bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mars Express: Toward a 20-year scientific and technical success story
Authors: Martin Patrick , Wilson Colin , Godfrey James , Cardesin Moinelo Alejandro , Blake Rick , Johnstone Andrew , Lucas Luke , Wood Simon , Damiani Sylvain , Merritt Donald , Marin Yaseli de la Parra Julia , Sierra Mar , Breitfellner Michel , Grotheer Emmanuel , Heather David , Muniz Solaz Carlos , Science Ground Segment Team Mars Express , Flight Control Team Mars Express
Published: February 2023

Mars Express, ESA's first flagship for Mars exploration, will reach the momentous milestones of 20 years in space and at Mars on 2 June and 25 December this year, respectively. Its scientific record is unprecedented for a mission which was initially planned for one Martian year. Since end 2003 Mars Express has gathered a wealth of data from the subsurface, surface, atmosphere, plasma environment and moons of the red planet in a quasi-uninterrupted and routine way. Furthermore, Mars Express is currently as scientifically active and productive as at any time through its lifetime in space, thanks to several additions and improvements recently made to its spacecraft and payload capabilities (e.g., MARSIS radar new subsurface and Phobos operative modes, radio frequency occultation measurements between Mars Express and ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter using an upgraded MELACOM communications system, plasma sounding by ASPERA during MARSIS measurements, occultation observations during egress). Mars Express is expected to maintain and even enhance its scientific return over the next few years, should the mission be extended. Technical feasibility of further mission extensions has been reviewed and confirmed. The mission is constrained by 3 lifetime-limiting elements which are the remaining gyro lifetime, remaining fuel and the battery lifetime. However, it has been demonstrated that none of those 3 constraints is likely to prevent Mars Express from continuing its routine operations until beyond 2030. Whether Mars Express is extended or not, nominal archiving is proceeding at pace and higher-level data sets being produced in collaboration with the PI teams to optimise the Mars Express archive legacy.The mission and science operations teams, together with the mission scientists, are looking forward to several additional years of scientific productivity and discoveries. Successful joint science campaigns with the CNSA Tianwen/Zhurong orbiter and rover missions, UAE’s Hope orbiter mission, and especially the upcoming MMX mission to Phobos by JAXA should contribute to further augment Mars Express’ 20-year success story.
The role of subduction in the formation of Pangean oceanic large igneous provinces
Authors: Heron Philip , Gün Erkan , Shephard Grace , Dannberg Juliane , Gassmöller Rene , Martin Erin , Sharif Aisha , Pysklywec Russell , Nance R. Damian , Murphy J. Brendan
Published: February 2023

Large igneous provinces (LIPs) have been linked to both surface and deep mantle processes related to supercontinent formation. During the formation, tenure, and breakup of Pangea, the most recent supercontinent, there is a noted contemporaneous increase in the number of emplacement events of both continental and oceanic LIPs. There is currently no clear consensus on the origin of LIPs, but the most widely recognized hypothesis relates their formation to crustal emplacement of hot plume material originating in the deep mantle. The interaction of subducted slabs with the lowermost mantle thermal boundary and subsequent return-flow is a key control on plume generation. This mechanism has been explored for LIPs below the interior of a supercontinent (e.g., continental LIPs). However, a number of LIPs related to Pangea formed at the supercontinent’s exterior (e.g., Ontong Java Plateau in the Pacific Ocean), with no consensus on their formation mechanism. In this research, we consider the dynamics of global-scale supercontinent processes resultant from numerical models of mantle convection, and analyse whether circum-supercontinent subduction could generate both interior (continental) and exterior (oceanic) deep-mantle plumes. Our 2-D and 3-D numerical models show that subduction related to the supercontinent cycle can reproduce the location and timing of the Ontong Java Plateau, Caribbean LIP, and potentially the Shatsky Rise, when relating these LIPs to a deep mantle exterior plume. The findings here highlight the importance of taking into consideration mantle dynamics in every stage of the supercontinent cycle.
Precaution and prevention in the jurisprudence of the administrative judge
Authors: Iacopino Annarita
Published: February 2023

