bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An Open Data Standard for Cloud Particle Images and Reference Software to Produce and Validate Compliant Files
Authors: Nott Graeme , Sproson Dave
Published: March 2024

The use of airborne cloud imaging probes has resulted in decades of in situ particle-by-particle data taken across the gamut of pristine and anthropogenically-modified cloud types around the globe. Image data from such probes is recorded in proprietary and instrument- or system-specific formats. Binary formats have evolved to minimise the stress on, now possibly outdated, hardware and communication systems that must operate in the difficult aircraft environment. This means that there is a significant knowledge and technical barrier to new users, particularly for those that are not from fields that have traditionally used such cloud data. Processed image data is generally available, however this precludes the application of more advanced or specialised processing of the raw data. For example, historical cloud campaigns of the 1970s and 80s used imaging probes for cloud microphysical measurements at a time when satellite measurements of those regions were sparse or nonexistent. Fields such as atmospheric processes modelling, climate modelling, and remote sensing may well benefit by being able to ingest raw cloud particle data into their processing streams to use in new analyses and to address issues from a perspective not normally used by those in the cloud measurement community.The Single Particle Image Format (SPIF) data standard has been designed to store decoded raw binary data in netCDF4 with a standardised vocabulary in accordance with FAIR Guiding Principles. This improves access to this data for users from a wide range of fields and facilitates the sharing, refinement, and standardisation of data processing routines. An example is the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) Single Particle Image Format (SPIF) conversion utility which converts binary data into SPIF files. In a similar fashion to  the Climate and Forecast (CF) Conventions, SPIF defines a minimum vocabulary (groups, variables, and attributes) that must be included for compliance while also allowing extra, non-conflicting data to be included. The ability to easily check files for compliance to a data standard or convention is an important component of building a sustainable and community supported data standard. We have developed a Python package called vocal as a tool for managing netCDF data product standard vocabularies and associated data product specifications. Vocal projects define standards for netCDF data, and consist of model definitions and associated validators. Vocal then provides a mapping from netCDF data to these models with the Python package pydantic being used for compliance checking of files against the standard definition. We will present the vocal package and the SPIF data standard to illustrate its use in building standard compliant files and compliance-checking of SPIF netCDF files.
An educational strategy to Climate Change integrating three interconnected Perspectives
Authors: Larose Carole , Vidal Gérard , Le Jan Eric , Eyraud Charles-Henri
Published: March 2024

The format, illustrations and organization of the 6th assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have changed to fit the evolution of people's perception on Climate Change (CC). Educators face the same changes in the educational world even though CC remains an abstract concept that is challenging for learners to understand. To facilitate the educational process, we propose to tackle simultaneously three complementary perspectives:Climate,
Biodiversity,
Meteorology.
When carefully limited to a corresponding level of abstraction or difficulty, all the elements of one perspective enhance the understanding of the others, contributing to the consolidation of global knowledge. The pathway to CC is divided into three progressive conceptual leaps that correspond roughly to primary, middle and high school.In primary school is built the basement of CC conceptual tower. Pupils rely mainly on their feelings and observations as they discover their planet: understanding the latitudinal and altitudinal zonation of "environments" from both biological and climatological perspectives. They perceive the effects of warm/cold dry/wet status of the atmosphere on life.In middle school, they learn to measure temperatures, precipitations and describe meteorological situations, understand the origin of the climate zonation and the effects of solar radiation; they also learn how to recognize plants and biomes and discover the strong links between weather, seasons and ecological systems. They have a fist contact with risks threatening ecosystems.In high school, students are initiated into models, come to understand that observations of the past can lead to formalizations and equations that enable to explain past phenomenon and open a window to the future. It's time to understand that the climate has changed in the earth's history, that the atmospheric behavior can be modeled for accurate weather forecast and long term climate projections, and time to understand that the evolution of ecological systems is linked to climate change.A multidisciplinary approach carries many benefits and provide a transversal consolidation of knowledge, facilitating the understanding of Climate Change. It should maintain and gain a greater place in secondary school programs and teacher's training sessions.
Seismic hazard evaluation and soil response analysis of Shamkir and Mingachevir hydroelectric power stations
Authors: Kendzera OLeksandr , Semenova Yuliia , Topoliuk Oksana , Skurativskyi Sergii , Mykulyak Sergiy , Skurativska Inna , Trypilska Olena , Drukarenko Viktoriia
Published: March 2024

