bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Risk of re-release of microplastics from sewage fertilisers into the environment
Authors: Worek Jagoda , Gawlak Ewa , Kawoń Kamil , Chwiej Joanna , Bolesta Wioleta , Styszko Katarzyna
Published: February 2023

Microplastics found in sewage are mainly microparticles from cosmetics (peelings, toothpaste) and fibres from fabrics (which get into the sewage during washing). Microplastics removed from wastewater accumulate primarily in raw sludge, which it ends up in the sludge processing sector. Due to their low susceptibility to biodegradation, microplastics together with stabilised sewage sludge end up in the soil or are otherwise processed together with the sludge.The purpose of the research was to analyze the content of microplastics in stabilised sewage sludge, of which up to 90% is used to produce fertilizers. The analysis was based first on the oxidation of the matrix with peroxide and then density separation with a saturated solution of zinc chloride (ZnCl2). The second stage consisted of the analysis of separated microplastic fractions. For this purpose, the ATR FTIR and FTIR microscope were used. A complementary apparatus was also used, which was a confocal Raman microscope. Stabilised sewage sludge was analyzed depending on the day of its collection. The highest amount of microplastics was found in the samples from Monday, Friday and Saturday. This was due to the increased release of hygiene products containing plastic microbeads. Qualitative analysis, which showed the highest amount of LDPE microplastic fraction. The highest amount of microplastics per 100 grammes of dry weight was 1,084 fragments and 1,128 fibres, for a total of 2,212 microplastic particles. If 90% of the stabilised sewage sludge was used for the production of fertiliser, the emission would be about 1990 particles per 100 grammes. The study showed that the use of sewage sludge to create fertilisers will contribute to the emission of a significant amount of microplastics into the environment.         Acknowledgments: A Research project financed by program “Initiative for Excellence – ResearchUniversity” for the AGH University of Science and Technology. The research was supported byResearch Subsidy AGH 16.16.210.476.
Modelling severe hail events over Austria using the metastatistical extreme value distribution
Authors: Falkensteiner Marc-André , Ehrensperger Gregor , Simon Thorsten , Hell Tobias
Published: February 2023

Knowledge about extreme values of severe hail plays an important role in engineering and insurance. The estimation of return levels of severe hail events is challenging, as hail is locally rare and documentation about hail events is not available in a unified way. For instance for the state of Austria GeoSphere provides radar based probabilities of hail (POH) and maxima of expected hail size (MEHS) that only span a period from 2010 onward.Based on this sparse data the application of classical extreme value theory, such as Block-Maxima or Peak over Threshold might be invalid. Instead we use a version of the metastatistical extreme value distribution (MEVD), which was shown to work reasonably well in the context of extreme precipitation events, even with a rather small number of available years used for the estimation in comparison to the recurrence time. More precisely we make an assumption about the underlying probability distribution of the daily maximum POH values. The parameters of the distribution are then modeled as smooth functions of the day of the year and the year of observation, thus employing the framework of generalized additive models for location, scale and shape (GAMLSS). Furthermore we add topographic information (longitude, latitude, altitude) to our model, resulting in a full spatiotemporal model across the whole domain of Austria, from which the return values of the POH, respectively MEHS are calculated.This framework allows for the incorporation of an arbitrary number of additional covariables, as long as they are available on the same grid as the desired output. To illustrate this we use the information of daily precipitation extremes to enrich the model with additional atmospheric information.
Increased tundra root biomass offset invasive earthworm effects on SOC decomposition
Authors: Jonsson Hanna , Blume-Werry Gesche , Wackett Adrian , Arvidsson Emeli , Lundgren Oscar , Klaminder Jonatan
Published: February 2023

Arctic soils store nearly half of the global soil organic carbon, but what will happen with this large carbon pool if soil macrofauna, able to ingest organic matter accumulated at depths in the soil, establish in the Arctic? The question is justified as emerging evidence suggests that low soil organic carbon (SOC) turnover rates in high latitude ecosystems could, in addition to abiotic factors, partly be due to the current lack of larger detritivores that can stimulate the breakdown of organic matter. Earthworms are large detritivores increasing their distribution into arctic ecosystems. With potential to both increase stabilisation and decomposition of SOC, but also enhance plant productivity, it has been difficult to determine what net effect earthworms have on ecosystem C storage. The scientific debate around this ‘earthworm dilemma’ has however primarily focused on the fate of SOC in response to earthworms, leaving cascading effects on plant productivity largely undiscussed.Here, we use a four-year outdoor experiment to study the effects of introducing earthworms to tundra vegetation types on both plant biomass (above and belowground) and SOC. We found that earthworms invasive to the Arctic: i) reduced the SOC pool beneath herb dominated tundra while they increased the SOC pool under dwarf-shrub dominated tundra; ii) increased the below ground biomass in both vegetation types; and iii) increased the total plant biomass C to the degree that it offset the SOC losses from the herb dominated soil. In the dwarf-shrub vegetation, earthworms increased both the plant C pool and the SOC pool resulting in a net increase of the ecosystem C stock. We highlight that the effect on root growth seems of great importance when predicting how ecosystem C sequestering responds to invasive earthworms. Both through increased plant biomass C but also through increased deposition of persistent root-derived organic matter.
Is maximizing spatial resolution worth the computational cost?
Authors: Eid Yomna , Pebesma Edzer
Published: February 2023

Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15788dfGPL5ehDaDsO7BsOKoGk3Bk7g2epKQ58HiYZVM/editThe core of the modern data revolution is data centers: “the central nervous system of the 21st century,” [1] housing networking and storage equipment, and servers that enable services such as cloud computing. They consume increasing quantities of energy not only to run their operations, but also to cool down their servers. With advances in cloud computing and the growth of Internet services use, data centres are estimated to have the fastest growing carbon footprint from across the whole ICT sector.Although the opportunities and risks of Big Data are often discussed in the geosciences, most of the literature and initiatives surprisingly neglect a crucial risk for sustainable development: the fact that the data revolution hampers sustainable development because of its environmental footprint. Therefore, the ability to quantify and project data centre energy use is a key energy and climate policy priority.Remote sensing products present one of the highest storage-capacity demands, with imagery archives spanning petabytes. High- and very high-resolution remote sensing imagery has emerged as an important source of data for various geoscientific analysis, most of which are highly computationally taxing. With this trend in increasing spatial and temporal resolution, a crucial question remains - is the accuracy and overall quality of analysis results significantly impacted by substituting the standard high-resolution product with a less computationally-intensive, coarser-resolution one?Emerging products such as the World Settlement Footprint [2] and Dynamic World [3] land use land cover maps, which are produced at very high temporal resolution (5 day) and spatial resolution (10 m). A generally accepted attitude is that developing products at higher resolutions is a legitimate scientific goal. However, the interest is often not which 10 m pixel changes land use and when exactly this happens, but rather how many pixels change land use over a larger area (a country, or basin) and over a larger time period (e.g. by year over a decade). For a few high resolution products we evaluate and report how such aggregated target quantities computed from lower spatial and temporal resolution data change the quality (accuracy) of the final product, and which resolutions still seem acceptable.[1] Lucivero, F. Big Data, Big Waste? A Reflection on the Environmental Sustainability of Big Data Initiatives. Sci Eng Ethics 26, 1009–1030 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-019-00171-7[2] Marconcini, M., Metz-Marconcini, A., Üreyen, S. et al. Outlining where humans live, the World Settlement Footprint 2015. Sci Data 7, 242 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-00580-5[3] Brown, C.F., Brumby, S.P., Guzder-Williams, B. et al. Dynamic World, Near real-time global 10 m land use land cover mapping. Sci Data 9, 251 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01307-4
The energy-altitude relation in solar flare footpoints observed by STIX
Authors: Mikuła Katarzyna , Mrozek Tomasz
Published: February 2023

Solar flares are efficient accelerators of energetic particles, mainly electrons, which transport energy from reconnection site to the chromosphere. Energetic electrons are thermalized in the chromosphere and produce hard X-ray emission (HXR) following the thick-target bremsstrahlung mechanism. The thick-target model predicts that altitude of the HXR sources in the footpoints of solar flare decreses with incresing energy. The relation was registered for the solar flares observed with Yohkoh/HXT and RHESSI. In our research, we investigated the energy-altitude relation in flare footpoints in a group of strong (>M1.0 GOES class) events recorded by the Spectrometer/Telescope for Imaging X-rays (STIX) onboard the Solar Orbiter. Here we present the results of analysis of the relation obtained from STIX data, e.g. temporal evolution and density distributions on selected examples. Thanks to unprecedented high temporal and spatial resolutions  of STIX data, we can trace changes of plasma dynamics in footpoints like never before.
The Marsquake Service since the InSight mission to Mars
Authors: Kim Doyeon , Clinton John , Ceylan Savas , Horleston Anna , Stähler Simon , Kawamura Taichi , Charalambous Constantinos , Dahmen Nikolaj , Duran Cecilia , Plasman Matthieu , Zenhäusern Géraldine , Euchner Fabian , Knapmeyer Martin , Giardini Domenico , Lognonné Philippe , Pike Tom , Panning Mark , Banerdt William
Published: February 2023

