bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Increasing Impact of Climate Change on coastal-fluvial Extremes and Severity of Compound Flood Events in UK Estuaries
Authors: Robins Pete , Lyddon Charlotte , Nguyen Chien , Vasilopoulos Grigorios , Barada Mirko , Barkwith Andrew , Coxon Gemma , Devitt Laura , Coulthard Thomas
Published: March 2024

Estuarine flooding is driven by extreme sea-levels and river discharge, either occurring independently or at the same time, or in close succession to exacerbate the hazard, known as compound events. Understanding compound flooding in the face of climate change is crucial for anticipating and mitigating heightened risks. Rising sea levels, increased storm intensity, and changing precipitation patterns can amplify the simultaneous occurrence of extreme storm surges and river flows. It is necessary to assess changing patterns of timing and intensity in extreme storm-driven compound events to inform future incident and hazard management strategies. Understanding whether these events will intensify or diminish is crucial for adapting and developing effective mitigation measures. This research represents the first time that projections of future sea-level, storm surge, and river discharge to assess changes in the magnitude and timing of storm-driven compound events in an estuary particularly vulnerable to compound flooding (Dyfi, west Wales). Sub-daily projections of river discharge from a hydrological model and sea level and residual surge from a shelf sea model are assessed independently to identify changes in their magnitude and return periods. Projections are then assessed in combination to identify future extreme dependence and timing of compound events. The analysis provides forcing conditions representative of a 1 in 20-year and 1 in 50-year event to simulate the impacts of future return periods in the Dyfi Estuary. The research shows that more extreme river discharge and storm surges will occur up to 2100, and the severity of a 1 in 1-year to a 1 in 5-year event will become more severe into the future. There is a stronger likelihood of an extreme river discharge occurring at the same time as an extreme skew surge in the future, more often per storm season, and with greater dependence. Further to this, as storm-driven compound events become more prevalent in the future, the associated flood impacts are anticipated extend over larger areas and occur with increased severity. This research presents a scalable methodology for comprehensive assessment and analysis of the future likelihood and impacts of storm-driven compound events, that can be applied worldwide where sub-daily river and sea level projection forced by the same global climate model are available.
Water flow and MP transport in sandy soils imaged with neutron radiography and X-ray CT
Authors: Cramer Andreas , Kaestner Anders , Benard Pascal , Zarebanadkouki Mohsen , Lehmann Peter , Carminati Andrea
Published: March 2024

Microplastic (MP, ⌀ < 5 mm) can be found worldwide. Besides aquatic environments, terrestrial ecosystems are reported to contain large amounts of MP of different origin, polymer type, shape, size, and state of degradation. Furthermore, soil is considered the largest sink of MP in terrestrial ecosystems. Though, little is known about the effects of MP on soil and its interaction with water flow. Since MP is inherently hydrophobic, the transport of MP and the flow of water interact with each other. However, the extent of MP transport in soils and the interactions with water flow remain largely unexplored.To approach these questions, neutron and x-ray imaging methods were applied. Simultaneous neutron and x-ray CT at the beamline ICON (Paul-Scherrer-Institute) during wetting and drying cycles of a model porous media mixed with MP in different contents were used to monitor MP in different contents (size between 20-75 μm) and water distribution during repeated wetting and drying cycle of a sandy substrate (particle size between 700-1200 μm). Here, the initial MP configuration as well as the configuration after each wetting and drying cycle were captured in three dimensions. During the wetting process, time-series neutron radiographies imaged the water infiltration patterns.MP reduced water infiltration in soils. High MP contents caused local water reppellency and were by-passed by perculating water. MP impacted the verticle distribution of water, reducing the local soil water content and driving water to deeper soil layers. Significant transport of MP were not visible during the wetting and drying cycles, plausibly because water by-passed the pore space containing MP. Rapid and preferential infiltration into deeper areas of the sample as well as low local volumetric water contents during the course of infiltration are evident. The extent seems to be MP content dependent.In conclusion, MP-water interactions in soils have a strong impact on water flow and MP transport and fate in soils. Transport processes like advection, which are significant for wettable particles, play only a minor role in transporting low wettability particles like MP under unsaturated conditions. Though, MP seems to be spatially re-configured. This might be due to hydrophobic interactions between water and MP. Hydrophobic MP has an affinity towards adsorbing to the air-water interface rather than being dispersed in water when in contact.
Quantitative mineralogy and lithium distribution in the upper part of the Beauvoir granite
Authors: Kahou Steven , Cathelineau Michel , Boiron Marie-Christine
Published: March 2024