In regions prone to seismic activity, assessing the seismic hazard of hydroelectric power stations is crucial for maintaining the dependability and robustness of critical infrastructure. In this study, we investigate and compare the seismic response of near-surface soil at the Shamkir and Mingachevir hydroelectric power stations in Azerbaijan when subjected to earthquakes of different magnitudes, utilizing numerical modeling techniques. This analysis not only enables a direct comparison of the sites but also facilitates the identification of underlying geological factors influencing their seismic vulnerability.We particularly focus on the upper 30 meters of soil, exploring its substantial influence on the amplitude-frequency composition of motions and, consequently, its impact on the surface's seismic response. Examining the soil's characteristics, we assess its capacity to either amplify or attenuate seismic motions at specific frequencies. Additionally, this study explores the intricate effects of nonlinear soil deformation on the frequency selectivity of soil, elucidating its role in shaping the amplification patterns of seismic motions. These findings are not only relevant for advancing scientific knowledge but also hold practical significance in formulating effective strategies for enhancing the seismic resilience of critical infrastructure in earthquake-prone regions.
The estimation of glacier changes in the Alps in 2002-2022 with the use of satellite gravimetry data
Authors: Liu Shuxian , Pail Roland
Published: March 2024

Since March 2002, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite and its following mission GRACE-FO have measured the time-variable gravity fields of the Earth, by which water shifts around Earth can be captured. Among its innovations, GRACE has monitored the change of ice mass from Earth's ice sheets and glaciers, which is essential for the better understanding of the changing climate system. Over the past few decades, glacier mass loss has been significant across the globe. The European Alps are among the regions experiencing the greatest shrinkage of glaciers, which becomes the main focus of this work.In this work, we will challenge the information of satellite gravimetry, hydrological models, and satellite geodesy to monitor the ice mass loss in the Alps in central Europe. The temporal variations of total water storage (TWS) in the Alpine region are determined from GRACE- and GRACE-FO-based Level-2 products provided by COST-G and Mascon surface mass change fields calculated by JPL. Furthermore, the correction of GIA effects and hydrological signals in the study area is indispensable to isolate the estimate of glacier melting. For the GIA correction, the GIA model ICE-6G_D and the regional dataset of surface displacements obtained from geodetic observation techniques are applied to GRACE data respectively, resulting in obvious different results. For the hydrological correction, the WaterGAP Global Hydrology Model (WGHM) model and the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) model are used to estimate the mass change of the liquid part. In addition, the ice mass loss in the Alps between 2000 and 2014 based on glacier inventory was estimated in another publication, which can be a reference (-1.34 Gt/yr). Glaciers in the Alps lost mass at a rate of around -1.4 Gt/yr and around -2.2 Gt/yr depending on different ways of GIA correction during the 21-year period, which have similar magnitudes with the reference value.
MAX-DOAS measurements of air pollution on the northern tip of Taiwan
Authors: Seyler André , Lange Kezia , Richter Andreas , Bösch Tim , Behrens Lisa , Chou Charles C.K. , Chen Wei-Nai , Ho Shinjie , Hsu Kai-Shuan , Kuo Chunchiang , Raman M. Roja , Burrows John P. , Bösch Hartmut
Published: March 2024

Wind and weather in Taiwan are strongly influenced by the monsoons. Taiwan is on the lee side of the Asian winter monsoon, originating on the Asian continent. It receives continental air masses transported by the monsoon, thus air pollutants originating in the eastern and northern parts of China. While polluted air reaches Taiwan during winter monsoon, clean air masses from the remote western North Pacific are predominant in summer, making Taiwan an ideal location to investigate variations in atmospheric composition due to the monsoons. In addition to that, the monsoons themselves are also subject to regional climate changes in the future. Since June 2023, a Multi-AXis-DOAS (MAX-DOAS) instrument has been installed at the Cape Fuguei Research Station (CAFE) at the northernmost point of Taiwan, measuring vertical and horizontal distributions of trace gases, including NO2, SO2, HCHO, and aerosols. The measurements aim to investigate local air pollution and study the impact of pollution export from mainland China on tropospheric composition and local air quality. The MAX-DOAS and the other measurements at the site will also be very valuable in the validation of the data products from the GEMS satellite.The measurements are part of the project “Investigation of Pollution Transport to Taiwan” (IPToT), which has been established as a cooperation between the Insitute of Environmental Physics (IUP) of the University of Bremen (Germany) and the Research Center for Environmental Changes of the Academia Sinica (Taiwan), funded by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft). Here, we present first MAX-DOAS observations and retrieved profiles of NO2, SO2, HCHO, and aerosols at this new station and compare them to collocated in-situ and (aerosol) LIDAR measurements. The data are evaluated for diurnal and weekly pollution signals and the dependency on the prevailing wind direction. A first comparison to satellite measurements is also shown.
Variations of fire events and vegetation in the western Sierra Nevada archived in speleothems during Dansgaard–Oeschger (D–O) cycles 
Authors: Wang Zhao , Smolen Jonathan , Zyba Aida , Scarpitti Erica A. , Oster Jessica L. , Montañez Isabel P. , Hren Michael
Published: March 2024

Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) cycles had profound impacts on climates of the northern hemisphere in the last glacial period. However, knowledge of terrestrial climatic responses in western North America and consequently vegetation responses to climatic extremes (e.g., highly variable paleohydroclimate and wildfire events) remains limited. Analysis of organic molecular traces (i.e., plant lipids and fire markers) in speleothems is one of the most promising ways to investigate feedbacks between climatic extremes and vegetation changes. Fire-derived markers, such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and levoglucosan (LG), a derivative of plant cellulose burning, are increasingly applied as proxies of paleofires in speleothem records. Here, we present a new record of plant lipids, LG, and PAHs from a precisely dated and well-studied stalagmite (~55-67 ka) collected from McLean’s Cave (ML-2) in the Sierra Nevada foothills, CA (Oster et al. 2014). The variation of PAHs over the interval 62 to 67 ka corresponds with variations in stalagmite δ13C during the D-O stadials and interstadials 15-18. The highest concentration of low (≤ 4 rings) and high (≥ 5 rings) molecular weight PAHs as well as LG is found between ~64.25-63.75 ka, suggesting elevated wildfire events during D-O interstadial 18. Dehydroabietic acid (abietane-type acid) is predominantly produced from conifers, and its highest concentration occurs at 63.75 ka and then decreases from 63.5 to 62 ka. The study of modern plants (e.g., Kozłowska et al., 2022) shows that abietane-type acid accumulates at lower radiation and cooler climates and declines in heat and drought due to its antioxidative role in protecting cell membranes from stress-induced damage. The variation of dehydroabietic acid followed the changes in stalagmite δ13C between 64 and 62 ka (Oster et al., 2014), implying changes in coniferous input affected by the wet and dry cycles (D-O stadials and interstadial 18). This highlights the ability of organic molecular records archived in stalagmites to capture the links between wildfire activity, vegetation, and hydroclimate in central California during D-O cycles.   Reference:Kozłowska, W., Matkowski, A., Zielińska, S., 2022. Light Intensity and Temperature Effect on Salvia yangii (B. T. Drew) Metabolic Profile in vitro. Frontiers in Plant Science 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.888509Oster, J.L., Montañez, I.P., Mertz-Kraus, R., Sharp, W.D., Stock, G.M., Spero, H.J., Tinsley, J., Zachos, J.C., 2014. Millennial-scale variations in western Sierra Nevada precipitation during the last glacial cycle MIS 4/3 transition. Quaternary Research 82, 236–248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2014.04.
Promoting and Supporting Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility: A Collaborative Approach in the Hydrogeological Community and Beyond
Authors: Vucinic Luka , Re Viviana , Zambelli Barbara , Frommen Theresa , Ajia Fatima , Limaye Shrikant
Published: March 2024

The International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) is a scientific and educational charitable organisation for scientists, engineers, water managers and other professionals working in the fields of groundwater resources planning, management and protection. Comprising various commissions and networks, IAH engages in activities such as contributing to groundwater science, outreach, education, and training. While IAH takes meaningful steps towards equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility, recognising the importance of putting these principles into practice, it is essential to acknowledge that there are still numerous challenges and barriers that need to be addressed. It is worth noting that IAH shares similar challenges with many other organisations and associations in navigating the path towards greater equity, diversity, and inclusion. Therefore, the establishment of a dedicated working group became imperative to address and overcome these challenges effectively.The Socio-Hydrogeology Network (IAH-SHG), an official IAH network, aims to integrate social sciences into hydrogeological research, and has two active working groups: the Working Group on Groundwater and Gender, and the newly established Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (EDIA) Working Group. This group is designed to further enhance the EDIA landscape within the IAH and beyond. It is the result of collaborative endeavours, extensive discussions, and productive meetings within the IAH and IAH-SHG, and it builds on the work and experience of the Working Group on Groundwater and Gender and the IAH-SHG in general. We will showcase the key insights gained from our IAH-SHG experiences and demonstrate how we applied these lessons to facilitate the establishment of the EDIA Working Group.By harnessing the power of collective effort, the EDIA Working Group aims to foster a positive impact that resonates throughout the IAH and wider hydrogeological community. We will present our experience regarding the pivotal role of networks, such as IAH-SHG, in advancing equity, diversity, inclusion, and addressing barriers within the geosciences. We will also share our plans for collaboration with other IAH commissions, networks, IAH members, and other individuals (i.e. membership in the IAH is not a prerequisite for individuals interested in joining the IAH-SHG or any of its working groups), as well as ideas and recommendations for new and innovative strategies to identify and overcome barriers. Furthermore, we will share the EDIA Working Group's experience so far, providing insights that may be valuable for other associations, organisations, and groups facing similar challenges.
Drainage dynamics of the entire South American continent during the Andean Orogeny: Results from tectono-sedimentary numerical models
Authors: Sacek Victor , Bicudo Tacio
Published: March 2024