The paper aims to analyse the path of administrative jurisprudence on how the principles of prevention and precaution behave, the role they assume for the public decision-maker and the judge's review. In this perspective, priority is given to examining the nature and ratio of the two principles, as well as the relationship between them. It is then necessary to define their sphere of operation and the essentially “methodological and bidirectional” dimension in which they move. They, in fact, offer rules for proceeding and not for deciding, thus allowing the identification of the path of proceduralisation of public decisions in situations of danger (prevention) or in situations of risk (precaution), enabling the minimisation of risks, respectively, through intervention on the causes of the possible emergence of danger and through the identification of the solution that makes it possible to balance the minimisation of risks with the maximisation of benefits (or, in an emergency phase, as in the case of compulsory vaccination, by operating in a “counter-intuitive” manner with the imposition of instruments-therapies- that ensure more benefits than risks, since the potential risk of an adverse event for an individual is far less than the actual damage to society as a whole). In all these hypotheses, the scientific basis represents a guarantee of the reasonableness of the choices, since the public decision-maker's assessment must be based on the acquisitions of the best science of the moment and on the rigour of the relevant method; a “reserve of science” whose reasonableness and proportionality is subject to the administrative judge's review.
Are they radon or random signals? Analysis of time series of 222Rn activity concentrations in populated areas of La Palma (Canary Islands, Spain)
Authors: Eff-Darwich Antonio , Padilla Germán D. , Barrancos José , Rodríguez-Losada José A. , Hernández Pedro A. , Pérez Nemesio M. , Álvarez Díaz Antonio J. , González Pérez Alexis M. , García Jesús , Santana José M. , Padrón Eleazar
Published: February 2023

Radon, 222Rn, is a radioactive constituent of the surface layer of the atmosphere. The analysis of the temporal and spatial variations in the flux of radon across the soil–air interface is a promising tool to study geo-dynamical processes. However, many of these variations are induced by external variables, such as temperature, barometric pressure, rainfall, or the location of the instrumentation, among others.Anomalous CO2 degassing has been observed since the end of November 2021 in the neighborhoods of La Bombilla and Puerto Naos, located in the western flank of La Palma, about 5 km distance southwestern of the 2021 Tajogaite eruption vents (Hernández et al. 2022). In order to complement these observations with other independent parameters, a set of radon monitoring stations have been deployed in that area. In an attempt to filter out non-endogenous variations in the radon signal, we have implemented time-series numerical filtering techniques based on multi-variate and frequency domain analysis. A background level for radon emissions at various locations could therefore be defined, by which correlations between radon concentration, gaseous emissions and dynamical processes could be carried out. Some preliminary results corresponding to the first 3 months of data (october-december 2022) are presented.Hernández, P. A., Padrón, E., Melián, G. V., Pérez, N. M., Padilla, G., Asensio-Ramos, M., Di Nardo, D., Barrancos, J., Pacheco, J. M., and Smit, M.: Gas hazard assessment at Puerto Naos and La Bombilla inhabited areas, Cumbre Vieja volcano, La Palma, Canary Islands, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-7705, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-7705, 2022.
The influence of weather patterns and the Madden-Julian Oscillation on extreme precipitation over Sri Lanka
Authors: Deoras Akshay , Turner Andrew G. , Hunt Kieran M. R.
Published: February 2023

Sri Lanka is affected by extreme precipitation events every year that cause floods, landslides, and tremendous economic losses. Unlike for other countries in South Asia such as India, there has been a limited investigation of weather patterns associated with extreme precipitation events in Sri Lanka. In this study, we use the ERA5 reanalysis dataset to understand the association between extreme precipitation events and 30 weather patterns, which were originally derived to represent the variability of the Indian climate during January–December 1979–2016. Furthermore, we analyse the modulation of extreme precipitation events by the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO). We also use the daily rainfall data from 51 meteorological stations in Sri Lanka to take some account of the observational uncertainty.We find that weather patterns that are most common during the northeast monsoon (December–February) and second intermonsoon (October–November) seasons produce the highest number of extreme precipitation events. Moreover, extreme precipitation events occurring during these two seasons are more persistent than those during the southwest monsoon (May–September) and first intermonsoon (March–April) seasons. The frequency of extreme precipitation events is enhanced (suppressed) in MJO phases 1–4 (5–8) for most weather patterns. The results of this study could benefit meteorologists, hydrologists, and researchers in developing forecasting products based on the identification of these weather patterns and MJO phases in numerical weather prediction and the subseasonal-to-seasonal prediction models, envisaging improved disaster preparedness in Sri Lanka.
Is Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) really worth it? An alternative exploration of hyper-parameter tuning in a time-lapse seismic scenario
Authors: Malcolm Alison , Kotsi Maria , Ely Gregory , Virieux Jean
Published: February 2023