After ~4 years of deployment on the martian surface monitoring the planet’s ground motion, the InSight seismometer is now retired. Here, we review the procedures and methods the Marsquake Service (MQS) used to curate the seismic event catalog and describe the content of the catalog. The marsquake catalogue is different from normal catalogues on Earth as it aims to provide the authoritative catalog for the mission, covering the entire planet, using only a single station. As of January 1st, 2023, the MQS catalog contains 1319 seismic events of which 6 are known meteorite impacts. We have also identified 1383 superhigh frequency events that are interpreted as thermal cracking nearby the InSight lander. Late in the project large distant events occurred that allowed MQS to detect surface waves. Multiple events have been associated as impacts using orbital imaging, confirming the MQS single station location procedures. All of these new seismic phases have contributed to advance our understanding of the internal structure of Mars. The marsquake S1222a, the largest event recorded during the mission (MW 4.7) occurred in March 2022 and is also documented in our latest MQS catalog, V13, with many associated seismic phases including both Rayleigh and Love waves, their first-order overtones, and multi-orbiting surface waves that have not been identified in other marsquake records from our previous catalogues. The InSight mission is now closed but the MQS operation continues to analyze the ~4 years of seismic recordings on Mars and a final catalog, including event-specific products such as filter banks, and spectra, is in preparation. This final catalog will inform capabilities and field strategies in geophysical explorations for future martian science missions.
Characterization protocol of Florentine historical mortars for absolute dating
Authors: Calandra Sara , Cantisani Emma , Pecchioni Elena , Salvatici Teresa , Centauro Irene , Garzonio Carlo Alberto
Published: February 2023

The raw materials used in the realization of a mortar provide information on the supply areas, original recipes and ancient technologies used to realize a building or an artefact. The raw materials utilized may vary over time, so they may be useful to give an indication of its relative dating.In this field, from the pioneering studies of Labeyrie and Delibrias, (1964) and Stuiver and Smith, (1965), was evaluated the possibilities to radiocarbon dating of historical mortars; this research field still open, since may present many issues in its application. In principle, the carbon fraction datable is represented by calcite (CaCO3) resulting from the hardening of the quicklime (calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) that reacts with CO2 from the atmosphere. The lime binder and lump (un-mixed portion of lime in an aerial mortar) represent the portions that must be isolated from other carbon sources to accurately date mortars. Previous research shows that suitable and proper sampling of mortar samples is of fundamental importance for a conclusive radiocarbon analysis.In recent years, a complete characterization of the mortar before radiocarbon dating was strongly encouraged (Cantisani et al. 2021). The minero-petrographic characterization is the first step to identify the type of mortar and to develop an efficient analytical approach that allows to select the most suitable component of mortar for absolute dating.This work is aimed at mortar characterizing of an important architectural Cultural Heritage in Florence (Italy), Palazzo Medici Riccardi, to understand the building technique, the choice of raw materials, the history of its construction and, possibly, the presence of mortar datable fraction. A correct sampling and characterization procedures allow to know the composition of the binder, the nature of the aggregate, the presence of lumps, the carbonate origins etc. Therefore, to reduce the cost and time of dating, it is necessary to utilize always a fully characterized sample, consisting of a calcite binder, to be subjected subsequently to analysis to accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) for dating.The research proposes on operative protocol applied on 12 mortar masonry samples of Palazzo Medici Riccardi, composed by: i) a preliminary in-depth characterization of mortar specimens, by means of multi-analytical techniques such as OM, XRPD, TGA, SEM-EDS, OM-CL for a chemical, minero-petrographic and physical characterization fields; ii) non-destructive analyses of datable samples selected, using XRPD, OM-CL and ATR-FTIR (Calandra et al. 2022). The combined use of characterization techniques is the key to obtaining more evidence regarding the composition of the samples to be dated. The selection protocol has made it possible to choose several samples for dating, thanks to which the history of the construction of Palazzo Medici Riccardi will be further explored. 
How can we develop an inclusive pedagogy for online teaching in atmospheric sciences to maximise student engagement?
Authors: Whitehouse Louise
Published: February 2023

This research explores the experiences of students and staff who have been involved in online courses delivered by the National Centre for Atmospheric Science since March 2020, with a view to developing a pedagogic approach which will help to make online learning more engaging for all students.
I work for the National Centre for Atmospheric Science coordinating the training that we deliver in Atmospheric Science to postgraduate researchers. Over the last two years we have moved much of our training online and I have invested time in working with staff to understand the ways we can best support them to maximise student engagement. When students are attending a course virtually it is challenging to create an environment within which they feel comfortable speaking and sharing their experiences and also for them to feel engaged enough with their learning community to feel that their presence is valued and that they would be missed if absent. When looking to engage students throughout a programme, building a sense of community is a key factor (Boyle et al., 2010; Yates et al., 2014) and builds a sense of dependency amongst the students. Although generally, students are defined as being engaged if they are actively involved in doing something, whether that be activities, discussions or group work (Radloff & Coates, 2010), Kahu et al suggest a broader definition where students feel a connection to their studies (Kahu et al., 2014). As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic many courses have needed to be delivered online, and few teachers have the specific skills needed to develop and deliver high quality online training (OECD, 2020), meaning that delivering teaching that engages students has been challenging. This work unpacks the different approaches used to help students and teachers connect with online delivery, and then applies this to the experiences of those we have worked with in recent times.  I then synthesise our experiences with others taken from literature to propose a best practice approach to creating an inclusive environment within our online teaching spaces and implementing it into future courses.
I define an inclusive pedagogy as an approach to teaching that is intended to engage all students (Florian & Black-Hawkins, 2011). So this is not about access for those with specific additional needs or protected characteristics, but developing a pedagogy which extends what is available for everyone to engage with, rather than providing access for all by differentiating for some. This work focuses on extending what the classroom community offers to all students and making them part of that community, rather identifying some learners as having specific needs which must be met.
Topography influence on turbulent profiles over the ATTO site
Authors: de Oliveira Raissa , Brondani Daiane , Mortarini Luca , Giostra Umberto , Alves Eliane , Quesada Carlos Alberto , Dias-Junior Cléo Quaresma
Published: February 2023