During the Cenozoic, the formation of the Andean Cordillera had a profound effect on the drainage evolution in the South America continent. The load of the Andes induced the bending of the lithosphere, creating foreland basins adjacent to the cordillera. Additionally, an increase in orographic precipitation along the eastern flank of the Andes amplified the erosion of the cordillera and the sedimentation rate in the foreland and other interior basins. As a result, the drainage pattern changed from parallel to the cordillera to a system perpendicular to the orogen. This led to the development of the Amazon drainage system in northern South America and guided the formation of the present Paraguay-Paraná Basin in southern South America. Concurrently, dynamic topography induced by the subduction of the Nazca plate under the western margin of the continent created long-wavelength topographic perturbations throughout the continent, partially modulating the generation of accommodation space in interior sedimentary basins and allowing intermittent marine incursions in lowland regions. In this work, we present this complex evolution based on numerical models dedicated to simulating the tectono-sedimentary evolution of the entire South America continent, coupling surface processes, lithospheric flexure, sea-level oscillations, and dynamic topography. This project represents an expansion of the works developed in our research group, previously focused only on the drainage dynamics of northern South America.
Attributing future Amazon forest loss to land-use change and climate change
Authors: Bultan Selma , Bathiany Sebastian , Boers Niklas , Ganzenmueller Raphael , Gyuleva Gergana , Moustakis Yiannis , Pongratz Julia
Published: March 2024

The Amazon rainforest is of vital importance for biodiversity, regional climate, as well as global water and carbon cycling. However, over the past decades, ecosystem functions of the Amazon rainforest have diminished through a combination of increasing anthropogenic pressure in form of land-use change and intensifying natural disturbances. Recent studies suggest that unabated deforestation and climate change could tip large parts of the Amazon towards a different, savanna-like vegetation state. Although such a scenario could lead to severe impacts on the climate system from regional to global scales, a holistic assessment of the risk of large-scale Amazon forest loss due to land-use change and climate change in the 21st century is currently lacking. Here, we use data from multiple CMIP6 Earth System Models under two low climate mitigation scenarios to attribute Amazon forest loss until 2100 to land-use change and climate change, applying a novel ensemble member approach. We find that around 1 mio. km2 of forest will diminish by 2100, corresponding to a loss of around one fifth of the pre-industrial forest area. Historically and over the first half of the 21st century, land-use change is the main driver of forest loss, whereas forest loss due to climate change increases non-linearly beyond 2°C global warming and even exceeds forest loss caused by land-use change by the end of the century in some models. We further find a consistent increase in the probability of abrupt (rather than gradual) forest loss with progressing deforestation and climate change. Overall, our results highlight that under plausible low mitigation socio-economic pathways 1) the Amazon rainforest will substantially diminish due to anthropogenic climate and land-use change and 2) the risk of forest loss due to climate change increases significantly beyond 2°C global warming. This stresses the urgent need for increased efforts to reduce deforestation and forest degradation through forest protection, conservation and sustainable land-use practices and for climate mitigation efforts in line with the Paris Agreement.
IceCloudNet: 3D reconstruction of cloud ice from Meteosat SEVIRI input
Authors: Jeggle Kai , Czerkawski Mikolaj , Serva Federico , Le Saux Bertrand , Neubauer David , Lohmann Ulrike
Published: March 2024

Remote sensing observations of cloud ice in cirrus and mixed-phase clouds have been playing a crucial role in advancing our understanding of cloud processes and validating climate models. On the one hand, many studies have used polar-orbiting active satellite instruments like CALIPSO’s lidar and CloudSat’s radar to analyze microphysical properties of ice clouds. These instruments are able to provide a vertical profile of cloud structures and thus allow a detailed view on cloud microphysical properties. But, due to their long revisiting times it is impossible to study the evolution of individual clouds. On the other hand, passive geostationary satellite instruments such as SEVIRI onboard the Meteosat satellites retrieve every 15 minutes a top-down view of Earth’s surface by measuring intensities of the reflected solar radiation and terrestrial infrared radiation but only in 2D.IceCloudNet is a novel machine learning model that fuses the benefits of passive geostationary and polar-orbiting active satellite instruments to create a new vertically resolved (3D) data set of cloud ice in cirrus and mixed-phase clouds with high spatio-temporal coverage and resolution. To this end, we train IceCloudNet to predict the vertical structure of cloud ice from SEVIRI input data and co-located vertically resolved cloud ice retrievals from DARDAR as target data. Despite being only supervised with sparsely available DARDAR reference data, IceCloudNet shows good performance in predicting complex cloud structures including multi-layer clouds, when tested on independent validation data. The new data set created by IceCloudNet will enable the scientific community to conduct novel research on ice cloud formation and improve the understanding of microphysical processes by tracking and studying cloud properties through time and space.
Assessing the last “large scale fluvial modification” across the hyperarid Atacama Desert, northern Chile
Authors: Walk Janek , Mohren Joel , Binnie Ariane , Brill Dominik , Brückner Helmut , Schaubert Viktor , Quezada Andrés , Lehmkuhl Frank
Published: March 2024