Determining if uncertainty quantification is worth it or not is closely related to how that uncertainty is computed and the associated computational cost. For seismic imaging, it is typically done using Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms (McMC). Solving an inverse problem using McMC means exploring and characterizing the ensemble of all plausible models through more or less point-wise random walk in the data misfit landscape. This is typically done using Bayes’ theorem via the computation of a posterior probability density function. Even though this can sound naively simple, it can come with a significant computational burden given the dimension of the problem to be solved and the expense of the forward solver. This is because as the number of dimensions grow, there are exponentially more possible guesses the algorithm can make, while only a few of these models will be accepted as plausible. More advanced uncertainty quantification methods such as Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) could be beneficial because they can handle higher dimensions because efficient sampling of the model space through pseudo-mechanical trajectories in the data misfit landscape is expected. In order for an HMC algorithm to efficiently sample the model space of interest and provide meaningful uncertainty estimates, three hyper-parameters need to be tuned for trajectory design: the Leapfrog steps L, the Leapfrog stepsize ε, and the Mass Matrix M. There has been already work showing how one can choose L and ε; however designing the appropriate M is far more challenging. We consider a time-lapse seismic scenario and use a local acoustic solver for fast forward solutions. We then use Singular value decomposition, in the vicinity of the true model, to transform our time-lapse optimal model to a system of normal coordinates and use only a few of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the Hessian as oscillators. By doing so, we can efficiently understand the impact of the initial conditions and the choice of M and gain insight on how to design M in the standard system. This gives us an intuitive way to understand the mass matrix, allowing us to determine whether gains from the HMC algorithm are worth the cost of determining the parameters.
The Knowledge Hub on Sea Level Rise and the science-based European Seas assessment reporting
Authors: Pinardi Nadia , van den Hurk Bart , Jimenez Jose A. , Winter Gundula , Galluccio Giulia , Bisaro Sandy , Melet Angelique , van de Wal Roderick , Richter Kristin , Calewaert Jan-Bart , Bruegge Bernd , Pomarico Lavinia G. , Depuydt Michael , Kiefer Thorsten , Manderscheid Petra
Published: February 2023

Nine European countries under the umbrella of the Joint Programming Initiatives on Climate (JPI Climate) and on Oceans (JPI Oceans) have set up a joint Knowledge Hub on Sea Level Rise. The ambition is to provide easy access to usable knowledge on regional-local sea level change in Europe, regularly updated as a series of periodic assessments. It will complement existing global and national assessments by providing additional geographical and contextual detail, tailored to regional, national and European policy development and implementation.As its key product, it will deliver by the end of 2023 its first European Assessment Report on Sea level rise hazards and impacts, co-designed with European Sea stakeholders. The co-design framework is based on consultation workshops, questionnaires and a final Conference in Venice that enabled to discuss at large the regional and local end-user needs.Based on the latest available science provided by  the IPCC AR6 WGI and II reports and using the most advanced knowledge on sea level rise from European services and research done at the national level, the Assessment report will allow to downscale to the European Seas the SLR impacts and devise adaptation strategies. We will present the user needs that were revealed by the stakeholder consultations and plan to provide a peek into the content of the first draft of this first Assessment Report.
High resolution forest-landscape interactions
Authors: Grieve Stuart , Owen Harry , Ruiz-Benito Paloma , Lines Emily
Published: February 2023

In forested landscapes, trees drive and modulate both advective and diffusive sediment transport processes. These relationships represent complex feedbacks between topography and vegetation. Root growth and tree throw drive diffusive soil creep, whilst root cohesion is a contributing factor in advective processes including landsliding and debris flows. In turn, landscape morphology modulates water, nutrient, and light availability and has been observed to cause significant variability in the structure and composition of forests across scales. To fully explore this topic, a confluence of robust, high resolution measurements of landscape and tree morphology is required alongside long term monitoring data, which has hitherto been unavailable at the appropriate spatial scale.Working across a range of European forest ecosystems, coupling long term measurements of forest structure with newly acquired high resolution topographic data, we have constructed an unprecedented 3D dataset of European forest-landscape dynamics. We segment individual trees from combined UAV LiDAR and terrestrial laser scanning campaigns, compute tree structural metrics, and link them to localised topographic metrics computed using LSDTopoTools. Using these data we explore the inter- and intra- specific relationships between topography and individual trees and demonstrate the potential to fundamentally link geomorphic and ecological process through coupled field and computational research.
Drivers of increasing coastal CO2 uptake identified by a global model with seamless integration of coastal marine carbon dynamics
Authors: Mathis Moritz , Lacroix Fabrice , Hagemann Stefan , Nielsen David , Ilyina Tatiana , Schrum Corinna
Published: February 2023

I will present the first global ocean-biogeochemistry model with a seamless integration of coastal carbon dynamics, ICON-Coast, and provide insights from recent simulations on the drivers of the increasing CO2 uptake efficiency of the coastal ocean. Based on the unstructured triangular grid of the model, we globally apply a mesh refinement in the coastal ocean to better resolve complex circulation features as well as ocean-shelf exchange. Moreover, we incorporate tidal currents including bottom drag effects, and extended the model's biogeochemistry component to account for key shelf-specific carbon transformation processes. In this way the model encompasses all coastal areas around the globe within a single, consistent ocean-biogeochemistry model, thus naturally accounting for two-way coupling of ocean-shelf feedback mechanisms at the global scale. First hindcast simulations over the 20th century indicate that the increasing CO2 uptake efficiency of the coastal ocean is mainly driven by the rising pCO2 in the atmosphere (40%), climate-induced changes in the circulation (40%) and increasing historical nutrient loads from rivers (20%). While river inputs caused a significant boost in organic carbon sequestration by enhanced biological productivity, this mainly induced a shift in the resource utilization, from dissolved inorganic carbon delivered by the open ocean towards absorbed CO2 from the atmosphere. Thus the comparatively weak riverine impact on the CO2 uptake at the sea surface is mediated by an enhanced advective export of organic carbon, this way further intensifying the carbonation of the open ocean.
Antarctic sensitivity to oceanic melting parameterizations
Authors: Juárez-Martínez Antonio , Blasco Javier , Montoya Marisa , Alvarez-Solas Jorge , Robinson Alexander
Published: February 2023

