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Exploring Earth's surface
Earths surface isn't just dirt and rock. It features majestic mountains and verdant valleys, rolling rivers and violent volcanoes. Readers are whisked away on a tour of the planet and it's many fascinating landforms. They will see many of Earth's most interesting natural locations and learn how they were formed.
Book
A Dynamics of Surface Temperature Forced by Solar Radiation
Due to lack of a unified description of the Earth surface temperature, a generic dynamic equation is postulated as an inference from the special case of snow. Solar radiation is explicitly included in the formulation for transparent media such as snow, ice and water while implicitly through (conductive) surface heat flux for non‐transparent media such as soil. The physical parameters of the equation are medium thermal inertia, thermal and radiative diffusivity. The equation for transparent media reduces to the familiar force‐restore model of soil surface temperature when the penetration depth of solar radiation tends to zero. Proof‐of‐concept validation for snow surface temperature as a paradigm of transparent media at three sites in the Arctic and Antarctica confirms the postulated equation as a generic description of the dynamics of surface temperature. Plain Language Summary Surface temperature of the Earth is a primary indicator of Earth climate system. Change of surface temperature depends on conductive and turbulent heat transport processes at either side of Earth surface and the media (soil, air, water, snow, etc.) specific absorption of solar radiation. Understanding and simulating surface temperature is a long‐standing challenge in the study of energy and mass exchange at the Earth‐atmosphere interface. This study postulates a unified governing equation of the dynamics of surface temperature for all surface types (soil, water, snow/ice, etc.). The new dynamic equation is independent of the parameterization of heat transfer processes within the atmosphere and surface media. The classical force‐restore equation of surface soil temperature is shown to be a special case of the general equation. The new dynamic equation can be used for simulating surface temperature without using the coupled earth‐atmosphere models or for the specification of surface boundary conditions of temperature and/or heat fluxes required by coupled earth‐atmosphere models. Key Points A unified dynamic equation of surface temperature for all surface types is postulated Explicit characterization of solar radiation absorption in the surface forcing for transparent media Heat flux in the dynamic equation is parameterized using non‐gradient formula
Journal Article
Earth and Mars : a reflection
\"Earth and Mars relates in images and words the life story of two planets: both born in the dusty disk surrounding the young sun; each shaped by volcanic activity, wind, and water; but only one home to life\"--Provided by publisher.
Book
An On-Demand Web Tool for the Unsupervised Retrieval of Earth’s Surface Deformation from SAR Data: The P-SBAS Service within the ESA G-POD Environment
This paper presents a web tool for the unsupervised retrieval of Earth’s surface deformation from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite data. The system is based on the implementation of the Differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR) algorithm referred to as Parallel Small BAseline Subset (P-SBAS) approach, within the Grid Processing on Demand (G-POD) environment that is a part of the ESA’s Geohazards Exploitation Platform (GEP). The developed on-demand web tool, which is specifically addressed to scientists that are non-expert in DInSAR data processing, permits to set up an efficient on-line P-SBAS processing service to produce surface deformation mean velocity maps and time series in an unsupervised manner. Such results are obtained by exploiting the available huge ERS and ENVISAT SAR data archives; moreover, the implementation of the Sentinel-1 P-SBAS processing chain is in a rather advanced status and first results are already available. Thanks to the adopted strategy to co-locate both DInSAR algorithms and computational resources close to the SAR data archives, as well as the provided capability to easily generate the DInSAR results, the presented web tool may contribute to drastically expand the user community exploiting the DInSAR products and methodologies.
Journal Article
Earthquakes, eruptions, and other events that change Earth
\"This exciting book explains how the shape of Earth can change with the sudden movement of Earth's crust or when molten rock explodes out of an opening in Earth's surface. Young readers will be fascinated to discover how volcanoes form--destroying the landscape and creating new landforms at the same time. They will also learn about tectonic plates and fault lines, the damage earthquakes can cause, and how to stay safe when an earthquake happens.\"--Publisher description.