The spatial representativeness of anemometric tower measurements and the underlying hypothesis of horizontal homogeneity of the atmospheric flows have long being questioned in the literature. Further, forest are rarely situated on uniform and flat terrain in which the horizontally homogeneity of turbulence holds. The orography around the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) site makes no exception. The measurement site is located on a narrow plateau SW-NE oriented, surrounded by lower hills. It is then natural to investigate the spatial variability of the turbulent field around the ATTO and the INSTANT towers to understand the role played by gentle topography. The Parallelized Large-Eddy Simulation Model (PALM) is used to simulate the atmospheric flow over the Amazon Forest and to investigate the effect of topography on the Atmospheric flow within and above the roughness sublayer. The real topography of the ATTO site is considered, while a horizontally homogeneous leaf area density (LAD) profile is assumed for the canopy over the whole area. Hence, the flow variability can be totally ascribed to spatial orography gradients. The influence of orography is assessed comparing the profiles of the turbulent kinetic energy components and fluxes evaluate over flat terrain and over the real topography at different position on the horizontal plane. The dependence of the orography influence on the wind direction is investigated considering two different wind directions. 
Automatically Calculating Depths of Martian and Lunar Pits with Satellite Imagery
Authors: Le Corre Daniel , Mason Nigel , Bernard-Salas Jeronimo , Cox Nick , Mary David
Published: February 2023

Pits, or pit craters, are roughly circular depressions found in planetary surfaces which are generally formed through gravitational collapse. Pits will be primary targets for future space exploration and habitability for their presence on most rocky Solar System surfaces and their potential to be entrances to sub-surface cavities. This is particularly true on the Moon and Mars where future astronauts will also be exposed to high radiation dosages whilst on the surface. However, since pits are rarely found to have corresponding high-resolution elevation data, tools are required for approximating their depths in order to find those which are the ideal candidates for exploration and habitation.We develop a tool that automatically calculates a pit’s apparent depth – the depth at the edge of its shadow - by measuring the shadow’s width as it appears in satellite imagery. The tool can produce a profile of the apparent depth along the entire length of the shadow, using just one cropped single- or multi-band image of a pit. Thus, allowing for the search for possible cave entrances to continue where altimetry or stereo image data is not available. Shadows are automatically extracted using k-means clustering with silhouette analysis for automatic cluster validation. We will present the results of testing the shadow extraction upon shadow-labelled Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE imagery of Martian pits, as well as the findings of applying the tool to HiRISE images of Atypical Pit Craters (APCs) from the Mars Global Cave Candidate Catalog (MGC3) [1]. We will also present preliminary results of applying our tool to Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Narrow Angle Camera data taken of Lunar pits catalogued in the Lunar Pit Atlas [2].[1] – Cushing et al. (2015). Atypical pit craters on Mars: New insights from THEMIS, CTX, and HiRISE observations, Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 120, 1023–1043[2] – Wagner & Robinson (2021). Occurrence and Origin of Lunar Pits: Observations from a New Catalog, in 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, p. 253
Pocket beach management: the use of ambient noise to estimate beach sedimentary thickness
Authors: Iregbeyen Peter , D'Amico Sebastiano , Galone Luciano , Colica Emanuele
Published: February 2023

