📄 Category

earth_science

1414 papers

📄 earth_science

Multi-Sensor Machine Learning and Spatial-Statistical Analysis of Illegal Small- Scale Mining (Galamsey) Dynamics in Wassa Amenfi East District, Ghana, 2023–2025

This study developed and validated a high-accuracy multi-sensor machine learning framework integrating Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data to quantify the 224% expansion of illegal small-scale mining in Ghana's Wassa Amenfi East District between 2023 and 2025, revealing significant spatial clustering along river corridors to support targeted environmental enforcement.

William Bright Asomani, DOUGLAS OSEI kuffuor2026-08-13
📄 earth_science

Rainfall Trend and Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) Analysis for Malé, Maldives (1993-2024)

This study analyzes 31 years of hourly rainfall data in Malé, Maldives, revealing that while annual totals show no significant long-term trend, increasing intra-annual concentration of rainfall and steep short-duration intensities necessitate updated Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curves to guide climate-resilient stormwater planning and flood mitigation in this vulnerable island city.

Shuaib Rasheed, Mohamed Vishaah Shamin, Hassan Shiraz, Kumaraswamy Ponnambalam, Shazla Mohamed, Simron J. Singh2026-08-13
📄 earth_science

Machine-learning prediction of dust aerosol optical depth at 550 nm over West Africa

This study develops and evaluates a LightGBM-based machine learning framework to predict daily dust aerosol optical depth over West Africa from 2003 to 2024, demonstrating strong performance in capturing seasonal patterns and low-to-moderate events while highlighting limitations in accurately predicting extreme high-dust occurrences.

Peace Awoleye, Babatunde Abiodun, Manfred Wendisch, Julius Akinyoola, Ayodeji Oluleye2026-08-13
📄 earth_science

Drought and intensive management interact to alter soil food web stability and pathways of energy fluxes

This study demonstrates that while soil food web energy fluxes and stability may recover from drought within two months, intensive land management alters these responses and leaves lasting impacts on community structure and energy pathways, which could critically regulate long-term below-ground carbon emissions.

Tancredi Caruso, Mathilde Chomel, Jocelyn Lavallee, Nil Alvarez Segura, Francisco de Castro, Matthew Magilton, Giulio Cl (…)2026-08-13
📄 earth_science

A Two-Step Sampling-Optimized XGBoost Framework for Permafrost Thaw Settlement Susceptibility Assessment

This study proposes a two-step sampling-optimized XGBoost framework coupled with spatial block cross-validation to accurately assess permafrost thaw settlement susceptibility in northern Xizang, effectively mitigating sampling bias and spatial autocorrelation issues to achieve high predictive reliability (AUC 0.88) for infrastructure protection.

Liangwen Xiong, Jun Tan, Hang Dong, Xinming Pu, Zehong Li, Xiaojun Li, Huiyan Wang2026-08-13
📄 earth_science

Food Systems and the Food–Energy–Carbon Nexus in Southern Africa: Moderating Roles of Agricultural Productivity, Dietary Composition, and Energy Intensity

This study analyzes ten Southern African countries from 1990 to 2019 using advanced econometric models to demonstrate that agricultural productivity, dietary composition, and energy intensity significantly moderate the income–emissions relationship, with their impacts varying by land availability, urbanization rates, and fossil fuel dependence, thereby offering critical insights for designing climate-resilient food systems in the Global South.

Bornwell Mutale2026-08-12
📄 earth_science

Estimates of Arctic Ocean air-sea carbon fluxes for the period 2000–2017 from atmospheric inverse analyses

Using the GEOS-Chem-LETKF inverse analysis system and atmospheric CO2 observations from 2000 to 2017, this study estimates a mean net CO2 uptake of 56.0 ± 8.0 TgC yr⁻¹ by the Arctic Ocean while highlighting the critical influence of specific monitoring stations and the urgent need to expand the regional observation network for more robust flux estimates.

Jayashree Ghosh, Parvadha Suntharalingam, Zhaohui Chen, Jan Kaiser2026-08-12
📄 earth_science

Rapid decline in a regionally important plant species across an aridity gradient is associated with increasing temperature and decreasing precipitation

This study reveals that the rapid decline and aging population structure of the endangered medicinal plant *Lagochilus inebrians* across Uzbekistan are strongly linked to increasing temperatures and decreasing precipitation, highlighting the urgent need for conservation strategies in the face of a warming and drying Central Asian climate.

Akbar Akhmedov, Frank M. Thomas, Luiz Bondi, Bo Li, Andrew Kulmatiski, Tamir Klein2026-08-12
📄 earth_science

Subsurface Structure and Mineral Prospectivity of the Wamba Transition Zone, North- Central Nigeria using Airborne Magnetic and Radiometric interpretation

This study utilizes integrated airborne magnetic and radiometric data processing to delineate the subsurface structural controls and mineral prospectivity of the Wamba Transition Zone in North-Central Nigeria, identifying distinct northern gold/rare-metal and southern uranium/phosphate targets associated with Pan-African shear zones and Cretaceous reactivation.

Cyril Chibueze Okpoli, Zadok Anuoluwadurotimi Obideyi2026-08-12