Book
Forecasting the response of Earth's surface to future climatic and land use changes: A review of methods and research needs
In the future, Earth will be warmer, precipitation events will be more extreme, global mean sea level will rise, and many arid and semiarid regions will be drier. Human modifications of landscapes will also occur at an accelerated rate as developed areas increase in size and population density. We now have gridded global forecasts, being continually improved, of the climatic and land use changes (C&LUC) that are likely to occur in the coming decades. However, besides a few exceptions, consensus forecasts do not exist for how these C&LUC will likely impact Earth‐surface processes and hazards. In some cases, we have the tools to forecast the geomorphic responses to likely future C&LUC. Fully exploiting these models and utilizing these tools will require close collaboration among Earth‐surface scientists and Earth‐system modelers. This paper assesses the state‐of‐the‐art tools and data that are being used or could be used to forecast changes in the state of Earth's surface as a result of likely future C&LUC. We also propose strategies for filling key knowledge gaps, emphasizing where additional basic research and/or collaboration across disciplines are necessary. The main body of the paper addresses cross‐cutting issues, including the importance of nonlinear/threshold‐dominated interactions among topography, vegetation, and sediment transport, as well as the importance of alternate stable states and extreme, rare events for understanding and forecasting Earth‐surface response to C&LUC. Five supplements delve into different scales or process zones (global‐scale assessments and fluvial, aeolian, glacial/periglacial, and coastal process zones) in detail. Key Points We review models and data useful for forecasting Earth surface changes We identify key knowledge gaps required to forecast Earth surface changes We strategize how geomorphologists and Earth‐systems modelers can collaborate
Journal Article
Sulfur, lead, and mercury characteristics in South Africa coals and emissions from the coal-fired power plants
Coal-fired power plants (CFPPs) are the dominant source of electricity in South Africa due to coal abundance in the country. However, emissions of SO2, Pb, and Hg have raised serious environmental and public health concerns. Hence, to reduce emissions and utilize coal efficiently, it is essential to estimate emissions trends, understanding existential forms of the elements in coals, and their affinities to minerals, organic matter, and pyrite. Therefore, this paper aimed to assess the forms of elemental occurrence of sulfur (S), lead (Pb), mercury Hg affinities in the coals using statistical correlations and their isotopic compositions. This study also estimated SO2, Pb, and Hg emissions from 1971 to 2018 from the CFPPs based on activity data and emission factors. Based on the results, South African coals mainly comprise equivalent fractions of organic and pyritic S. The Pb were correlated with ash content (R = 0.61), Si, Al, and Ti, which indicates clay mineral-bound Pb. However, the highest Pb206/Pb207 and the lowest Pb208/Pb206 in South Africa coals which contain high inertinite (organic matter) and low S, also reveal organically associated Pb. Similarly, clay minerals linked Hg appeared as of Hg relationship with ash (R = 0.641) and major elements, and the remaining could be an organic matter associated. As an organic matter-associated element least cleanability and readily oxidizing nature, burning South African coals containing a substantial quantity of organic S and organically bound Pb and Hg without washing results in higher emissions. The estimated SO2, Pb, and Hg emissions were 355.84 Gg, 168.91 tons, and 4.17 tons in 1971, and increased to 1468.13 Gg, 696.89 tons, and 17.20 tons in 2018, respectively. The values approximately increased by a factor of 4.
Journal Article
Fire in the sky : cosmic collisions, killer astroids, and the race to defend Earth
A \"historical survey about asteroid hits sustained by Earth and the defenses being prepared against future asteroid-caused catastrophe\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
The 2.1 Ga Old Francevillian Biota: Biogenicity, Taphonomy and Biodiversity
The Paleoproterozoic Era witnessed crucial steps in the evolution of Earth's surface environments following the first appreciable rise of free atmospheric oxygen concentrations ∼2.3 to 2.1 Ga ago, and concomitant shallow ocean oxygenation. While most sedimentary successions deposited during this time interval have experienced thermal overprinting from burial diagenesis and metamorphism, the ca. 2.1 Ga black shales of the Francevillian B Formation (FB2) cropping out in southeastern Gabon have not. The Francevillian Formation contains centimeter-sized structures interpreted as organized and spatially discrete populations of colonial organisms living in an oxygenated marine ecosystem. Here, new material from the FB2 black shales is presented and analyzed to further explore its biogenicity and taphonomy. Our extended record comprises variably sized, shaped, and structured pyritized macrofossils of lobate, elongated, and rod-shaped morphologies as well as abundant non-pyritized disk-shaped macrofossils and organic-walled acritarchs. Combined microtomography, geochemistry, and sedimentary analysis suggest a biota fossilized during early diagenesis. The emergence of this biota follows a rise in atmospheric oxygen, which is consistent with the idea that surface oxygenation allowed the evolution and ecological expansion of complex megascopic life.
Journal Article