Pocket beaches, otherwise known as embayed beaches are beaches whose existence are traceable to human activity or natural occurrence. These beaches are found to be confined within the base of geological structures or artificially designed set up such as groin, hence, pocket beaches are always subject to various attacks via anthropogenic or natural forces. These attacks in many cases reflects in the thickness of the beach sediments and therefore determine the extent to which it can survive when hit by unfriendly environmental impact. Estimation of the sedimentary thickness of the beach is a vital tool in a successful geomorphological investigation geared towards the effective execution of coastal area management. This study aims to estimate the sedimentary thickness in several pocket beaches located in Malta using the passive seismic survey method of Horizontal-to-Vertical spectral ratio (H/V). This geophysical survey method employs seismic noise to estimate the depth or thickness of a sedimentary layer over a bedrock with higher shear wave velocity.  Although in recent years, this methodology has increased in popularity in geological investigations, however, there are few examples of the application of this approach to marine sandy beaches in the scientific literature, making this study a novel contribution to the field. The results of the study revealed clear H/V peaks on the beaches studied, with frequency variations corresponding to the expected sediment thickness variations. The latter was also computed by modelling of the H/V curves as well as the use of known data. The application of the H/V technique to the Maltese pocket beach system has demonstrated its effectiveness in providing valuable information for the effective use in the management of the coastal environments. This study has been supported by the SIPOBED project financed by the Malta Council of Science and Technology (MCST) - Space Reearch Funds 
Compound hot and dry extremes might be underestimated in CMIP6 projections
Authors: Jha Srinidhi , Gudmundsson Lukas , I. Seneviratne Sonia
Published: February 2023

Future projections of compound hot and dry extremes vary significantly across different ESMs in CMIP6. This affects our understanding of possible future risks of such events specially under high warming-high emission scenarios. We analyze the compound hot and dry extreme events in the SSP5-8.5 projections in 35 different ESMs contributing to CMIP6 for present-day climate (+1°C) and additional global warming levels (+1.5°C, +2°C, +3°C). It is found that the inter-model differences in the projections is quite significant. Investigating this spread, we establish a statistical emergent relationship between future changes in compound hot and dry extremes and the correlation between hot and dry events in the recent past. This robust association indicates that future changes in the global average likelihood of compound hot and dry extremes could be significantly underestimated. The emergent relationship also shows strong regional constraints, and areas which exhibit substantial underestimation of  future changes in compound hot and dry extreme projections are the North America, Amazonian, Mediterranean, West Africa and Mediterranean regions. The results contribute to understanding and reducing uncertainties in future projections of compound hot and dry extremes and therefore aid the formulation of effecting risk management and climate mitigation strategies.  
Soil deformation during field traffic
Authors: Lorenz Marco , Weise Maike , Germer Kai , Brunotte Joachim
Published: February 2023

Under moist soil conditions, high wheel loads and repeated wheel passes due to intensive field traffic, e.g. at sugar beet harvest, significantly increase the risk of soil compaction and harmful soil structure damages. The tires of the machines induce loads into the soil via the tire soil interface. The pressure is transmitted into the soil and may induce soil deformations. Plastic soil deformation lead to soil compaction with multiple effects on soil parameter (e.g. dry bulk density, air capacity), soil structure and soil pore system.A measurement device is presented to measure soil pressure and soil deformation simultaniously in different soil depth. It was applied for different field traffic situations and techniques at silage maize and sugar beet harvest, as well as for the application of digestates on a stagnic Luvisol in northern Germany. Under moist soil conditions, almost every wheel pass leads to plastic soil deformation in the topsoil. Depending on soil loads and conditions, the subsoil can also be deformed. In all measurements, the first wheel pass induces the highest deformation, but every further wheel leads to further soil deformation. Therefore, in addition to the wheel load, the number of wheel passes also plays an essential role in evaluating field traffic and soil compaction processes.Undisturbed soil cores were collected before and after field traffic in different soil depth (20, 35, 50 cm) and analyzed in the soil physical laboratory. With increasing plastic deformation the total pore volume decreases, wider soil pores were reduced and finer soil pores generally increase. Hence, mainly parameters like dry bulk density, air capacity and saturated hydraulic conductivity react negatively to increasing soil deformation.
Data Producer and Data User Needs for Airborne and Field Earth Science Research Measurements
Authors: Wilson Bruce , Buzanowicz Megan , Leon Amanda , Lubkin Sara , Sinclair Leigh , Stano Geoffry , Thornton Michele , Tisdale Matthew , Walker Tammy , Wei Yaxing , Wingo Stephanie
Published: February 2023

This presentation summarizes information on the needs of data producers and data users gathered from the combination of a March 2022 two-day on-line workshop and the nearly 30-year history of the NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs).  The workshop included over 100 participants, primarily from the United States, with the first day focusing on the needs of data users and the second day focusing on the needs of data producers.  Based on both the workshop and the collective experience of the DAACs, both data producers and data users benefit substantially when there is an early partnership between the research project producing the data and the data archive which will publish the data.  The highly heterogenous nature of airborne and field research data presents  particular challenges for discovery, particularly in the context of systems that are optimized for discovery and delivery of on-orbit Earth science data.  The DAACs experience also demonstrates an evolution of best practices for working with this kind of data.  However, systems which have been in operation for decades often have technical debt, which can constrain the evolution of the research data infrastructure.  The migration of EOSDIS into a commercial cloud environment presents several interesting opportunities for addressing the data producer and data user needs identified by the workshop and experience of the DAACs.  
Study of the Moho interface and its controlling mechanism on petroleum-rich sag in Beibu Gulf Basin by satellite potential field data
Authors: Wang Lin , Wang WanYin , Zhang YiMi
Published: February 2023