The albite-lepidolite-topaz granite of Beauvoir is the last intrusion in a peraluminous granitic complex of Variscan age composed of three successively emplaced units: the hidden granite of La Bosse, the two-micas granite of Colettes, and the Beauvoir granite consisting of 3 units B1 to B3. Compared to similar Li-F-rich igneous bodies, the Beauvoir granite is highly enriched in Sn (200-1400 ppm), Ta (20-400 ppm) and Be (20-300 ppm). The B1 unit is composed of abundant albite and lepidolite laths forming a framework filled with globular quartz, K-feldspar, and rare crystals of topaz, Li-phosphates and Sn-Nb-Ta oxides. This work presents a quantitative mineralogical study of the Beauvoir granite (B1 unit) and detailed textural and chemical characterization of the Li-bearing micas from the cores from the PER and EMILI drilling campaigns. The first approcah of this work consisted in estimating the proportion of minerals, and thus determine their abundance by comparing estimates from in situ thin section mapping from micro-XRF and the calculation of mineral phase proportion from whole rock geochemistry on drill cores. The main trend is a "mix", for the fresh rocks, between an albite pole (> 35 %), and a quartz (~25 %) - lepidolite (~15-25 %) pole. The micas are represented, in the fresh facies, by trioctahedral lepidolite while the altered facies shows i) dioctahedral muscovite replacing the feldspars and lepidolite, and ii) lepidolite replaced partially or totallly by muscovite. Trace element composition of the lepidolite show high Li content with average 28000 ppm for lepidolite from the fresh facies and 24000 ppm for those from the altered facies. Compared to lepidolite, muscovite is not a Li-bearing but Sn-rich mineral. Our study shows that hydrothermal greisen alteration has almost no impact on the lithium content of the lepidolite but decrease the population of the lepidolite. The results obtained, combining to drilling data, will lead to a mineralogical model block of the Beauvoir quarry and better understand the magmatic-hydrothermal evolution of the deposit.
A frequency-domain model to predict surface soil moisture, root zone soil moisture and aquifer recharge  
Authors: Karami Ayoob , Longuevergne Laurent , Al-Yaari Amen , Michot Didier , Fouad Youssef
Published: March 2024

This study aims to develop and evaluate a new simple unsaturated zone model in frequency domain interconnecting different types of ground or satellite-based observations (effective rainfall, surface soil moisture, root zone soil moisture, groundwater recharge) of a single dynamic system. The proposed formulation based on 5 coherent transfer functions (Tfs) linking observations 2 by 2, with a limited number of parameters, is rooted in the Nash linear reservoir model. The curve shape of the TFs can be adjusted by key parameters such as flow complexity, response time and the share of surface runoff  each of which carries distinct and well-defined physical interpretations.  The model's efficacy was assessed using surface soil moisture, root zone soil moisture and and recharge data in a fractured crystalline-rock aquifer situated in Ploemeur, South Brittany, France. Each TF's was initially independently optimized, with parameters assigned through a detailed review of the literature and consideration of the physical characteristics of the site. The outcomes highlighted the methodology's potential, offering a comprehensive depiction of root-zone soil moisture and aquifer recharge dynamics. In the subsequent phase, the model parameterized via a joint optimization of TFs. we find out that the joint approach has the ability to elevate the accuracy and reliability of the model, ensuring its stable and robust behavior. The simplicity of the procedure, with a small number of easily interpretable parameters, makes it suitable for broader applications in different regions.
Dynamics of magma mixing and magma mobilisation beneath Mauna Loa – insights from the 1950 AD Southwest Rift Zone eruption 
Authors: Kahl Maren , Morgan Daniel J. , Thornber Carl , Walshaw Richard , Lynn Kendra J. , Trusdell Frank A.
Published: March 2024

Eruptions from Mauna Loa’s Southwest Rift Zone (SWRZ) pose a significant threat to nearby communities due to high eruption rates and steep slopes resulting in little time for evacuation. Despite the large body of research done on Mauna Loa, knowledge of the timing and duration of magma residence and transfer through its internal plumbing system is still poorly constrained. This study presents a first quantitative look at thermochemical conditions and timescales of potentially deep storage, and disaggregation of magmatic mush during the run-up to the voluminous 1950 AD SWRZ eruption. Details of heterogeneous compositions and textures of the macrocryst and glomerocryst cargo in 1950 AD lavas suggests magma mixing and crystal recycling along the entire plumbing system. Furthermore, the crystal cargo contains evidence for the direct interaction between primitive, deeply stored magma and pockets of more evolved magma stored at shallow to intermediate depths. An enigmatic attribute of 1950 near-vent lava is the near-ubiquitous presence of subhedral, unreacted Mg-rich orthopyroxene phenocrysts (Mg#>80). Phase-relations of Mauna Loa olivine-tholeiite indicate that orthopyroxene joins olivine as a primary phase at pressures higher than 0.6 GPa Coexisting Mg-rich olivine and orthopyroxene and the occurrence of harzburgitic (olivine-orthopyroxene) glomerocrysts provide evidence for cognate crystallization at near-Moho (~18km) depths (Thornber and Trusdell 2008).  Petrogenetically diverse populations of glomerocrysts and macrocrysts alongside evidence of multilevel magma storage indicate a network of ephemeral and possibly interconnected magma pockets from near-Moho depths to the upper/mid-crust. Fe-Mg diffusion chronometry applied to 1950 AD olivine populations implies rapid mobilization and transport of large volumes of magma (376×106 m3) from near-Moho storage to the surface within less than 8 months, with little residence time (~2 weeks) in the shallow (3-5km) plumbing system. Thornber CR, Trusdell FA (2008). Field, petrologic and experimental evidence for rapid transport of large magma volumes from great depths during the 1950 eruption of Mauna Loa, Hawai‘i. IAVCEI General Assembly, August 2008, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Emergent vulnerabilities: exploring the role of drought for increasingly diverse groundwater conflicts in Germany 
Authors: Sodoge Jan , Di Baldassarre Giuliano , Kuhlicke Christian , Madruga de Brito Mariana
Published: March 2024

