
The escalating prominence of floods globally, with their catastrophic potential to inflict substantial losses in terms of both human lives and economic resources, underscores their significance. Particularly susceptible to flooding between May and July, the US Midwest faces heightened risks during this critical period, characterized by the highest average precipitation rates of the year. Flood [...]