The Beibu-Gulf Basin is one of the important petroleum-bearing basins in offshore South China Sea. Decades of exploration has found great petroleum resource potential in it, but the overall petroleum geological reserves level is not very high when it comes to specific structure unit. Traditional petroleum exploration was concentrated on the shallower sediment geological conditions, however some studies have shown that there is a close relationship between petroleum resources and deep earth structures, especially the Moho interface or the crust. In this abstract we calculated the depth of Moho interface in Beibu Gulf Basin by dual-interface fast inversion algorithm and the thickness of crust with satellite potential field data. It shows that the depth of Moho shallows from the land to sea area and reaches its highest value up to 46.5 km in the northwest land area, while there is an obviously uplift in the southwest Yinggehai Basin in which the depth only comes to 12.7 km, and ranges greatly from different sags in Beibu Gulf Basin. Based on these results, we researched the quantitative relationship between the distribution of petroleum-rich sags and the fluctuation deviation of Moho depth and its horizontal gradient, together with the stretch factor of crust. We also found that there is a strong correlation among the uplift zone of the Moho or the thinning area of crust (stretch factor>1.0) and the oil and gas sources or gathering places, which will produce a beneficial temperature, pressure, chemistry as well as structure condition for organic matter to form oil and gas. So this research will offer a perspective about the controlling mechanism of the differential distribution in petroleum-rich sags due to the deep earth structure, and help for the further selection of target areas in Beibu Gulf Basin.
Large-Scale InSAR Monitoring: Status and Challenges
Authors: Rucci Alessio , Ferretti Alessandro , Fumagalli Alfio , Passera Emanuele
Published: February 2023

After a slow uptake, spaceborne radar interferometry techniques are becoming a key tool for wide area ground deformation mapping and for frequent, local, monitoring programs. Wide area processing (WAP) allows users to obtain synoptic views of displacement phenomena over thousands - or even millions - of square km, paving the way for new environmental monitoring programs providing invaluable information on a variety of natural and anthropogenic hazards. In this paper, we argue that the growing number of projects at national or even continental scale (such as the European Ground Motion Service - EGMS) is the result of three factors: (1) a proper space segment, allowing systematic SAR acquisitions at global scale suitable for InSAR analyses; (2) increased computational resources, typically via cloud computing, allowing scalable processing chains; (3) new visualization platforms for 4D data, where the temporal dimension can be easily displayed and interrogated. In WAP projects, several aspects - having limited impact at local scale - become extremely important, e.g.: careful estimation and compensation of atmospheric artifacts (exhibiting a variance increasing with the distance from the reference point); proper data calibration via GNSS measurements (important to make the data more easily interpreted and integrated with other information sources and to better estimate vertical and east-west displacement components from ascending and descending satellite passes); data mosaicking (in fact, the final result is usually the merge of the results of different data stacks of SAR images). Although significant advances have been made in recent years in all these processing steps, some challenges remain. Another topic which is becoming increasingly important is the size of InSAR databases. In fact, data screening tools are becoming a must to take advantage of the huge amount of information associated with a typical WAP project. Which points are exhibiting a change in trend over the last few months? What areas are accelerating? Which points suffered an abrupt change in location after the last seismic event? These are typical questions users want to answer in a few seconds and not after hours or even days spent on a GIS platform. After a gallery of examples of different WAP projects at regional, national, and continental scale, the paper reports some suggestions and recommendations to improve the quality, the effectiveness and the usability of future WAP InSAR projects.
Emerging soil microbial-based strategies and seed enhancement technologies for restoring biodiverse degraded ecosystems
Authors: Muñoz-Rojas Miriam , Dadzie Frederick , Machado de Lima Nathali
Published: February 2023

Global environmental changes such as drought, intense fire and land degradation are rapidly transforming the structure and functioning of ecosystems worldwide. These changes are leading to a severe loss of above and belowground biodiversity and increased soil degradation. Soil microorganisms control important ecosystem functions such as nutrient cycling, plant productivity and climate regulation. Thus, microbially assisted conservation and restoration have the potential to reconnect above- and belowground dynamics, creating functional ecosystems that are more resilient to climate change impacts.Our recent research has focused on (i) assessing the responses of soil microbial communities to disturbance, e.g., severe fire, and extractive activities such as mining, and (ii) developing bio inoculants composed of locally sourced soil bacteria from the rhizosphere, and biocrust cyanobacteria, to promote plant growth and soil fertility and enhance ecosystem capacity for global change adaptation. This presentation will showcase some key findings of these studies conducted in contrasting Australian ecosystems (shrubland-grassland in the arid zone, and subtropical/temperate forests). These outcomes include the successful translocation of whole-soil communities for inhibiting weeds, and the effective use of indigenous microbes (rhizobacteria and cyanobacteria combinations) for soil carbon sequestration, nitrogen fixation, and growth promotion of key arid and temperate plant species. We will also discuss the potential applicability of these approaches through emerging seed enhancement technologies such as biopellets, for landscape-scale conservation and restoration programs in the context of climate change.
Extreme flood impact on riparian vegetation dynamics in the Ahr catchment, Germany
Authors: Hauser Chiara , Beer Alexander R. , Gacmenga Clemens , Ozturk Ugur , Dietze Michael , Bell Rainer , Lucía Ana
Published: February 2023