Ice in Antarctica has been experiencing dramatic changes in the last decades. These variations have consequences in terms of sea level, which could have an impact on human societies and life on the planet in the future. The Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) could become the main contributor to sea-level rise in the coming centuries, but there is a great uncertainty associated with its contribution, which is due in part to the complexity of the coupled ice-ocean processes. In this study we investigate the contribution of the AIS to sea-level rise in the coming centuries in the context of the Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project (ISMIP6), but covering a range beyond 2100, using the higher-order ice-sheet model Yelmo. We test the sensitivity of the model  to basal melting parameters using several forcings and scenarios for the atmosphere and ocean, obtained from different GCM models. The results show a strong  dependency on variations of the parameter values of the basal melting laws and also on the forcing that is chosen. Higher values of the heat exchange velocity between ice and ocean lead to higher sea-level rise, varying the contribution depending on the forcing. Ice-ocean interactions therefore can be expected to contribute significantly to the uncertainty associated with the future evolution of the AIS. 
The GUISDAP analysis software in Jupyter notebook as a tool for the FAIRness of the current EISCAT data
Authors: Mihalikova Maria , Häggström Ingemar
Published: February 2023

The present era of rapid technological advances creates a challenge for data providers and scientists to create and maintain FAIR data and services not just for future operations but also for historical data gathered and analysed with technologies that are slowly phasing out of their usage. GUISDAP is an open source software package, written in Matlab, C and Fortran and provided and maintained by EISCAT, for analysis and visualisation of its incoherent scatter radar data as well as for some other radars in the world. As the new incoherent radar system (EISCAT_3D) is built, the current mainland radar systems will cease their operations. Thus, the development and maintenance of the compatibility of GUISDAP with newer computational technologies will become more challenging.One way how to preserve GUISDAP operability and accessibility by the user community is to make it accessible through a Jupyter notebook docker deployment through EISCAT resources and in the frame of an EOSC project. This will help to ensure the FAIRness of historical EISCAT data by providing tools for reanalysis and visualisation that will be accessible by any potential EISCAT user. This poster will present our project with GUISDAP in a Jupyter notebook environment.
Observations and Analysis of Deep Penetrations of MeV Electrons from REPT PHA Data
Authors: Li Xinlin , O'Brien Declan , Baker Daniel
Published: February 2023

The Relativistic Electron and Proton Telescope (REPT), consisting of a stack of nine aligned silicon detectors onboard Van Allen Probes, has contributed a great number of discoveries based its nominal data. However, the REPT Pulse Height Analysis (PHA) data set, which was taken every 12 milliseconds (ms), including the pulse height that is proportional to the energy deposit of each individual particle from all nine REPT detectors, has been seldom-tapped. Here we show that this data set actually provides higher energy resolution particle measurements than the typical binned data from REPT. Geant4 simulations are used to extend and improve the electron detecting capabilities of REPT using the PHA data. After replicating the nominal characteristics of REPT in the Geant4 toolbox, new channels for REPT, going from 12 electron channels to 47 and lowering the minimum energy to ~1 MeV, have been formulated. The deep storm-time penetration of MeV electrons into the slot region (2<L<3) and inner belt (L<2) has been investigated. Clear dynamic variations of MeV electrons in these regions are revealed and substantiated by quantitative analysis. This is only an example of how the REPT PHA data will enable us to quantitatively address many more various science questions.
Long-Short Term Memory networks as observation operator for the states in a conceptual hydrological model
Authors: Bonte Olivier , Lievens Hans , Verhoest Niko
Published: February 2023