Historically, groundwater resources have been perceived as inexhaustible in Central Europe by policy-makers and the general public. However, recently increasing drought periods and user groups with competing interests caused conflicts about the usage of and access to groundwater resources. Groundwater-related conflicts, defined here as social issues resulting from divergent viewpoints among diverse stakeholders, have been extensively examined in regions with an extended history of water scarcity. Yet, there is limited research on the emergence of groundwater-related conflicts in Central Europe and the role of recent drought events in shaping these. Here, we study the emergence of groundwater-related conflicts in Germany since 2000 using a text-mining approach. Specifically, we investigate four research questions: (i) how are groundwater-related conflicts characterized, (ii) which influential stakeholders are shaping these conflicts, (iii) what are the spatio-temporal patterns of these conflicts and (iv) how do drought events and different socio-economic factors influence their occurrence? To address these questions, we use machine learning and text-mining techniques on more than one million newspaper articles to develop a spatio-temporal database of conflicts. We also extract and categorize involved stakeholders using a named entity recognition algorithm. Then, we use statistical modeling to link the occurrences of groundwater conflicts with drought indices and other additional explanatory variables. Our results reveal the growing diversity and geographical spread of groundwater-related conflicts in Germany. Also, our results shed light on the role of the recent drought events’ influence on conflicts. Our findings contribute to mapping the evolving landscape of groundwater-related conflicts in Germany and the effects of drought events. The proposed methods have the potential to enable large-scale studies of environmental conflicts using vastly available text data.
International Geoscience Information Standards, Management and Governance
Authors: Rattenbury Mark
Published: March 2024

International standards are important for communication of geoscience information across borders and between countries, and in particular for addressing multinational and global issues such as climate change, resilience to natural hazards and sustainable resource extraction.The Commission for the Management and Application of Geoscience Information (CGI) is the International Union of Geological Sciences’ (IUGS) commission for developing, managing and governing geoscience data models and vocabularies, amongst other standards. CGI undertakes its activities through working groups arranged around different types of information standards and through its governing council. With members drawn from most continents and regions, their collaboration results in standards that are internationally applicable; the GeoSciML and EarthResourceML are examples of data models developed with multinational cooperation and applied in global and regional applications such as OneGeology and Minerals4EU. The data models are supported by geoscience vocabularies developed and published by CGI.CGI as an IUGS commission has both a unique position and an opportunity around governance of global geoscience information standards. Through its enduring status, CGI is not bound by finite and funding-constrained projects. The contributing projects can be very influential for standards development but sustaining standards after project cessation can be difficult.To date, CGI has tended to manage and govern standards it has developed or co-developed. The opportunity for CGI going forward is to take more of a leadership role across IUGS and internationally-focussed societies and agencies to host, manage and/or promote their standards. With growing expectations of FAIR Principles adherence across the global geoscience community, CGI, as a commission of the IUGS, can help enable their implementation through providing enduring, authorised, geoscience information standards and services.
Real-time subseasonal prediction of cold waves over India
Authors: Mandal Raju , Joseph Susmitha , Sahai Atul Kumar , Dey Avijit , Krishna Phani Murali , Pattanaik Dushmanta , Kaur Manpreet , Karmakar Nirupam
Published: March 2024

Cold wave (CW) events over India are usually observed during the boreal winter months, November to February. This study proposes an objective criterion using the actual, departure from normal and the percentile values of the daily gridded minimum temperature (Tmin) data for the monitoring of the CW events over the Indian region and also checks its usefulness in a multi-model ensemble extended range prediction system. The large-scale features associated with these CW events are also discussed.The CW-prone region has been identified by utilizing this proposed criterion and considering the number of average CW days/year for the entire study period and recent decades. By calculating the standardized area-averaged (over the CW-prone region) Tmin anomalies time series, the CW events are identified from 1951 to 2022. Analyzing the temporal variability of these events, it is seen that there is no compromise in the occurrences of the CW events, even under the general warming scenarios. It is found that the long CW events (>7 days) are favoured by the La-Nina condition, and short CW events (≤7 days) are favoured by the neutral condition in the Pacific. Also, the blocking high to the northwest of Indian longitude with the very slow movement of the westerly trough to the east is found to be associated with the long CW events. In contrast, in the case of short events, the blocking high is not so significant. The multi-model ensemble prediction system is found to be reasonably skilful in predicting the CW events over the CW-prone region up to 2-3 weeks in advance with decreasing confidence in longer leads. Based on the forecast verifications, it is noticed that this forecasting system has a remarkable strength to provide an overall indication about the forthcoming CW events with sufficient lead time despite its uncertainties in space and time. 
Characterizing the current systems in the Martian ionosphere
Authors: Gao Jiawei , Mittelholz Anna , Rong Zhaojin , persson moa , Shi Zhen , Zhang Chi , Wang Xiaodong , Wei Yong
Published: March 2024