During the last decade, a consensus has been widely established about an Early Miocene onset of hyperaridity characterizing the Atacama Desert located in the Andean forearc region in northern Chile. Prevailing hyperarid conditions were interrupted by many pluvial episodes of varying duration and spatial extent. In contrast to the onset of hyperaridity, highly discrepant interpretations persist regarding the last “large scale fluvial modification” (Ritter et al., 2018) of the Atacama Desert. While terminal aggradation of the coastal alluvial fans is constrained at several sites to the Last Glacial Maximum (MIS 2), followed by Holocene progradation to the shore, chronological constraints for last major fluvial activity throughout the inland desert scatter between the Late Miocene and Middle Pleistocene. The types of investigated sedimentary archives differ and many studies have a local focus. Instead, a systematic assessment from the hyperarid coast (W) to the footslopes of the Precordillera (E) is yet lacking. We therefore mapped 84 alluvial fan systems with small (
Treeline spatial patterns for biodiversity monitoring detected by spectral and 3D information from UAV‐based aerial imagery
Authors: Carrieri Erik , Meloni Fabio , Urbinati Carlo , Lingua Emanuele , Marzano Raffaella , Morresi Donato
Published: March 2024

Treeline ecotones spatial patterns and dynamics are influenced by factors acting at regional, landscape, and local scales. It is widely accepted that treelines change in complex ways depending on their diverse structural features and environmental conditions. The high variability of environmental conditions and ecological drivers hampers the creation of a general pattern from case studies. A multi-scale approach applied at numerous locations is needed to discriminate between natural and anthropogenic factors that are driving treeline dynamics. Remote sensing techniques are today fundamental tools for a comprehensive assessment of the spatial heterogeneity of treeline patterns and their changes over space and time. Continuous improvements in remote sensing platforms, sensors, and methodologies have considerably increased the quality and reliability of spatial information, such as forest maps, which are essential for monitoring ecotonal dynamics. In this study, we aimed to comprehensively map individual tree canopies at the treeline ecotone in 10  different sites distributed across the Italian Alps by integrating field and UAV-based data. We first mapped the position of the forestline using the 2018 pan-European Tree Cover Density layer provided by the Copernicus Land Monitoring service. In particular, we considered the pixel line where the tree canopy cover was less than 10% as the forestline. Field data consisted of position, height, and species of 100 trees taller than 50 cm scattered over a 9-hectare area. Each site was also flown over by a multirotor drone to produce an RGB orthomosaic, a digital surface model, and a canopy height model. A total of 1016 individual canopies of different coniferous species were manually classified on the orthomosaics with the aid of semi-automatic annotation software. These data were used to train a deep learning model based on the Mask R-CNN algorithm for object detection and segmentation. The classification masks were lastly combined with a canopy height model providing 3-dimensional information allowing to measure tree height. Preliminary results evidenced that remotely sensed data collected with low-cost equipment such as commercial drones with RGB cameras, coupled with the proposed canopy detection method can be used to produce highly accurate and reliable maps of treeline ecotones. These maps will serve as a starting point to study and monitor the spatio-temporal dynamics of treeline ecotones at the local scale and how they affect biodiversity in high-altitude environments.
Non-linear sensitivity of mineral weathering to erosion implies an optimum of CO2 drawdown at moderate erosion rates
Authors: Bufe Aaron , Rugenstein Jeremy , Hovius Niels
Published: March 2024

Silicate weathering sequesters CO2 from the atmosphere and stabilizes Earth’s climate over geologic timescales. In turn, weathering of accessory carbonate and sulfide minerals is a geologically relevant CO2 source. Rock-uplift and -erosion is the primary mechanism by which fresh minerals are exposed to weathering at Earth’s surface. Therefore, the global inorganic carbon cycle is sensitive to mountain uplift and erosion. However, quantifying this sensitivity is complex, because existing data do not consider weathering of all relevant mineral phases, and because co-variation of multiple environmental factors obscures the role of erosion. Here, we analyze the sensitivity of silicate, carbonate, and sulfide weathering fluxes to erosion in four datasets of solute chemistry from small mountain streams that span well-defined erosion-rate gradients in relatively uniform metasedimentary lithologies and with limited or well-constrained variations in runoff. Across all datasets and 2-3 orders of magnitude of erosion rate, we find that silicate weathering fluxes are almost insensitive to erosion at rates >10-2 mm yr-1. In contrast, weathering fluxes from sulfide and carbonate minerals increase sub-linearly with erosion, contradicting expectations from soil data and theory. By fitting a weathering model to these data, we show that the contrasting sensitivities of silicate, carbonate, and sulfide weathering produce a distinct CO2-drawdown maximum at moderate erosion rates of ~0.1 mm/y. Below this maximum, mineral supply limits silicate weathering. Above the maximum, silicate weathering fluxes plateau and CO2 emissions from coupled sulfide oxidation and carbonate weathering increasingly dominate the carbon budget. Thus, for metasedimentary lithologies, uplift of landscapes to moderate relief and erosion rates can substantially bolster Earth’s CO2 sink whereas further uplift may decrease, rather than increase CO2 sequestration rates.
Employng satellite immagery interpretation tools to detect land-use land-change dynamics in Italian historical rural landscapes
Authors: Cuccaro Virginia Chiara , Di Giovannantonio Claudio , Pica Giovanni , Malatesta Luca , Attorre Fabio
Published: March 2024