On 14th and 15th July 2021 heavy rainfall in western Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands caused severe floodings. The most affected area in Germany was the 86 km long Ahr river valley, which suffered from severe damage to buildings and infrastructure and where more than 130 people died. The Ahr flood exceeded a return period of at minimum 500 years. The river Ahr drains around 900 km2 of the Rhenish Massif with a dendritic catchment from west to east causing differences in slope properties and covering different land uses. The flood water carried large woody debris that caused clogging in bridges of the main valley and some tributaries, some of which collapsed. This extreme event thus offers the opportunity to explore the spatial impact and characteristics of large wood on channel dynamics. This study aims to find thresholds for the initiation of large wood recruitment, dependent on catchment size, valley slopes, water quantity and land use.The study focuses on the whole catchment area of the Ahr river. Using general vegetation data obtained from the German national forest inventory, we quantified the type and amount of flood-affected vegetation. We adopted an NDVI (normalized differential vegetation index) based change detection approach using Landsat/Sentinel satellite data (Google Earth Engine based Hazmapper) to identify recruited live vegetation and deadwood transport during the flood. We validated this remotely obtained data with field surveys along selected valley sections.Large wood was predominantly recruited from the fluvial corridor in the main Ahr valley and not from the tributaries, even if those experienced heavy precipitation and surface runoff (up to few meters high discharge on the flood plains). Although we have observed transported tree trunks in those tributaries, there was no large pattern. We aspire to identify deposition areas using ortho photos to investigate a wood balance.Including large wood in flood modelling would improve flood hazard assessments. Remote sensing analyses offer an interim solution in this regard by helping to identify potential large wood recruitment areas and inform designing flood hazard prevention measures.
Cross-Shelf Transport, Composition and Degradation of Terrestrial Permafrost Organic Matter at the Sediment-Water Interface in the Laptev and East Siberian Seas
Authors: Madaj Lina , Keskitalo Kirsi , Gustafsson Örjan , Tesi Tommaso , Semiletov Igor , Dudarev Oleg , Martens Jannik , Haghipour Negar , Bröder Lisa , Vonk Jorien
Published: February 2023

The ongoing rise of atmospheric temperatures and sea level is exacerbating Arctic coastal permafrost thaw which leads to increased coastal erosion and input of permafrost soils into the Arctic Ocean. Permafrost soils hold vast amounts of organic carbon (OC) which is released into the coastal waters upon thawing. The fate of this OC with regards to its transport and degradation pathways is not yet fully understood - it could either be degraded within the water column and released into the atmosphere as CO2 or it could be buried at the sea floor. When settling onto the seafloor sediment-water interactions become crucial in the OC degradation process. These so-called flocculation layers at the sediment-water interface hold a high potential for sediment re-suspension and therefore represent an environment favouring the degradation of OC thus preventing burial. Yet, there is little data available from these flocculation (i.e. nepheloid) layers, particularly in the Arctic shelf seas.To improve our understanding of OC degradation within these flocculation layers, we analysed samples from the flocculation layer and from the underlying surface sediments for organic geochemical parameters (TOC, C/N values, δ13C, Δ14C, sediment surface area). Samples within this study were collected along two cross-shelf transects in the Laptev and in the East Siberian Sea during ISSS-2020 expedition in late summer (Sept-Oct) of 2020 onboard R/V Akademik Msistlav Keldysh. First results show variations in OC composition in both shelf seas between the flocculation and surface sediment layers and also with increasing water depth and distance from shore, further emphasizing the degradation potential of this particular layer. With the collected data, we want to gain new insights into how transport and degradation processes of terrestrial OC vary across the vast Siberian shelves.
Near-surface ambient-noise seismic tomography of Bucharest, Romania
Authors: Coman Alina , Petrescu Laura
Published: February 2023