When the solar wind encounters the ionosphere of an unmagnetized planet, it induces currents, forming an induced magnetosphere. These currents, along with their associated magnetic fields, play a crucial role in controlling the movement of charged particles, and are essential for understanding the escape of planetary ions. Unlike the well-documented magnetospheric current systems, the ionospheric current systems on unmagnetized planet remain less understood, limiting our ability to quantify electrodynamic energy transfer. Here, using 8 years of data from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission, we provide the first global map of the Martian ionospheric currents. We identified two current systems coexist within the ionosphere: one aligning with the solar wind electric field, with asymmetries between the west-east electric hemispheres and driven by the solar wind; and one characterized by two current vortices on the dayside, powered by the atmospheric neutral winds. Our findings indicate that the Martian ionospheric dynamics are influenced by both the neutral winds from below and the solar wind from above, emphasizing the intricate nature of current systems on unmagnetized planets.
The Valsugana area (TN, Italy): a structural knot
Authors: Martin Silvana , Montresor Laura , Zambotti Pina , Monegato Giovanni , Roghi Guido , Piccin Gianluca , Modesti Alessia , Gosio Francesco
Published: March 2024

In the Valsugana area (Southern Italian Alps) a NE-SW trending pre-permian Southalpine phyllitic basement is intruded by an Early to Middle Permian granitoids (Cima d’Asta,190 km2) and includes volcanic calderas of the Athesian Volcanic Group (125 km2) of the same age, and is locally covered by Upper Permian to Miocene sedimentary sequences. A complex system of faults juxtaposes these different geological domains. In particular, the Permian tectonic structures have been repeatedly reactivated during Mesozoic and Tertiary. The phyllitic basement, which suffered Variscan metamorphism and deformation, and the granitoids were dismembered by NNW-SSW and N-S tectono-magmatic faults associated with the opening of permian calderas. The main tectonic system of this area is the ENE-WSW oriented Valsugana fault system of Middle-Late Miocene age (Heberer et al., 2017 ). The master fault separates the metamorphic basement from the sedimentary sequences (e.g., M. Armentera, M. Civerone and M. Lefre). At the footwall of the master fault, other faults deformed in a compressive to transpressive regime the sedimentary sequences. Some of these are extensional faults were reactivated many times from Triassic to Lower Jurassic. The Valsugana fault system ends against the Permian to Mesozoic Calisio fault to the SW, while it continues to the NE towards Brocon and Cereda Passes (Gianolla et al. 2022). The Valsugana fault system is cut across by the Val di Sella fault of Late Miocene-Pliocene age, oriented c.a. E-W which deformed the northern walls of the Asiago Plateau (Barbieri & Grandesso, 2007), transporting slices of metamorphic basement and Permo-Mesozoic sequences to the north, over the Middle Miocene sandstones and marls of Valsugana. The most recent tectonic system consists of a set of NNW-SSE to N-S faults which cut across the ENE-WSW Valsugana and E-W Val di Sella fault systems. The N-S Grigno-Tolvà fault cuts across the Cima d’Asta magmatic complex from Val Vanoi to the north to Asiago Plateau to the south over XX km, and dislocates the Belluno and Val di Sella thrust faults at the footwall of the Valsugana fault system. All these faults are still seismically active.Barbieri G. & Grandesso P. (2007) - Note Illustrative della Carta Geologica d'Italia alla scala 1:50.000, F. 082, Asiago.Heberer B., Reverman R.L., Fellin M.G., Neubauer F., Dunkl I., Zattin M., Seward D., Genser J. & Brack P. (2017) - Postcollisional cooling history of the Eastern and Southern Alps and its linkage to Adria indentation. International Journal of Earth Sciences (Geologische Rundschau), 106:1557–1580.Gianolla G., Caggiati M. & Riva A. (2022) - Note Illustrative della Carta Geologica d'Italia alla scala 1:50.000, F. 046, Longarone.
Development of a Shared Platform for Environmental Monitoring Information for Offshore Wind Energy Projects
Authors: Maeng Junho , lee haemi
Published: March 2024