During the last decades, data assimilation has demonstrated its merit for updating hydrological models with remotely sensed observations. Generally, physically-based models are used as these contain model states that can effectively be observed. Yet, remote sensing data, such as microwave backscattering, often needs to be converted to these model states using an observation operator, which often is a physically-based retrieval algorithm. When using conceptual models, the problem becomes more complicated as the model states cannot be related to actual physical properties in the field. Because of this, the observation operator is often an empirical relation between a hydrological (state) variable and a model state. In this poster presentation we demonstrate the use of a Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) network as alternative observation operator that allows to convert remotely sensed observations into model state estimations of the Probability Distributed Model (PDM). Therefore, Sentinel-1 observations averaged at the catchment scale and for each land use type within the catchment, along with other data sources (such as LAI, precipitation, …)  are fed to an LSTM in order to estimate a critical capacity of the probability distributed soil moisture reservoir. These data are then used to update the PDM through a classical data assimilation method (i.e. the ensemble Kalman Filter).
Carbonaceous Aerosol Characterization and their Association with Meteorological Parameters at an Industrial Region in Delhi, India
Authors: Sonwani Saurabh , Saxena Pallavi , Shukla Anuradha
Published: February 2023

The present study has been carried out focusing on the characterization of carbonaceous aerosol near an industrial region in New Delhi, India. It also determines the variation of carbonaceous species during the summer monsoon (SM) and winter monsoon (WM), interprets the morphological description of aerosol particles, identifies the major sources of carbonaceous aerosol, and recognizes the role of meteorological parameters in terms of OC-EC variability. PM10 samples were collected and atmospheric organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) were determined during SM and WM seasons in 2016–2017. Owing to high combustion and emission activities in the industrial area, the OC concentration was 70.3±53.7 and 94.3 ± 40.3 μgC/m3 during the SM and WM, respectively, with an overall average of 79.9±44.9 μgC/m3, and the EC concentration was 50.8 ± 53 and 62.6±49.8 μgC/m3, respectively, with an overall average of 58.3±46.7 μgC/m3. The morphological observations of collected particles were studied and the char/soot particles, iron-rich particles, and aggregates of calcium sulfate particles were observed during both seasons. The OC/EC ratio suggested the presence of mixed sources at the industrial location, predominated by industry and motor vehicle emissions. The relationship of carbonaceous aerosol with meteorological variables was also studied, and it was found that temperature, atmospheric stability, wind direction, and rain intensity significantly affect the levels of OC as compared to that of EC during both seasons. Furthermore, it was also noticed that high-intensity rain decreases the carbonaceous aerosol significantly and vice versa.
Grain-scale geometry and force networks in general granular materials
Authors: Moss Jack , Glovnea Romeo
Published: February 2023

Granular material is nearly ubiquitous in nature.  Some examples include sand, soil, snow, rocks; even the interactions of ice burgs and floes can reasonably be considered as large-scale particle interactions.  It is well accepted that continuum-scale behaviour of a granular body is determined by the grain-scale interactions of its constituent particles, but there is still much to learn regarding those grain-scale interactions and their relationship with continuum-scale inputs.  Vibrating granular beds are a good case study for examining this, since differing flow regions generally form within the bed – depending on both the nature of the vibrations and granular material – and the test conditions can be repeated accurately in a laboratory. In this experimental study, various beds of spherical glass beads were subjected to sinusoidal horizontal vibrations of various amplitude and frequency combinations.  The granular beds were framed as quasi two-dimensional: the particles were three-dimensional, contained within a thin transparent tank such that phenomena could only occur in two dimensions.  The tests were designed to provide insight into the grain-scale interactions within granular materials.  That is: how do various load inputs and granular compositions affect general grain-scale response, and in turn, how does this grain-scale response affect the continuum-scale behaviour of the material?Grain-scale interactions were compared between differing granular beds undergoing equivalent vibrations.  The results are used to discuss how behavioural response of granular material to macro-scale inputs is ultimately tied to the geometric complexity of the internal packing structure and the corresponding network of contact forces that packing structure lends itself to.  The concept of ‘geometric compatibility’ between particles within any granular medium is discussed as an explanation for large behavioural differences between grain-scale, and by extension continuum-scale, responses to vibration – or indeed any mechanical work a granular material is subjected to.
Trading water for carbon in agricultural systems
Authors: Schwarz Erik , Johansson Anna , Lerda Cristina , Livsey John , Scaini Anna , Said-Pullicino Daniel , Manzoni Stefano
Published: February 2023