Bucharest is a densely populated urban region affected by strong earthquakes generated in the Vrancea seismogenic area. Studying and understanding its underground structure can help constrain seismic risk and improve estimates of seismic hazard and resilience. To obtain a 3D image of the near - surface structure beneath Bucharest, we analyse ambient noise records from 34 broadband seismic stations that operated throughout the city in 2004 ( the URS – URban Seismology network). We cross - correlate daily vertical component seismograms to obtain virtual Rayleigh waveforms and extract the phase velocity dispersion curves between pairs of stations using an automated Bessel - function analogue algorithm for periods between 2s and 10s. Dispersion curves are then combined in a fast marching seismic tomography (FMST) to estimate the lateral distribution of phase velocities at discrete periods. These are then jointly inverted with horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios using Simulated Annealing methods under the assumption of a diffuse field to obtain shear wave velocity profiles with depth beneath each station. Preliminary results reveal seismic heterogeneities beneath Bucharest and offer fundamental constraints on the anomalous ground motion amplification and its relationship with complex geological structures from the uppermost crust.
The relationship between spatial variation of greenhouse gases intensity and agri-environmental variables in Oil Palm plantations
Authors: Safitri Lisma , Galdos Marcelo , Challinor Andy , Comber Alexis
Published: February 2023

Oil palm (OP) plantations account for 1.7 % of global CO2 emissions. Numerous studies have focused primarily on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from peatlands, constituting 20% of total OP area in the two largest OP producing countries, Indonesia and Malaysia. Few studies have investigated the potential for reducing GHG emissions in OP plantations. Strategies to reduce emissions and sequester carbon must consider how different practices affect production and the environment. Understanding the spatial distribution of GHG intensity and how the environment affects GHG intensity is therefore key to sustainable oil palm production.GHG intensity was used as a metric to map the potential for sustainable OP plantations. GHG intensity represents the GHG emissions / removals (ton C ha-1) per unit of oil palm yields (ton ha-1). The approach for analysing the change in GHG emissions/ removals, referred to as the IPCC tier 1 method, is based on changes in soil organic carbon due to C and N emissions in drained peatlands and the associated change in aboveground biomass due to land use change. Changes in GHG intensity were investigated spatially for a case study in an industrial OP plantation located in Riau Province, Indonesia, from 2015 to 2019. Linear regression was used to analyse the relationships between GHG intensity and agri-environmental variables including NDVI, NPP, GPP, evapotranspiration, soil moisture in the root zone, soil moisture in deeper layer, C and N emissions from organic soils, and soil organic carbon (SOC).The results show that around 90% of the new oil palm plantations in 2019 were converted from timber plantation, swamp scrubland, and bare land in 2015. Consequently, biomass growth from land use change acted as a carbon sink in this period. However, drained organic soils contributed significantly to GHG emissions. The change in GHG intensity in OP plantation in this study varied spatially from emitting (0.19 to 4.10 Ton C eq Ton-1 yields) to removing the GHG (0.23 to 2.40 Ton C eq Ton-1 yields). Among the environmental variables, NDVI and soil moisture showed the strongest relationship with GHG emissions/ removals (R2 = 0.23,   p value = < 2.2e-16) and yields (R2 = 0.2   p value = < 2.2e-16) in OP plantations.These initial findings are advantageous for spatially identifying potential OP plantations that remove or emit GHG. Understanding the relationship between GHG emissions/removals and yields to environment variables provides insight into monitoring and enhancing OP sustainability, both from production and environmental perspectives. Future work will examine non-linear approaches to better model this relationship.   
UK GHG Flux Network – Peatlands
Authors: Coyle Mhairi , Morrison Ross , Artz Rebekka , Johnson-Marshall Ailsa , Cash James ,   UK GHG FluxNet
Published: February 2023

Peatlands occupy 12% of the UK territory and can store large amounts of carbon (C). However, drainage, peat extraction, and other management activities have turned these ecosystems into greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters. Currently, peatlands account for ~ 4% of the UK’s total annual GHG emissions. Eddy covariance is considered the best method to measure landscape scale GHG exchange (CO2, CH4, N2O), between the Earth’s surface and the atmosphere. Recently many flux towers have been installed on UK peatlands under different land-use and in different condition, with some undergoing restoration. In total there are currently 30 operating, with 9 in Scotland (SCO2FLUX managed by The James Hutton Institute, JHI) and 21 across England, Wales and Northern Ireland (managed by UKCEH), including the Auchencorth Moss ICOS site. As part of the projects, NERC-MOTHERSHIP and SRC-CENTREPEAT, these peatland sites are being harmonised into a network. The data is being analysed using standard protocols in order to generate a powerful dataset to examine the exchange of CO2 and CH4 over UK peatlands. Some of the topics being investigated are: the spatial and temporal variability of emissions for all peatland classifications; the main drivers and controlling mechanisms of GHG exchange, such as the effect of water table depth on gas exchange and restoration impacts (e.g. raising water levels in agricultural peatlands); the value and effectiveness of restoration techniques (e.g. the timeline of recovery in the transition from forest to bog); improving the modelling of peatlands in JULES and other land-surface models; ground-proofing data for Earth observation techniques; assessing the contribution of peatlands to achieving net zero; examining the impact of wildfire on restoration from forest to bog.An overview of the network of sites and some highlights of the analysis to date will be presented. 