The objective of the study is to develop a specialized sharing platform for offshore wind power, enabling offshore wind power stakeholders to utilize environmental information related to offshore wind power. The offshore wind environmental information platform provides monitoring results for major environmental aspects such as birds, marine mammals, fish, underwater noise, electromagnetic fields, and scour. These results are gathered following the construction of Korea's southwest and Jeju Hanlim offshore wind farms. In addition, this platform allows users to confirm the results of the environmental rating in the southwest sea area and adjust the weight for each item as needed. It provides communication guidelines for the entire project process for communication and smooth agreement between stakeholders in the offshore wind power project, as well as guidelines for preparing environmental impact assessments for offshore wind power development projects based on the results of monitoring the marine environment of offshore wind power complexes. The offshore wind energy environmental information platform offers objective ecological information related to offshore wind power, providing data to verify various controversial issues, and is expected to contribute to reducing environmental impact assessment costs and securing social acceptance. This work was supported by the KETEP and the MOTIE of the Republic of Korea (No. 20203030020080) and conducted by Korea Environment Institute.
Nuclear Forensic of Uranium Ore Materials out of Regulatory Control: The Galaxy Serpent exercise v3
Authors: Telloli Chiara , Ottaviano Giuseppe , Rocchi Federico , Padoani Franca , Rizzo Antonietta
Published: March 2024

The nuclear forensics is one of the pillars in the architecture of nuclear security, as a response to criminal acts and illicit trafficking involving nuclear materials or other radioactive materials. ENEA is participating in international table-top exercises organized by the Nuclear Forensics International Technical Working Group (ITWG), a community whose aim is to advance the scientific discipline of nuclear forensics supporting the development of national capabilities. The “Galaxy Serpent” is a set of virtual international web-based exercises, focused on the development of National Nuclear Forensic Libraries (NNFLs). The aim is to increase national awareness of the technical challenges associated with the development of a National Nuclear Forensic Library (NNFL) and how it can be a valuable support for investigating crimes and/or illicit activities involving nuclear or radioactive materials.The ENEA CBRN team participated in the Galaxy Serpent exercise, version 3, focused on the investigation on imported uranium ore concentrate materials. The used approach, the tools and the main outcomes will be presented. The scenario was dealing with the interception of a transport vehicle attempting to leave the country carrying radioactive materials out of regulatory control (MORC). In fact, further inspection revealed geological sources within some labelled containers and the isotopic analysis performed on these materials determined the sources to be uranium ore concentrate (UOC). The ENEA CBRN team was tasked to check whether this material was consistent with the material used within its country. The assessments have been carried out using Rare Earth Element (REE) patterns as main fingerprint of the geochemical affinity classes. REEs can be used to verify the origin of the samples and some process they have experienced as they are water insoluble and present in very low concentration in water, so they really reflect the original chemistry of the source. In addition, variations in their concentration could be indicative of technological processes aimed at the recovery of some elements that have different high technology applications. The use of statistical tools for the extrapolation of forensic information are presented and discussed.The exercise had the dual purpose of testing, on the one hand the team’s skill level and the type of tools necessary for a response in the mitigation of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and risks (CBRN), and on the other hand, to prepare tools and procedures that may also involve other actors at national level, in particular in response to radiological risk.
Analysis of the optimal allocation of wind and solar PV capacities in a decarbonized power system in Spain using PyPSA
Authors: Santos-Alamillos Francisco , Pozo-Vázquez David , Sánchez-Hernández Guadalupe , Jiménez-Garrote Antonio , López-Cuesta Miguel , DeFelipe-García Santiago , Ruiz-Arias José Antonio , Tovar-Pescador Joaquín
Published: March 2024

The Spanish energy roadmap aims at producing around 80% of electricity from renewable energy by 2030, while reducing nuclear energy in a scenario of increasing demand. To this end, the target for installed capacity is 50 GW for wind energy (30 GW in 2022), 39 GW for solar PV (20 GW in 2022) and 2.5 GW for battery storage. Plans underway suggest even more ambitious goals.We present the results of an analysis of the optimal spatial distribution of new wind and solar capacities in Spain. The study is carried out using the electrical system model PyPSA-Eur, which allows analyzing the optimal allocation and sizing of new renewable plants, taking into account the variability of generation and demand, energy costs, integration and the transmission issues. Two main scenarios are explored: 1) capital costs and 2) operational nuclear power amount (0/3/7 GW). The study assumes a 20% increase of demand by 2030 and a maximum total installed power of 160 GW. The generation and distribution networks used in PyPSA-Eur includes 9 nodes, homogeneously distributed in the study region. The model is fed with the Spanish High Resolution Renewable Energy and Demand (SHIRENDA) open access database for energy system analyses. Both combined the generation and distribution networks  and SHIRENDA allow adequately accounting for the very high spatial variability of the renewable resources in Spain. The results show that the new capacities should be installed in up to four of the nine regions (nodes) considered, although this strongly depends on the amount of nuclear energy. In particular, for scenarios with low nuclear power (0/3 GW) wind capacities should be installed mainly in the Galicia (northwest of the study area) and Aragón (northeast) regions, and solar PV in the regions of Murcia (southeast) and Aragón. For scenarios with fully operational nuclear energy (7 GW), the region of Andalusia (south) was also selected both for wind and solar PV. The intermediate nuclear power amount scenario (3 GW) is best from the costs standpoint. The curtailment is high (about 10%),  higher for wind, but reduces by 50% when nuclear energy is removed.Overall, the results show that a homogeneous spatial distribution of new solar and wind capacities in the study region is far from optimal and that a better representation of the spatio-temporal variability of the renewable energy resources, as done in this study, is needed. Future work will explore the optimal ratio between solar PV and wind capacity, as well as the role of energy storage and demand management.
Multi-Functional Forestry in Europe: Balancing Climate Change Mitigation, Timber Production, and Ecosystem Services
Authors: Gregor Konstantin , Krause Andreas , Reyer Christopher , Knoke Thomas , Suvanto Susanne , Nagel Thomas , Rammig Anja
Published: March 2024