Climate change and agricultural intensification are placing enormous pressure on soil to provide essential services, from water storage and nutrient provision to carbon sequestration. Indeed, storing carbon in agricultural systems is proposed as an effective climate mitigation approach. Yet, storing carbon comes often at a cost in terms of water consumed—water used either to increase productivity and carbon inputs to soil, or to create conditions in the soil that promote carbon storage. These linkages are perhaps most evident in rice paddy systems.Rice – a staple food for 3 billion people – consumes more water than any other crop, leading to unsustainable water withdrawals. However, this large water consumption allows paddy soils to store more carbon than under other land uses, because flooding of the fields keeps soils saturated and inhibits organic matter decomposition. Therefore, changing water saving approaches such as alternate wetting and drying has the potential to reduce carbon storage and alter the provision of other ecosystem services. But how much can soil organic carbon change across land uses and when water management is altered?In this contribution, we discuss the mechanisms of carbon storage in paddy fields, using data from a meta-analysis of soil carbon budgets in tropical rice paddies and from a detailed investigation of carbon storage along a gradient of a land use and soil age in a temperate rice system. The meta-analysis shows that, as expected, reducing the time of flooding decreases soil organic carbon, but also results in a net decrease of greenhouse gas emissions. The more detailed study shows that in temperate conditions with relative short flooding time, rice paddies can store as much organic carbon as forest sites, despite the higher carbon inputs of forests compared to rice systems. This higher carbon storage is achieved thanks to decreased soil respiration in anaerobic conditions and increased mineral associations of organic carbon. These results show that water management strongly affects soil carbon storage, and that trade-offs emerge between sustainable water use and long-term provision of soil-related ecosystem services.
dhdt: a Python library to transform shifting shadows to glacier elevation change
Authors: Altena Bas , Nattino Francesco
Published: February 2023

The free and open data policy of the Landsat legacy and the Sentinel-2 satellite constellation have enhanced our knowledge considerably. This enrichment is due to an increase in spatial spread; from glacier change at targeted glaciers, to a coverage at regional or global scale. Procedures for snow cover mapping and glacier outline product generation from such multi-spectral data are well matured. Though more potential is present for glacier specific information in such data sources.Recently several studies presented the capabilities of elevation change extraction via shadow cast detection. Though these are at the proof of concept stage, as many steps are based on heuristics and manual adjustments/measurements.Here we present a fully automatic pipeline which is based on an open source library, which we developed. The emphasis of this code base, which we named dhdt, is focused on large scale processing. Hence, all steps are fully automatic and structured so distributed processing is possible. It generates spatial temporal elevation changes, over small mountain glaciers. We hope, this will advance the glaciological community forward, giving a new instrument in its toolbox.
Spatial and temporal distribution of glacial erosion as recorded by apatite (U-Th)/He and 4He/3He thermochronology.
Authors: Bernard Maxime , van der Beek Peter , Colleps Cody , amalberti Julien
Published: February 2023

Constraining the impact of Quaternary glaciations on landscape dynamics is required to better understand the interaction between tectonics, climate, and erosion. Over the years, low-temperature thermochronology such as apatite (U-Th)/He (AHe) has been used to quantify glacial erosion in different climatic and tectonic settings. However, in some contexts, AHe records lack temporal resolution because of limited exhumation due to glacial incision and/or low geothermal gradients. In addition, significant spatial variability in erosion can affect the quality of thermal-kinematic inversions when combining spatially distributed AHe data. This effect may be significant in glacial settings where a switch from a fluvial to a glacial landscape induced a significant change in the spatial distribution of erosion.However, the 4He/3He thermochronology can extract lower-temperature and higher-resolution thermal histories from an AHe dataset. The method uses the spatial distribution of natural 4He in an apatite crystal, which reflects the rate of cooling through the AHe partial retention zone. It has been successfully applied to track glacial incision and relief-development histories that would have been untraceable with conventional AHe thermochronology. Consequently, thermochronology data can now provide more detailed and localized thermal history. While 4He/3He thermochronology has been successfully used in settings where background exhumation rates are moderate, the sensitivity of the technique remains untested in settings with notably low exhumation-rates, such as at passive margins.Here, we couple a glacial landscape-evolution model (iSOSIA) with a new version of a thermo-kinematic model (PecubeGUI), incorporating radiation-damage effects on helium diffusion, to explore the ability of apatite (U-Th)/He and 4He/3He thermochronometers to record glacial incision. To do so, we model a range of synthetic glacial scenarios in different tectonic, climatic, and thermal settings.  Our landscape-evolution models include glacial, fluvial and hillslope erosion, as well as sediment transport. We assess model predictions of thermochronologic parameters, including age-elevation relationships and 4He/3He spectra, and their evolution when switching from a steady-state fluvial to a glacial topography. This modelling exercise aims to provide a guide for sampling strategies and interpretations for both conventional apatite (U-Th)/He and 4He/3He thermochronology when working in glacial settings, considering their particular tectonic and climatic context.
On-farm research on innovative pioneer farms in North-Eastern Austria: microbial indicators affecting soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration
Authors: Huber Sabine , Rosinger Christoph , Sae-Tun Orracha , Bodner Gernot , Keiblinger Katharina
Published: February 2023

