Preprints
Search for science and technology (63 results)
Swiss data quality: augmenting CAMELS-CH with isotopes, water quality, agricultural and atmospheric chemistry data
Published: 2025-04-25
Subjects: Life Sciences
In the era of large-sample hydrology (LSH) datasets, there is still limited availability of water quality data. Here, we introduce CAMELS-CH-Chem, an extension of CAMELS-CH (Catchment Attributes and Meteorology for Large-sample Studies in Switzerland), incorporating up to 40 water quality parameters for 115 catchments across Switzerland. This new dataset spans the period 1981–2020 and allows for [...]
Automatic differentiation and geodynamic inversion
Published: 2025-04-23
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The rheological properties of the mantle govern plate tectonics and mantle convection, yet constraining the rheological parameters remains a significant challenge. Laboratory experiments are usually performed under different temperature-pressure-strain-rate conditions than those of natural environments, leading to substantial uncertainties when extrapolating the parameters to real-world [...]
Topic: Mobility as Climate Change Adaptation in South Africa: Exploring the legal and policy significance of Artificial Intelligence.
Published: 2025-04-20
Subjects: Environmental Studies
The increasing reality of mobility linked to adverse impacts of climate change highlights an urgent need for nuanced and systematic research around climate mobility. While mobility is often used as a coping or adaptation strategy to escape climate impact, some mobility typifies and results in maladaptation. Protecting populations in vulnerable situations usually raises issues that test the limits [...]
A controlled release experiment for investigating methane measurement performance at landfills
Published: 2025-04-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences
We assessed the performance of various methane measurement solutions in landfill applications. Our study involved full-scale multipoint- and area-source (dispersed) controlled releases of methane from the ground surface of a closed 25-hectare landfill with collection system and a background rate of 24 kg/hr. Most quantification methods performed well, but the Mobile Tracer Correlation Emissions [...]
Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Poised to Rocket: Modeling the Environmental Impact of LEO Satellite Constellations
Published: 2025-04-11
Subjects: Astrophysics and Astronomy, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Physics
The proliferation of satellite megaconstellations in low Earth orbit (LEO) represents a significant advancement in global broadband connectivity. However, we urgently need to understand the potential environmental impacts, particularly greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with these constellations. This study addresses a critical gap in modeling current and future GHG emissions by developing [...]
Enhancing the Normalized Difference Water Index for Improved Urban Flood Detection
Published: 2025-03-21
Subjects: Environmental Monitoring, Geographic Information Sciences, Hydrology, Natural Resource Economics, Other Earth Sciences, Physical and Environmental Geography, Remote Sensing, Spatial Science, Sustainability, Water Resource Management
Accurate urban flood detection is crucial for effective disaster management and urban planning. Traditional indices like the Normalized Difference Water Index and Modified Normalized Difference Water Index often produce inaccurate results due to spectral confusion in urban areas and sensitivity to shadows. Moreover, MNDWI's reliance on the Shortwave Infrared band limits its use with certain [...]
Interactive annular mode links jet stream-ocean coupling to decadal Northern Hemispheric warmth
Published: 2025-03-17
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The atmospheric jet stream governs the distribution and intensity of midlatitude weather systems and climate variability. In the Northern Hemisphere, meridional migrations of the jet stream are directly linked to the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events. While previous studies have established that jet stream fluctuations are modulated by spatio-temporal variations in diabatic [...]
Petrographical evidence of the >1000 km voyage of a white pumice raft that arrived at the Ogasawara and Nansei Islands after the October 2023 earthquakes in the southern Izu Islands
Published: 2025-02-11
Subjects: Volcanology
An earthquake swarm occurred at Sofu Seamount near Izu-Torishima in the Izu-Ogasawara (Bonin) Arc, Japan, on 8 October 2023, followed by the arrival of unexpectedly-large tsunamis over a wide area of the Pacific coast of southwest Japan. On 20 October, aerial observation identified floating pumice rafts extending for ~80 km in the area the seamount, which were subsequently sampled and found to [...]
Can neighbourhood interventions strengthen collective climate action?
Published: 2025-01-09
Subjects: Environmental Studies
This paper builds on a model of individual and collective climate action on the neighbourhood level recently presented by Klöckner et al. [1]. In this model, types of local climate action were empirically categorized (diet, travel, protest, other climate actions) and it was found that both individual and collective intentions contribute to self-reported climate actions in these categories and [...]
Temporal variation in counterclockwise vertical-axis block rotations across a rift overlap zone, southwestern Ethiopia, East Africa
Published: 2024-12-18
Subjects: Tectonics and Structure
The southward propagation of the southern Main Ethiopian Rift (sMER) and the northward propagation of the Kenya Rift have generated the Broadly Rifted Zone (BRZ), a ~40-km-wide region of extensional overlap between the Chew Bahir Basin-Gofa Province and the sMER. However, the tectonic interaction between these propagating rifts is not well-understood. We present new paleomagnetic and [...]
Evaluating Temporal and Spatial Variations in Vegetation Coverage in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (2004-2023) Using kNDVI
Published: 2024-12-18
Subjects: Higher Education
The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR) is a crucial ecological zone in China, facing significant environmental challenges, particularly climate change. To better understand vegetation dynamics in this region, this study examines vegetation cover trends from 2004 to 2023 and identifies their driving factors using an innovative kernel-based Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (kNDVI) [...]
Miocene ant-mealybug trophobiosis imaged with X-Ray micro-computed tomography
Published: 2024-10-26
Subjects: Paleobiology, Paleontology, Research Methods in Life Sciences
Amber is a remarkable preserving medium for Mesozoic and Cenozoic terrestrial biotas, but even when transparency is good, available viewing angles can be limited. The technique of X-ray micro-computed tomography allows inspection from any desired viewpoint and facilitates detailed anatomical measurements, avoiding parallax errors. Here, I show the use of this technique to study an extremely rare [...]
GROUNDWATER POTENTIAL MAPPING OF THE CENTRAL REGION USING INTEGRATED GEOLOGICAL AND GEOPHYSICAL METHODS
Published: 2024-08-13
Subjects: Engineering
Surface waters are deteriorating due mainly to poor farming practices, illegal mining activities and also climate change. In the Central region this has led to a rise in the need for groundwater as potable water supply. However, the Central region is known to be characterized by unsuccessful rate of borehole drilling, which usually results in waste of time and resources. The need to delineate [...]
A Systematic Review of Neural Network Applications for Groundwater Level Prediction
Published: 2024-07-30
Subjects: Engineering, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Physical models have long been employed for groundwater level (GWL) prediction. Recently, artificial intelligence (AI), particularly neural networks (NNs), have gained widespread use in forecasting GWL. Forecasting of GWL is essential to enable analyze, quantify and manage groundwater. This systematic review investigates the application of NNs for GWL prediction, focusing on the architectures of [...]
Alteration processes of mantle peridotite in the Samail ophiolite inferred from independent component analysis of rock physical properties
Published: 2024-07-27
Subjects: Geochemistry, Mineral Physics, Multivariate Analysis
To quantify the alteration processes of mantle from geophysical data, an understanding of the relationship between alteration and the physical properties of mantle peridotite is essential. In this study, we employed independent component analysis (ICA) to evaluate variations in the physical properties of altered peridotites collected by the Oman Drilling Project, to understand the alteration [...]