Preprints
Search for science and technology (69 results)
Distinct roles of cyclones and anticyclones in setting the midwinter minimum of the North Pacific eddy activity. Part II: Eulerian eddy statistics and energetics
Published: 2022-08-14
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences
The characteristics and dynamics of midlatitude storm-tracks have been long investigated. Nevertheless, our understandings of the storm-tracks, especially the midwinter minimum of the North Pacific storm-track activity, are still limited, partly because Eulerian eddy statistics are incapable of separating cyclonic and anticyclonic contributions. Here we investigate the detailed seasonal evolution [...]
Data mining by watching old documentary TV programs to learn about the relationships between people’s lives and the landscape in Sakha in the perestroika era at the end of the 1980s
Published: 2022-08-14
Subjects: Geography
To accurately evaluate the spatiotemporal variability of ecosystem functions and services, as well as biodiversity, under a rapidly changing climate and shifting anthropogenic activities, it is an important but challenging task to retrieve information about past relationships among society, people’s lives, and the landscape. We watched documentary TV programs broadcast by the Japanese public [...]
Distinct roles of cyclones and anticyclones in setting the midwinter minimum of the North Pacific eddy activity: a Lagrangian perspective
Published: 2022-06-27
Subjects: Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The North Pacific storm-track activity is suppressed substantially under the excessively strong westerlies to form a distinct minimum in midwinter, which seems inconsistent with linear baroclinic instability theory. This “midwinter minimum” of the storm-track activity has been intensively investigated for decades as a test case for storm-track dynamics. However, the mechanisms controlling it are [...]
Pipeline availability limits on the feasibility of global coal-to-gas switching in the power sector
Published: 2022-05-02
Subjects: Oil, Gas, and Energy, Sustainability
Coal-to-gas switching in the power sector, as happened in the US, has been a key driver of near-term greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Can this success be replicated around the world? Here, we explore the limits of a global, plant-level, coal-to-gas transition arising from pipeline availability constraints. Globally, only 43% of coal capacity is within 14 km of a nearby pipeline, the median [...]
Petrographic characteristics in the pumice clast deposited along the Gulf of Thailand, drifted from Fukutoku-Oka-no-Ba
Published: 2022-04-21
Subjects: Earth Sciences
The 2021 eruption of Fukutoku-Oka-no-Ba (FOB) in the northwest Pacific on 13 August 2021 produced a large volume of pumice that drifted westward for ~1300 km to the Nansei Islands, Japan, and some extent. In February 2022, pumice with similar characteristics to the FOB pumice was deposited along along the Gulf of Thailand. The pumice clasts deposited in Songkhla Province, Thailand, were <4 cm in [...]
Aerosol-rainfall relationship over the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region from observations
Published: 2022-03-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences
Water is an essential element of life and rainfall. The amount of rainfall directly affects the spatial and temporal distribution of water resources on the Earth. Rainfall has direct impact on agricultural production, daily life activities, and human health. Atmospheric aerosols are essential for rainfall formation; therefore, understanding how dust compositions and distributions affect the [...]
Eavesdropping at the speed of light: distributed acoustic sensing of baleen whales in the Arctic
Published: 2022-03-22
Subjects: Marine Biology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Signal Processing
In a post-industrial whaling world, flagship and charismatic baleen whale species are indicators of the health of our oceans. However, traditional monitoring methods provide spatially and temporally undersampled data to evaluate and mitigate the impacts of increasing climatic and anthropogenic pressures for conservation. Here we present the first case of wildlife monitoring using distributed [...]
Challenges and uncertainty in plot-scale emissivity and surface temperature estimation using flux tower measurements
Published: 2021-12-15
Subjects: Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Land surface temperature (LST) is a preeminent state variable that controls the energy and water exchange between the Earth’s surface and the atmosphere. At the landscape-scale, LST is derived from thermal infrared radiance measured using space-borne radiometers. At the plot-scale, the flux tower recorded longwave radiation components are inverted to retrieve LST. Since the down-welling longwave [...]