Forests play a crucial role in climate change mitigation strategies. They store carbon in biomass, soils, and wood products, and substituting carbon-intensive products with wood products further avoids greenhouse gas emissions. However, substantial uncertainties surround the quantification of their actual mitigation potentials.Using dynamic vegetation modeling, we quantify the impact of various factors on the mitigation potential of forests, namely climate change and nitrogen deposition, disturbances, forest age, forest type, harvesting and wood usage practices, and the decarbonization pace of non-wood products. Our results indicate that reducing sustainable harvest levels is not reasonable within the next decades as wood products will continue to provide substantial substitution effects, even in scenarios with rapid decarbonization. However, increased material usage should be prioritized over using wood as fuel.Climate change, disturbances, and decarbonization introduce critical uncertainties that require novel methods and data to address these uncertainties. Moreover, forests offer many more ecosystem services than climate change mitigation. Their provision needs to be considered in forward-looking, climate-smart management strategies, alongside their adaptation potential to a rapidly changing climate. To this end, we propose a robust multi-criteria optimization approach for developing strategies for multi-functional forestry that are viable across a broad range of climate scenarios and adhere to demands on timber production and EU strategies. Our methodology indicates that all these demands and aims exert strong pressure on European forests. Alleviating this pressure will be necessary to ensure healthy forests that can provide climate change mitigation and other ecosystem services.
Paleomagnetism of the Peloritan, Calabrian and South Sardinia blocks unveils a Greater Iberia plate and its mid Oligocene-early Miocene breakup    
Authors: Siravo Gaia , Speranza Fabio
Published: March 2024

The Oligocene-to-present tectonic history of the western Mediterranean region is characterized by the ESE-ward roll-back of isolated Alpine and Neo Tethys oceanic slab fragments that determined the spreading of two diachronous back-arc basins: the Liguro-Provencal Basin between 30 and 15 Ma and the Tyrrhenian Sea between 10 and 2 Ma. Such geodynamic events induced the fragmentation and dispersal of the Alpine chain through the formation and migration of microplates and terranes, making the debate on the nature, origin, and evolution of such crustal blocks vivid since the 1970s. For instance, it is commonly accepted that the Corsica-Sardinia microplate rotated counterclockwise (CCW) by at least 50° during Oligo-Miocene and that the Calabro-Peloritan, Kabylies and Alboran blocks drifted hundreds of kms on top of nappe piles ESE-ward, SE-ward and SW-ward, respectively. These blocks, know all together as AlKaPeCa, presently form isolated and enigmatic igneous/metamorphic terranes stacked over the Meso-Cenozoic sedimentary successions of the Apennines and Maghrebides. Besides back-arc basins widths and ages, no other kinds of geologic/geophysical data from Corsica-Sardinia microplate or AlKaPeCa terranes constraining their drift magnitudes exist. On the other hand, drift timing may be properly documented by paleomagnetic vertical-axis rotations obtained from different age rocks, and such data usefully complement ages derived from back-arc basins.We paleomagnetically sampled the Meso-Cenozoic sedimentary cover of the Calabrian (Longobucco sequence) and Peloritan (Longi-Taormina sequence) terranes and the mid-late Eocene continental Cixerri Formation of SW Sardinia. In addition, we re-evaluated previous paleomagnetic results from the whole Corsica-Sardinia microplate and considered the robust Serravallian-Pleistocene dataset from the Calabrian block. Such data indicate a novel rotation and drift history in the western Mediterranean region (Siravo et al., 2021; 2022). The South Sardinia, Peloritan and Calabrian blocks belonged to the “Greater Iberia plate” before mid-Oligocene (
The science literacy board game: a new tool for improving science literacy with informal youth education (SCIBORG)
Authors: Coulson Laura E. , Lekkas Konstantinos , Morar Cristina , Matei Lucia , Feldbacher Eva
Published: March 2024

In this age of fast-paced digital media, it is easy for scientific misinformation to propagate. The understanding of how scientific knowledge is created and evolves, a skill called civic science literacy, is critically important for the public. It gives people the tools to better understand how scientific knowledge changes over time and be better able to critically assess what is presented in the media (media literacy). This is especially important in the context of climate change science. However, many of the critical concepts of science literacy (i.e. peer review process, dynamic nature of scientific knowledge) are difficult to communicate. So many learning objectives need to be accomplished by traditional schooling that complex, interdisciplinary topics like scientific literacy have fallen to the wayside. Recognizing the need for innovative approaches, our SCIBORG project aims to develop science literacy skills through a fun and educational board game. Games are becoming a popular way to tackle complex topics as they can put the user in a first-person scenario, allowing them to engage fully in a situation. Additionally, games are fun and interactive and are an excellent way to engage youth and adults for informal educational purposes.As part of the SCIBORG project, we will create a youth-oriented board game to convey selected concepts of scientific work and foster some of the skills required for science literacy in a fun, interactive, and inclusive way. The board game will specifically address these topics from the perspective of environmental science; however the science literacy skills gained can be used in any field. The board game will be co-created with youth and youth educators in several partner countries in Europe through a variety of workshops and play-testing events. It will be disseminated as a print and play board game and an online application.
The J-MAG Magnetometer: Instrument design, performance, and initial in-flight results.
Authors: Brown Patrick ,   The J-MAG Instrument Team
Published: March 2024