Increasing pressures on agriculture related to climate change, as well as recent policy frameworks, have generated widespread attention towards research on soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration. Promoting SOC accrual is of immediate interest for maintaining and restoring soil health in order to ensure continuous soil fertility and functioning. However, despite extensive research regarding soil health promoting farming practices, studies reflecting realistic management outcomes from farms are still scarce. We therefore conducted an on-farm study comprising 21 sites in North-Eastern Austria to compare two farming systems (an innovative ‘pioneer’ and a standard system) and undisturbed field margins as a reference. Pioneer soils have been managed according to soil health-oriented principles with e.g., minimal tillage, high-diversity cover crops and organic amendments to improve soil biology for many years, whereas neighbouring fields under ‘standard’ cultivation represent the current state-of-the-art conventional practices. Based on recent findings suggesting a predominant role of microbial-derived compounds in the long-term accumulation of organic C, the study focused on available nutrients, microbial biomass C, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), ergosterol, potential activities of C-, N- and P-liberating enzymes as proxies for microbial functioning, and amino sugar contents as proxies for microbial necromass. In addition to management effects, we also investigated whether differences in texture composition across the study sites and soil depth (0-5, 5-20, 20-35 cm) affect microbial biomarkers. Our results indicate that microbial parameters, especially microbial biomass and necromass C, are significantly enhanced in soils of pioneer farming systems. Yet, pioneer cultivation did not reach the levels prevailing in the undisturbed reference system. Moreover, differences between systems were strongly pronounced in the topsoil and declined in deeper soil layers. Soil texture had a profound leverage on management effects. In addition, we could identify significant management predictors for dissolved C contents, which is an important pathway for microbial-mediated SOC sequestration. Our on-farm approach provides meaningful information on how farming systems can be changed towards more sustainability and higher C sequestration.
Extraterrestrial 3He-based reconstruction of sedimentation rates across the Paleocene-Eocene transition at ODP Site 1209 (North Pacific)
Authors: Pige Nicolas , Suan Guillaume , Blard Pierre Henri , Mattioli Emanuela
Published: February 2023

Numerous hyperthermal events have been documented through the Paleocene-Eocene transition. The best known hyperthermal event is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; around 56Ma), a period that led to surface and bottom water warming of about 5°C within a few millennia at tropical latitudes. It is therefore considered as one of the best analogues of current global warming. The PETM is also characterized by an abrupt 3-4 per mil negative δ13C excursion in deep marine core sediments and by a thin clay-rich layer associated with the PETM onset, most often interpreted as carbonate dissolution due to the shoaling of the CCD. The duration represented by these clays and carbonates is of peculiar interest to constrain the exported carbonate production dynamics of surface ocean and its dissolution throughout the water column. This is key to produce realistic carbon budgets across hyperthermal events.To this end, we generated a new 4 Ma (57.5-53.5) record of extraterrestrial 3He-derived sedimentation rates from pelagic sediments recording at least 10 hyperthermal events at ODP Site 1209 (North Pacific). Our main results indicate that carbonate sedimentation dropped drastically during the PETM onset (minimum of 0.02 cm/ka) and recovered rapidly during the recovery phase of the event (around 0.7 cm/ka). Surprisingly, the sedimentation rate is low (0.3 cm/ka) after the recovery until the Eocene Thermal Maximum 2 (ETM2; around 54Ma). After this major event, the sedimentation rate increased abruptly (0.7 cm/ka) over the last 500 ka of the studied interval due to the overabundance of Zygrhablithus bijugatus a large rod-shaped nannofossil whose ecology is poorly understood yet.Comparisons between the new record of extraterrestrial 3He-derived sedimentation rate and dissolution proxies from this and previous studies lead us to challenge the widely accepted model previously proposed for hyperthermal events, which assumes that the CaCO3 accumulation is mainly controlled by dissolution.
Fusion of European forest inventories with Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data for improving scalability in estimating forest variables
Authors: Miltiadou Milto , Grieve Stuart , Tijerín Triviño Julian , Astigarraga Julen , Owen Harry , Ruiz Benito Paloma , Lines Emily
Published: February 2023