Rural landscapes inherited from the past are marked by a strong interaction between man and nature, a relationship rooted in a long history that testifies to the importance of the landscape as one of the most historically representative expressions of a country's cultural identity.In this broad context, olive groves markedly characterize the agricultural landscape of many European rural areas, particularly in the Mediterranean region. Along with other rural landscapes, they form a semi-natural environment that can contribute to biodiversity conservation, soil protection and ecosystem resilience.In addition to the global increase in temperatures, the main threats affecting these agrarian landscapes include the abandonment of traditional practices and the intensification of cultivation through the installation of irregular, intensive and overly dense planting beds.The Land Cover classification and change-detection can provide useful indications for the restoration, conservation, and enhancement of olive grovesThe objective of this work was to identify , rural landscapes in the Lazio region with characteristics of historical interest and determine their level of conservation. In particular, it was investigated the olive landscape of Cures (historic province of Sabina) trough a multi-temporal analysis of literature and cartographic information (e.g. orthophotos from the Italian Aeronautical Group flight of 1954)The technique concerns the VASA (Historical Environmental Assessment) methodology, which allows the temporal evaluation of a given landscape and can inform on how agricultural practices and land use have changed over time.Softwares  Collect Earth and Google Earth were employed to manipulate the historical series of high-resolution satellite images and implement photointerpretation. The coverage of identitied land units  was then estimated to address the configuration of the target landscape.Landscape evolution over time was achieved by overlaying the 1954 and 2022 land use polygons, resulting in a merging database, in which an evolutionary dynamic was associated with each land use change.The approach generated in-depth insights on the significant elements of the CURES olive landscape and informed on the dynamics of the area in relation to the risk of their disappearance, making it possible to identify what are the "landscape emergencies," i.e., the land uses that have seen the most̀ reduction in their area.The methodologies employed have proven reliability in improving the knowledge ng target landscapes.  It might be useful to promote  sustainable agricultural practices for better preservation and management of rural environments so that cultural traditions can be preserved as well, and the environmental balance of the agrarian land can be maintained.
New Particle Formation events over an eastern Mediterranean region – Influence of Secondary Organic Aerosols
Authors: Thenoor Chandran Ajith , Windwer Eli , Fang Zheng , Li Chunlin , Kompalli Sobhan Kumar , Farhan Nursanto , Fry Julian , Rudich Yinon
Published: March 2024

New Particle Formation (NPF) is a crucial process responsible for generating new aerosols in the atmosphere and contributing to nearly half of the cloud condensation nuclei concentration. NPF events have been frequently observed in various environments. Characterizing NPF events and identifying the key chemical species and the responsible mechanism is vital in advancing the knowledge regarding NPF events and their impact on climate and human health.The Mediterranean region is a “hot spot” for climate change and is expected to undergo significant warming and drying in the 21st century. This semi-arid location is affected by continental, marine, and desert dust airmasses, and intense photochemistry during the dry and hot weather makes this region interesting for NPF. However, studies of NPF over the eastern Mediterranean region are limited and present a significant gap in the understanding of NPF. In this study, the aerosol number size distribution, particulate chemical composition, and gaseous pollutants in Rehovot (31°53"N 34°48"E, a semi-urban site in Israel) were collaboratively monitored from 29 April to 03 May 2021 and 03 May to 11 May 2023, during when a national bonfire festival happened. The present study employs a novel hybrid source apportionment to understand the relationship between particle size distribution and chemical composition.The source apportionment of organic aerosols (OA) revealed 2 primary factors (Hydrocarbon-like OA and Biomass-burning OA) and 2 secondary factors (MO-OOA (more oxidized oxygenated OA) and LO-OOA (low oxidized oxygenated OA)).  Ultrafine particle burst/NPF events were observed during daytime (mostly well-defined nucleation events) and nighttime (without well-defined growth). The daytime events were associated with an enhancement in the sulfuric acid proxy concentrations (~ 3.8×106 molecules cm-3), suggesting the role of gas-phase photochemistry. The results from Hybrid PMF analysis suggested the involvement of multiple components, including sulfate and MO-OOA, in the nucleation and subsequent particle growth during daytime. Interestingly, nighttime events were associated with the involvement of semi-volatile species (LO-OOA and nitrate) in the growth along with sulfate and more-oxidized organics. This study demonstrates the involvement of organic and inorganic secondary components in the ultrafine particle burst/NPF events observed over a semi-urban, semi-arid location.
Reassessment of the historical earthquake of 23 February 1887 in Liguria (north-western Mediterranean) on the basis of magnetogram recordings
Authors: Tarchini Gabriele , Spallarossa Daniele , Parolai Stefano , Sandron Denis , Saraò Angela
Published: March 2024