JUICE is an ESA L-Class interplanetary mission to the Jupiter system that was launched on the 14th April 2023 from Kourou, French Guiana. It will make in-situ and remote sensing measurements of Jupiter and the Galilean moons during a three-year science operation phase starting in July 2031. The tour will include a high-latitude phase, fly-bys of Callisto and Europa culminating in elliptical and circular orbits of Ganymede down to an altitude of 200 km. Detection and characterization of potential sub-surface oceans on Europa and Ganymede are a key science goal of the mission as is the interaction between Ganymede’s internal magnetic field with the Jovian field.  Constraining the depth and conductivity of any subsurface ocean on Ganymede will be achieved through measurement of response to two magnetic inducing signals, one at Ganymede’s orbital period (171.7 hrs) and the other at Jupiter’s synodic period (10.5 hrs) which together drive a requirement for in-flight accuracy of 0.2nT. The combination of such low frequency and low amplitude scientific signals places a unique set of EMC cleanliness requirements on the spacecraft system and on the performance of the instrument configuration.J-MAG is the DC magnetometer instrument on JUICE measuring the low frequency magnetic field vector in the range [0-64 Hz]. It is composed of a conventional dual fluxgate design together with a Coupled Dark State Magnetometer (CDSM) absolute scalar sensor and an electronics box accommodated within a vault on the main platform. All three sensors are mounted on the outer segment of a 10.6 m boom. The scalar sensor is included to enable calibration of the fluxgate sensors during the Ganymede phase where the magnetic field is highly variable and traditional techniques for fluxgate offset calibration (such as spacecraft rolls or analysis of incompressible waves in the solar wind) are not viable.  We report on the instrument design and challenges presented by the mission environment and trajectory. We will present the performance of the magnetometer on ground and a summary of the initial results from the near-Earth commissioning phase that took place during May 2023. 
Machine learning based pedotransfer function improves soil bulk density prediction but not for soil organic carbon stock
Authors: Chen Songchao , Chen Zhongxing , Zhang Xianglin , Luo Zhongkui , Schillaci Calogero , Arrouays Dominique , Richer-de-Forges Anne , Shi Zhou
Published: March 2024

Being a fundamental indicator of soil health and quality, soil bulk density (BD) plays an important role in plant growth, nutrient availability, and water retention. Due to its limited availability of BD in databases, pedotransfer functions (PTFs) has been widely used in predicting BD, while the impact of PTFs’ accuracy on soil organic carbon (SOC) stock calculation has not been explored. Herein, we proposed a local modeling approach for predicting BD across EU and UK using LUCAS Soil 2018. Our approach involved a combination of neighbor sample search, Forward Recursive Feature Selection (FRFS) and Random Forest (RF) model (local-RFFRFS). The results showed that local-RFFRFS had a good performance in predicting BD (R2 of 0.58, RMSE of 0.19 g cm-3), surpassing the traditional PTFs (R2 of 0.40-0.45, RMSE of 0.22 g cm-3) and global PTFs using RF with and without FRFS (R2 of 0.56-0.57, RMSE of 0.19 g cm-3). Interestingly, we found the best traditional PTF (R2=0.84, RMSE=1.39 kg m-2) performed close to the local-RFFRFS (R2=0.85, RMSE=1.32 kg m-2) in SOC stock calculation using BD predictions. However, the local-RFFRFS still performed better (ΔR2>0.2 and ΔRMSE>0.1 g cm-3) for soil samples with low SOC stock (
EarthPT: a foundation model for Earth Observation
Authors: Smith Michael , Fleming Luke , Geach James
Published: March 2024

 We introduce EarthPT -- an Earth Observation (EO) pretrained transformer. EarthPT is a 700 million parameter decoding transformer foundation model trained in an autoregressive self-supervised manner and developed specifically with EO use-cases in mind. We demonstrate that EarthPT is an effective forecaster that can accurately predict future pixel-level surface reflectances across the 400-2300 nm range well into the future. For example, forecasts of the evolution of the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) have a typical error of approximately 0.05 (over a natural range of -1 -> 1) at the pixel level over a five month test set horizon, out-performing simple phase-folded models based on historical averaging. We also demonstrate that embeddings learnt by EarthPT hold semantically meaningful information and could be exploited for downstream tasks such as highly granular, dynamic land use classification. Excitingly, we note that the abundance of EO data provides us with -- in theory -- quadrillions of training tokens. Therefore, if we assume that EarthPT follows neural scaling laws akin to those derived for Large Language Models (LLMs), there is currently no data-imposed limit to scaling EarthPT and other similar `Large Observation Models.'EarthPT is available under the MIT licence.
Beyond the Jurassic Corridor: Exploring North American Kimberlites and their relationship to plate tectonics
Authors: Peace Alexander , Foulger Gillian
Published: March 2024