Large scale forest inventory plot data are key to monitor forest ecosystems, but while they provide very detailed information at tree level they are limited in resolution in both space and through time. Earth Observation (EO) data offer the opportunity for scaling up plot data and improving the temporal resolution of monitoring. However, there are significant challenges to this, including small field plot sizes, pre-processing and potential GPS errors in aligning the data, whilst the huge amount and variety of EO data introduce substantial challenges of high dimensionality, in addition to the noise of training and testing data, within any AI system. In this work, we fuse plot and Earth Observation data, demonstrating the value of embedding existing and newly EO derived metrics, and selecting the most important features to improve monitoring of forest properties at large scales. In this work we work with Sentinel-1 (SAR) and Sentinel-2 (optical) and inventory data from close to 10,000 plots in Spain, measured from onwards. SAR data require substantial pre-processing due to noise and acquisition, topographic and moisture effects. We used pre-processed SAR data, and filtered for non-shaded slopes, removed plots close to surface water and data collected on days with high precipitation. We masked out clouds from our optical data. After fusing the EO data, we removed disturbed areas using the Global Forest Change Collection and plots with high variability of pixels around them to reduce uncertainty due to the small sizes of the plots. As well as using standard indices (e.g., NDVI, RVI), we derive new metrics of the phenological cycle of the forest from monthly averages of indices and bands by selecting features from peaks and troughs. We reduce dimensionality using principal component analysis and random forest to select the most important features. Chosen features are used for training and evaluating a customized AI system to estimate forest variables such as total basal area, stem density, mean diameter at breast height and forest type. The code implemented in Google Earth Engine JavaScript and Python will be released as open source.
Drought Risk Assessment for an Agricultural Basin in Turkey using SPEI and SPI
Authors: Khandandel Mohammadreza , Yoloğlu Onur Cem , Secci Daniele , Todaro Valeria , Daloğlu Çetinkaya Irem , Copty Nadim Kamel , Saysel Ali Kerem
Published: February 2023

The Konya province in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey features a semi-arid climate with cold winters and hot, dry summers. Although the annual precipitation of the Konya Closed Basin is about 350 mm, the basin is considered one of the main agricultural regions of Turkey. Given the effects of drought on crop yields and food security, evaluation of drought risks is crucial. This study aims to describe historical as well as future drought characteristics of the Konya basin by means of two widely used meteorological drought indices: the standardized precipitation index (SPI) and the standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index (SPEI). The indices were calculated for different timescales (6–24-month timescale) to better assess agricultural drought conditions. For the SPEI index, the potential evapotranspiration (PET) was calculated using the Hargreaves and Samani method, commonly used in arid and semi-arid weather conditions. The analysis was performed over the period 1980-2020 using precipitation and temperature data from 18 weather stations located within Konya Closed Basin. Based on drought classification by SPI and SPEI, values equal to or lower than -2 are considered extreme droughts. The results show that the number of extreme climatic drought periods at the considered stations within the Konya basin based on SPI is higher than that based on SPEI. The findings also reveal that both SPEI and SPI characterize a general increase in drought severity, areal extent, and frequency over 2000-2010 compared to those during 1980-1990, mostly because of the decreasing precipitation and to a lesser extent rising potential evapotranspiration. To assess future drought frequencies, the drought indices were calculated using precipitation and temperature data provided by 17 regional climate models from the EUROCORDEX project. The results for both RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios show significantly more frequent extreme and severe droughts, particularly for the second half of the 21st century. Overall, this study implies that SPEI may be more appropriate than SPI to monitor drought periods under climate change since potential evapotranspiration increases in a warmer climate.This work was developed under the scope of the InTheMED project. InTheMED is part of the PRIMA program supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 1923.
Shallow-water sedimentary environments across the MECO as recorded in NW Italy: palaeodiversity and palaeoecological constraints.
Authors: Briguglio Antonino , Giraldo Gomez Victor Manuel , Piazza Michele , Benedetti Andrea , Baucon Andrea , Wofgring Erik , Gandolfi Antonella , Papazzoni Cesare Andrea , Pignatti Johannes
Published: February 2023

During this work we have sampled and analysed over 150 meters of sedimentary succession outcropping in three localities in NW Italy near Ventimiglia (Olivetta San Michele, Capo Mortola and Sealza) as they were deposited during the Bartonian and therefore possibly containing signals for the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) event.The MECO has been identified in all three sections by means of both isotopic shifts and biostratigraphic markers (larger benthic foraminifera, planktonic foraminifera and nannofossils). The three sections have been studied for gamma ray emissions variations, microfacies analyses, Rockeval and lithostratigraphic variations. Even if the three sections are all deposited in a relatively similar environment and are separated by few kilometers today, they display three different sedimentary successions both before, during and after the MECO. We observed that each succession has its peculiar lithological variations that do not seem to correlate with the other sections. The only similarity is that they record a transgressive trend from very shallow deposits to deeper settings as testified by the nummulite rich calcarenites covered by planktonic foraminifera marls. In spite of this similarity, some successions have heterolithic conglomerates at their base, whereas others have thick Microcodium-rich successions almost barren of any body fossils. The successions develop very different taxonomic richness, from extremely rich in nummulites, to much more diverse with abundant corals, mollusks, echinoids and a highly diversified foraminiferal association. The MECO in two sections is characterized by a drastic change in faunal composition, whilst in the other does not seem to be characterized by any faunal variation. From a lithological perspective, we observed that a sharp increase in the marly component seems to be present exactly during the MECO; but again this is only true for two out of three sections. Data also cannot completely rule out whether the finer material can be either caused by enhanced runoff due to instable climatic conditions, or if tectonic activity has increased its stress on the sedimentary conditions, or, alternatively, both factors combined.