In the early morning of 23 February 1887, the ‘Ligurian earthquake’, a devastating seismic event currently estimated at MW 6.3-7.2, shook the towns of the Italian and French Riviera. It is the most devastating earthquake known in this region: it is thought to have claimed at least six hundred lives, displaced twenty thousand people, and destroyed many historic buildings and houses. As a result of the event, a tsunami with a maximum run-up of two meters near Imperia (Italy) also occurred and the record of the tide gauge in the port of Genoa (Italy) has long been considered the only existing record of the event.However, we found that the 1887 earthquake was also recorded by historical magnetometers in the UK and France. These instruments were used to measure variations in geomagnetic field strength, but were also able to record seismic waves, which were essentially a simple ‘disturbance’. Almost uninterrupted records of this type of variometric data are held by the British Geological Survey (BGS). Traces recorded at Greenwich, Kew, and Falmouth magnetic observatories, which clearly show waveforms related to the event, were used. The Bureau Central de Magnetisme Terrestre (BCMT) also keeps magnetograms: in particular, we used the recordings of the instrument at Le Parc de Saint-Maur (Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, Paris).The waveforms were digitized and processed according to the theory of Eleman (1966), which describes the response of a classical declinometer and/or a horizontal force instrument to harmonic ground displacement, and according to the work of Krüger et al. (2018).The location of the epicenter and the magnitude of this historical earthquake are difficult to characterize with high accuracy, and the focal mechanism of the fault responsible for the event remains controversial to this day. We present the preliminary results of our research, which is focused on the revaluation of the Ligurian earthquake in terms of magnitude and focal mechanism. This would lead for the first time to a definition of magnitude on an instrumental basis for this important seismic event, whose macroseismic intensity is usually assessed based on studies conducted immediately after the event to determine the damage it had caused.
Geophysical investigation of the Soda Lakes at the Seewinkel National Park (Austria) through electromagnetic and electrical methods
Authors: Hettegger Anna , Flores Orozco Adrián , Roser Nathalie , Cimadom Arno
Published: March 2024

The Seewinkel National Park in Burgenland (Austria) encompasses the largest inland soda lakes in central Europe. The shallow aquifer in the soda lakes is confined by an impermeable clay-rich layer, which is nourished with salts through capillary upward transport during the summer periods. Sinking groundwater levels are responsible for a decline in the upward transport and a decrease in salt content within the impermeable unit, threatening the ecological state of the lakes and their rich and unique biosphere. Yet, the extension of the hydraulic barrier, its salt content, and changes within the system accompanying seasonal temperature variations are still open to debate due to the lack of subsurface information with high spatial and temporal coverage. Here, we propose the application of geophysical methods to complement existing drill core data. Our research aims at reconstructing the architecture of the lakes, particularly the geometry and composition of the impermeable layer with a higher spatial and temporal resolution. We applied electromagnetic induction (EMI) for contactless rapid mapping of the lateral extent of the impermeable layer, assumed to have higher electrical conductivity due to its clay and salt content, and solving for the mean features in the shallow aquifer. To resolve vertical variations of the electrical conductivity with high resolution, we applied electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) at selected locations.  The initial independent inversion results from EMI and ERT, inherently ambiguous, showed discrepancies in the thickness of the impermeable layer. To permit an adequate interpretation of the geophysical data and harness the strengths of both methods, we employed numerical simulations, including ERT data to constrain EMI inversion and vice versa, as well as borehole electrode data, which allowed us to resolve for a subsurface electrical conductivity model able to explain both EMI and ERT data. Our results permit us to understand the characteristics of the impermeable layer and to develop a suitable technique to apply EMI and ERT to investigate other lakes in the national park.
I'll be dammed: Beaver ponds as sites for net loss of methylmercury along stream networks on the peatland-rich Taiga Plains, western Canada
Authors: Lagroix Jessica , Olefeldt David , Hood Glynnis A.
Published: March 2024

North American beavers commonly build dams and create ponds, which alter both the stream hydrology and biogeochemistry. Beaver ponds are common in headwaters of boreal and arctic watersheds of Canada, and while they cover only a small portion of watershed area, their position and biogeochemical influence may allow them to have a large impact on the downstream delivery of solutes and their dominant forms. Previous studies have suggested that boreal beaver ponds commonly act as methylmercury (MeHg) sources to downstream ecosystems, but this has not been studied in the wetland-rich areas of the Taiga Plains, western Canada. Since wetlands are also known as key watershed locations of MeHg production, our objective was to determine whether beaver ponds receiving water from wetland-rich areas still act as net sources of MeHg. We sampled water chemistry at the inflow and outflow of 20 beaver ponds over two years to evaluate Hg and MeHg changes. We determined that there was a net loss of MeHg in the beaver ponds (-34.4% on average), particularly during conditions when water residence time was long. This effect was greatly reduced in wet conditions when water was passing through the ponds more quickly. Net MeHg losses were greater when water entering the pond was already high in MeHg, whereas ponds receiving low MeHg concentrations were neutral or even acted as small sources. These decreases were also correlated with higher dissolved oxygen concentration and isotopic changes in surface water which suggests that aerobic microbial demethylation and photodemethylation may be contributing to net MeHg loss. Understanding the conditions that drive solute delivery from these ponds will allow local land managers to determine appropriate courses of action for beaver management and support well-informed water quality risk assessments.
Unveiling Exoplanets Through the Power of ML: A Comparative Analysis of RandomForest and Gaussian Models
Authors: Fazel Fatemeh , Foing Bernard , Rostami Amin , Ropero López Álvaro
Published: March 2024

