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Modelling chemical advection during magma ascent
Hugo Dominguez, Nicolas Riel, and Pierre Lanari
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6105–6122, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6105-2024, 2024
Predicting the behaviour of magmatic systems is important for understanding Earth's matter and heat transport. Numerical modelling is a technique that can predict complex systems at different scales of space and time by solving equations using various techniques. This study tests four algorithms to find the best way to transport the melt composition. The "weighted essentially non-oscillatory" algorithm emerges as the best choice, minimising errors and preserving system mass well.

Towards a real-time modeling of global ocean waves by the fully GPU-accelerated spectral wave model WAM6-GPU v1.0

Geoscientific Model Development - Fri, 08/16/2024 - 18:47

Towards a real-time modeling of global ocean waves by the fully GPU-accelerated spectral wave model WAM6-GPU v1.0
Ye Yuan, Fujiang Yu, Zhi Chen, Xueding Li, Fang Hou, Yuanyong Gao, Zhiyi Gao, and Renbo Pang
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6123–6136, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6123-2024, 2024
Accurate and timely forecasting of ocean waves is of great importance to the safety of marine transportation and offshore engineering. In this study, GPU-accelerated computing is introduced in WAve Modeling Cycle 6 (WAM6). With this effort, global high-resolution wave simulations can now run on GPUs up to tens of times faster than the currently available models can on a CPU node with results that are just as accurate.

Plant-microbe interactions underpin contrasting enzymatic responses to wetland drainage

Phys.org: Earth science - Fri, 08/16/2024 - 17:24

Researchers led by Professor Feng Xiaojuan from the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IBCAS) have analyzed the divergent responses of carbon-degrading enzymes to wetland drainage and found that enzymatic response to long-term drainage diverges in Sphagnum versus non-Sphagnum wetlands due to varied vegetational shifts.

How hard do avalanche practitioners tap during snow stability tests?

Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences - Fri, 08/16/2024 - 15:13

How hard do avalanche practitioners tap during snow stability tests?
Håvard B. Toft, Samuel V. Verplanck, and Markus Landrø
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 2757–2772, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2757-2024, 2024
This study investigates inconsistencies in impact force as part of extended column tests (ECTs). We measured force-time curves from 286 practitioners in Scandinavia, Central Europe, and North America. The results show a large variability in peak forces and loading rates across wrist, elbow, and shoulder taps, challenging the ECT's reliability.

Reconstruction of ancient drought in Northwest China and societal responses: A case study of 1759

Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences - Fri, 08/16/2024 - 15:13

Reconstruction of ancient drought in Northwest China and societal responses: A case study of 1759
Zhixin Hao, Meirun Jiang, Haonan Yang, Danyang Xiong, and Jingyun Zheng
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https//doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-111,2024
Preprint under review for NHESS (discussion: open, 0 comments)
At ancient time, social system could successfully responded most extreme climate events, such as droughts. To explore society’s adaptability to extreme climate events, we chosen the 1759 drought as a typical case study, then reconstructed the meteorological distribution of drought spatially and temporally, analyzed the impacts of the drought on society, and summarized the adaptive measures employed at the time.

Hailstone library to improve extreme weather forecasting

Phys.org: Earth science - Fri, 08/16/2024 - 14:04

A University of Queensland library—full of hailstones instead of books—is helping researchers to better understand and predict damaging storms.

Spatial Distribution of Tremor Episodes From Long‐Term Monitoring in the Northern Cascadia Subduction Zone

JGR–Solid Earth - Fri, 08/16/2024 - 13:44

Abstract

Large bursts of non-volcanic tremor (“major” tremor episodes) correlated with geodetic deformation recur regularly in the Cascadia subduction zone and are often called episodic tremor and slip (ETS). Minor episodes of tremor between ETS are ubiquitous but have been understudied. This paper assesses time-invariant characteristics of tremor episodes of all sizes within northern Cascadia. We derive a catalog of tremor episodes ranging in size from 10 to >13,000 tremor events using the results of 17 years of tremor monitoring. Minor episodes represent ∼96% of all 896 tremor episodes and their occurrence varies on 10-km scales. Using estimates for the depth of the forearc Moho and subducting slab, we observe an association between the location of the forearc mantle corner (FMC) and tremor occurrence that leads to along-dip modality. Bimodality, present in southern Washington and Vancouver Island, represents the segmentation of major and minor episodes up-dip and down-dip of the FMC, respectively. Unimodality, present in Puget Sound, results when the FMC is located near the down-dip edge of the ETS zone and no segmentation occurs. We also use our extensive tremor episode catalog alongside three-dimensional regional tomographic velocity models to reassess the relationship between tremor activity and low Vp/Vs signatures in the forearc. We do not find a correlation between tremor episode recurrence intervals and Vp/Vs, contrary to some previous work, suggesting that controls on silica precipitation in the forearc crust are not dominant controls of tremor episode recurrence, or that the association is not widely observable.

Why isn't Colorado's snowpack ending up in the Colorado River? Research suggests it might be the lack of spring rainfall

Phys.org: Earth science - Fri, 08/16/2024 - 13:06

The Colorado River and its tributaries provide water for hydropower, irrigation and drinking water in seven U.S. states and Mexico. Much of this water comes from the snowpack that builds up over the winter and then melts each spring. Every year in early April, water managers use the snowpack to predict how much water will be available for the upcoming year.

GOLD Observations of the Thermospheric Response to the 10–12 May 2024 Gannon Superstorm

GRL - Fri, 08/16/2024 - 13:00

Abstract

After days of intense solar activity, active region AR3664 launched seven CMEs toward Earth producing an extreme G5 geomagnetic storm commencing at 17:05 UT on 10 May 2024. The storm impacted power grids, disrupted precision navigational systems used by farming equipment, and generated aurora seen around the globe. The storm produced remarkable effects on composition, temperature, and dynamics in the Earth's thermosphere that were observed by NASA's Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission and are reported here for the first time. We use synoptic disk images of ΣO/N2 and neutral temperature (at ∼160 km) measured by GOLD to directly link dynamics resulting from the storm with dramatic changes in thermospheric composition and temperature. We observe a heretofore unseen spatial morphology simultaneously in ΣO/N2, neutral temperature, and total electron content. Equator-to-pole temperature differences reach 400 K with high latitude peak neutral temperatures near 160 km exceeding 1400 K.

Recent Upper Colorado River Streamflow Declines Driven by Loss of Spring Precipitation

GRL - Fri, 08/16/2024 - 13:00

Abstract

Colorado River streamflow has decreased 19% since 2000. Spring (March-April-May) weather strongly influences Upper Colorado River streamflow because it controls not only water input but also when snow melts and how much energy is available for evaporation when soils are wettest. Since 2000, spring precipitation decreased by 14% on average across 26 unregulated headwater basins, but this decrease did not fully account for the reduced streamflow. In drier springs, increases in energy from reduced cloud cover, and lowered surface albedo from earlier snow disappearance, coincided with potential evapotranspiration (PET) increases of up to 10%. Combining spring precipitation decreases with PET increases accounted for 67% of the variance in post-2000 streamflow deficits. Streamflow deficits were most substantial in lower elevation basins (<2,950 m), where snowmelt occurred earliest, and precipitation declines were largest. Refining seasonal spring precipitation forecasts is imperative for future water availability predictions in this snow-dominated water resource region.

Fijian coral reveals new 627-year record of Pacific Ocean climate

Phys.org: Earth science - Fri, 08/16/2024 - 12:55

An international team of climate scientists have used a 627-year coral record from Fiji to reveal unprecedented insights into ocean temperatures and climate variability across the Pacific Ocean since 1370.