Large-Scale Controlled Experiment Demonstrates Effectiveness of Methane Leak Detection and Repair Programs at Oil and Gas Facilities
Published: 2021-12-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences
The importance of reducing methane emissions from oil and gas operations as a near-term climate action is widely recognized. Most jurisdictions around the globe using leak detection and repair (LDAR) programs to find and fix methane leaks. In this work, we empirically evaluate the efficacy of LDAR programs using a large-scale, bottom-up, randomized controlled field experiment across ~200 oil and [...]
Unusual Suspects: “Allies in the Park, Are Closer Than They Appear”
Published: 2021-12-06
Subjects: Life Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences
One season, 1039 hours, as a Park Ranger at Mesa Verde National Park. Interps we are called, observing, telling stories, being stewards of the past, present and future of wildness. Wildness in the animal world is reserved to only 4% of the planets millions of animals, Wildness is why people come to the National Parks, they are the last stronghold of beauty that bears presence in each of our [...]
Variety of the drift pumice clasts from the 2021 Fukutoku-Oka-no-Ba eruption, Japan.
Published: 2021-11-25
Subjects: Geology, Volcanology
Pumice rafts that arrived at the Nansei Islands, Japan, provided a unique opportunity to investigate the Fukutoku-Oka-no-Ba (FOB) eruption of August 2021. Despite drifting for 2 months for ~1300 km, the drift pumice raft had a large volume and contained a variety of pumice clasts, some of which were deposited during a high tide in a typhoon, while others were washed up on a sandy beach. Most of [...]
Stalagmite evidence for Early Holocene multidecadal hydroclimate variability in Ethiopia
Published: 2021-09-22
Subjects: Geochemistry, Geology, Speleology
A multiproxy oxygen and carbon isotope (d13C and d18O), growth rate and trace element stalagmite paleoenvironmental record is presented for the Early Holocene from Achere Cave, Ethiopia. The annually laminated stalagmite grew from 10.6 to 10.4 ka, and from 9.7 to 9.0 ka with a short hiatus at ~9.25 ka. Using oxygen and carbon isotopic, and cave monitoring data, we demonstrate that the stalagmite [...]
ANALYSIS OF OWNER DRIVEN APPROACH OF HOUSING RECONSTRUCTION AFTER GORKHA EARTHQUAKE 2015: A CASE STUDY OF DHUNIBESHI MUNICIPALITY, DHADING
Published: 2021-05-26
Subjects: Engineering
A 7.6 magnitude earthquake occurred in Gorkha district of Nepal leading more than 9,000 estimated casualties, approximately 23,000 injuries and damages on more than half a million structures. For leading and managing the earthquake recovery and reconstruction in Nepal, a legally mandated agency named National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) was established in December 2015 which facilitate and [...]
Distributed Acoustic Sensing for Near Surface Imaging from Submarine Telecommunication Cable: Case Study in the Trondheim Fjord
Published: 2021-05-13
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology, Geotechnical Engineering, Signal Processing, Systems and Communications
Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) transforms submarine telecommunication cables into densely sampled seismic receivers. To demonstrate DAS applications for seismic imaging, we use an optical cable on the seafloor in the Trondheim Fjord, Norway, to record seismic data generated by a controlled seismic source. The data are simultaneously recorded by a towed hydrophone array and the fiber optic [...]
New Technologies can Cost-effectively Reduce Oil and Gas Methane Emissions, but Policies will Require Careful Design to Establish Mitigation Equivalence
Published: 2021-01-22
Subjects: Oil, Gas, and Energy
Reducing methane emissions from oil and gas systems is a central component of US and international climate policy. Leak detection and repair (LDAR) programs using optical gas imaging (OGI) based surveys are routinely used to mitigate fugitive emissions or leaks. Recently, new technologies and platforms such as planes, drones, and satellites promise more cost-effective methane mitigation than [...]