The origin of intraplate magmatism is debated, with two main hypotheses having been proposed. These are deep-seated high-temperature sources (plumes), and  intraplate extension driven ultimately by plate tectonics. A test region in this debate is the 'Jurassic Corridor,' a geological feature proposed to span North America, which contains igneous rocks including kimberlites that are attributed to the Great Meteor Hotspot (GMH). Despite longstanding assumption of this model, close inspection using modern, much-expanded geological information sets shows that the existence of a Jurassic Corridor and GMH lacks support. In this paper we reassess the distribution of kimberlites in North America and on neighboring landmasses. We demonstrate the lack of a clear Jurassic Corridor and show instead that the kimberlites and related rocks are more likely linked to the breakup of the Pangaean Supercontinent and controlled by lithospheric structures. Furthermore, by comparing these findings with global plate models for the last 300 Myr we identify three prominent age peaks in North American kimberlite occurrence that broadly align with periods of heightened plate velocity with respect to Africa. Additionally, the analysis reveals in Africa two peaks in kimberlite abundance and two velocity peaks with respect to North America. Here, however, the velocity peaks occurred approximately 20-30 Myr before the kimberlite abundance peaks. These observations underscore the significance of plate kinematics in controlling kimberlite magmatism and add to a growing body of work linking periods of tectonic upheaval to kimberlite production. The implications of this extend to our broader understanding of intraplate magmatism and warrant a global revaluation of similar phenomena.
Developing a Rangeland Carbon Tracking and Monitoring System Using Remote Sensing Imagery Coupled With a Modeling Approach
Authors: Xia Yushu , Sanderman Jonathan , Watts Jennifer , Machmuller Megan , Ewing Stephanie , Mullen Andrew , Rivard Charlotte , Hernandez Haydee
Published: March 2024

Rangelands play a crucial role in providing various ecosystem services and have significant potential for carbon sequestration. However, monitoring soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in rangelands is challenging due to the large size of ranches and the high spatial variability influenced by climate and management factors. To address these challenges, we have developed the Rangeland Carbon Tracking and Management (RCTM) system, which integrates remote sensing inputs, survey data sources, and both empirical and process-based SOC models. In this work, we will introduce the structure of RCTM v1.0, its data input requirements, data processing pipelines, and the resulting data outputs. Additionally, we will discuss the high-resolution soil moisture data layers, baseline SOC maps, and the targeted field sampling plan generated through an empirical digital soil mapping approach. The Bayesian calibration and validation scheme for obtaining grassland plant functional type (PFT)-specific parameters using flux tower network data will also be explained. After calibration, the RCTM system generated estimates of rangeland carbon fluxes across PFTs (R2 between 0.6 and 0.7) and surface depth SOC stocks (R2 = 0.6) with moderate accuracy at the regional scale. The visualization of modeling results associated with long-term rangeland C dynamics at different scales will be demonstrated using the Google Earth Engine platform to inform management decisions and policymaking.
Spatio-temporal distribution of enzyme activities with covered and mixed straw incorporation
Authors: Wang Shang , Zang Huadong , Yang Yadong , Zeng Zhaohai , Razavi Bahar
Published: March 2024

The rhizosphere and detritusphere are hotspots of soil enzyme-mediated microbial processes, but little is known about their spatiotemporal distribution and interaction, especially under various straw application strategies. Here, we used an in situ method (i.e. zymography) to investigate the distribution of enzyme activities in the maize rhizosphere and straw detritusphere after straw application (no straw, straw mulching and straw mixed). The surroding of straw was considered as detritusphere. Furthermore, the root and shoot performance of maize and soil chemical properity were also monitored in the study. The plant height, shoot weight, and root surface density of straw mulching were 60.4%, 159.6%, and 19.2% higher than that of straw mixed (p < 0.05), which indicate straw mixed returning lead to a stronger competition between plant root and soil microorganism for nutrients. SOC, TN, DOC and DON in the topsoil of straw mulching returning were 97.2%, 27.0%, 186.7% and 175.0% higher than that of straw mixed, respectively (p < 0.05). Moreover, both straw mulching and mixed returning has a positive effect on soil surface enzyme activities. Higher enzyme activities in detritusphere was observed with straw mulching than straw mixed returning (p < 0.05). The higher enzyme activities in the rhizosphere of straw mulching on day 15 can be defined by the increase of C release caused by root growth. This inturn can promote the process of microbial and nutrient cycling, and enhance rhizosphere enzyme activity. These results revealed that straw mulching decreases nutrients competition between root and microorganism and increases the C- and N-acquiring enzyme activities in detritusphere.