In recent years, the exploration of exoplanets has gained momentum due to the increasing volume of data collected from missions like Kepler. Machine learning (ML) techniques have proven to be valuable tools for efficiently analyzing and classifying exoplanet candidates. This study focuses on the application of ML models, specifically Random Forest and Gaussian methods, to identify exoplanets using the light curves obtained from Kepler's archived data.The research aims to develop accurate and robust models capable of distinguishing exoplanets from other celestial objects. Feature engineering techniques are employed to extract relevant information from the light curves, including transit depth, transit duration, and periodicity patterns. These features serve as inputs for both the Random Forest and Gaussian models, enabling them to learn and generalize from the training data.The Random Forest model, known for its ensemble-based approach, demonstrates exceptional performance in exoplanet identification. Its ability to capture complex relationships among features and make accurate predictions results in high precision and recall scores. On the other hand, the Gaussian method, which relies on probabilistic modeling, exhibits competitive results through a different classification approach.The performance of the Random Forest and Gaussian models is compared using comprehensive evaluation metrics such as accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score. The results indicate that the Random Forest model outperforms the Gaussian method in terms of precision and recall. This highlights the effectiveness of ensemble-based ML techniques for exoplanet identification tasks.In conclusion, this study successfully demonstrates the utilization of ML models, specifically Random Forest and Gaussian methods, for exoplanet identification using Kepler's archived data and light curves. The Random Forest model emerges as the superior choice, achieving higher accuracy and recall rates in distinguishing exoplanets from other celestial objects. These findings contribute to the advancement of exoplanet research and pave the way for the development of more precise and efficient identification methods in the future.
Bayesian sensitivity analysis of seismic data to van Genuchten parameters in unsaturated and unconsolidated soils
Authors: Sanchez Gonzalez Ramon , Bodet Ludovic , Gesret Alexandrine , Rivière Agnès
Published: March 2024

Increasing anthropogenic and climate pressures on water resources and thermal energy call for a better understanding of the transient water storage and the water fluxes within the Critical Zone (CZ). Recharge, as the main water inflow feeding groundwater (GW), is critical for the proper management of GW systems. GW recharge is defined as the water percolating from the last unsaturated horizon down to the water table and is therefore broadly inaccessible to direct observations. Recharge is spatially heterogeneous and controlled by multiple factors such as porous media properties and hydrogeological conditions. Hydrogeophysics provide valuable approaches to determining hydraulic parameters in unconsolidated and unsaturated soils. In this domain, electromagnetic and electrical methods predominate due to their obvious dependence on water content. While crucial for water-related assessments, the transition to mechanical properties emphasizes the complementary role of seismic techniques. Specifically, seismic refraction tomography and surface-wave dispersion analysis stand out in delimiting boundaries between saturated and unsaturated zones. Recent studies underscore the synergy of employing both 2D electrical and seismic methods, showcasing their collective efficacy in identifying hydrofacieses and delineating the water table. However, these techniques fall short of providing a detailed saturation profile in the unsaturated zone. Recent studies suggest to employ the Van Genuchten model, coupled with a rock physics model that incorporates capillary suction effects, to determine the mechanical properties of the soil, accounting for both depth and saturation dependencies. This method enables the analytical 1D modeling of both P- and S-wave velocities in various hydrofacieses with various water table depths (in static conditions). Then by utilizing these velocity models, it is possible to calculate synthetic P-wave travel times (P-TT) and surface-wave dispersion (SWD) from an artificial seismic setup. This constitute a forward problem from saturation versus depth models towards seismic data. In this study, we propose to do the inverse problem, e.g. estimating the VG parameters (VG) from P-TT and SWD. We use the database provided by Carsell and Parrish to compute synthetic observations in wide a priori ranges. We propose the employment of a straightforward grid search and formulate the results in a Bayesian framework. Our results indicate that both SWD and P-TT are responsive to changes in water saturation, allowing for the retrieval of the VG parameters from observed data. Moreover, our study highlights that the sensitivity of geophysical data varies with soil composition, particularly underscoring the complexities of estimating VG parameters in soils with a high sand content.