Built-up heights serve as a nexus in understanding the complex relationship between urban forms and socioeconomic activities. With the advent of remote sensing technology, built-up height mapping from satellite observations has become available over the past years. However, the absence of high-precision sample data poses a significant limitation to built-up height mapping at large (regional or global)

Melt ponds are a common phenomenon on the surface of Arctic sea ice during the summer, and their low albedo strongly influences the energy balance of the Arctic sea ice. Estimating Melt Pond Fraction (MPF) and Melt Pond Depth (MPD) using optical remote sensing is crucial for a better understanding of rapid climate change in the Arctic region. However, current retrieval algorithms for monitoring Arctic

Arctic permafrost soils contain a vast reservoir of soil organic carbon (SOC) vulnerable to increasing mobilization and decomposition from polar warming and permafrost thaw. How these SOC stocks are responding to global warming is uncertain, partly due to a lack of information on the distribution and status of SOC over vast Arctic landscapes. Soil moisture and organic matter vary substantially over

Nighttime light (NTL) remote sensing has become an important tool to study human activities and their impact on the environment. However, accurately and quantitatively measuring NTL has remained a challenge. In this study, we propose using radiant flux as a more precise measure of NTL energy intensity, which takes into account both radiance and image pixel area. To achieve this, we develop a conversion

The three-runway system expansion project of the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) began with the land reclamation to the north of its original runway. To facilitate quick stabilization, the Deep Cement Mixing (DCM) in this project was featured as the novel reclamation method firstly applied in Hong Kong. Understanding ground deformation and underground consolidation is crucial for subsequent

Timely and reliable rapeseed mapping is crucial for vegetable oil supply and bioenergy industry. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) remote sensing is able to track rapeseed phenology and map rapeseed fields in cloudy regions. However, SAR-based rapeseed mapping is challenging in mountainous areas due to the highly fragmented farming land and terrain-induced distortions on SAR signals. To address this challenge

Accurate building height estimation is essential to support urbanization monitoring, environmental impact analysis and sustainable urban planning. However, conducting large-scale building height estimation remains a significant challenge. While deep learning (DL) has proven effective for large-scale mapping tasks, there is a lack of advanced DL models specifically tailored for height estimation, particularly

Hydraulic traits mediate trade-offs between growth and mortality in plants yet characterizing these traits at the community level remains challenging, particularly in the Amazon, where they vary widely across species and environments. While previous studies have used reflectance-based estimates, hydraulic traits, which arise from wood and/or whole-plant anatomy and physiology, have not been comprehensively

Soil and vegetation temperatures are crucial for various fields, including ecology, agriculture, and climate change. However, there remains a lack of entirely observation-based global datasets for these two component temperatures. To fill this gap, this study developed a multisource data Fusion-based global surface Soil and Vegetation Temperature retrieval method (FuSVeT). This novel method not only

Remote sensing of solar-induced vegetation chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) has a rich history of more than 50 years of research covering active and passive techniques from leaf, canopy, and satellite scale. Current satellite-derived SIF products primarily focus on the far-red spectral range, with variations in techniques dependent on sensor capabilities. However, these retrieval methods often rely on

The NASA TROPICS mission encompasses a constellation of CubeSats equipped with microwave radiometers, dedicated to investigating tropical meteorology and storm systems. In a departure from traditional microwave sounders, the TROPICS Microwave Sounder (TMS) employs new frequencies at F-band near 118 GHz and features an additional G-band channel at 205 GHz. We have expanded the capabilities of the Microwave

Accurate crop yield prediction is of utmost importance for informed decision-making in agriculture, aiding farmers, industry stakeholders, and policymakers in optimizing agricultural practices. However, this task is complex and depends on multiple factors, such as environmental conditions, soil properties, and management practices. Leveraging Remote Sensing (RS) technologies, multi-modal data from

Most existing soil moisture (SM) products from earth observations and land surface models over the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) have coarse resolutions or are mostly generated with high spatial resolutions based on downscaling methods. The former could hinder the applications in hydrological and ecological analyses at the regional scale and the performance of the latter could be limited by the intricate

Space geodetic techniques have achieved centimeter to even millimeter precision in measuring earth surface deformation. However, a large data gap remains in the offshore area. Offshore man-made structures (e.g., oil/gas platforms) anchored to the ocean bottom provide an opportunity to study seafloor motion in some areas. Although satellite InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) has been widely

Canopy height mapping is critical for assessing forest structure, forest resilience, carbon stocks, habitat, and biodiversity, all of which are threatened by changing climate and weather extremes. While current tools utilizing lidar (e.g., GEDI) and multispectral imagery (e.g., Landsat, Sentinel-2, airborne imagery) produce canopy height products, significant challenges remain, particularly in capturing

Accurate and timely mapping of rural settlements using medium-resolution satellite imagery, such as Landsat data, is crucial for evaluating rural infrastructure, estimating ecological service values, assessing the quality of life for rural populations, and promoting sustainable rural development. Current mapping techniques, including pixel-based and object-based classifications, primarily focus on

Due to the presence of natural and/or preparation-related fractures, the anisotropy of the matrix permeability of shales is usually difficult to characterize. In this study, we used X-ray micro-computed tomography (XRμCT) imaging to select samples from the Lower Cambrian and Upper Ordovician Wufeng Formation and the Lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation of the Upper Yangtze Platform, China, showing no

Earth Observation (EO) data can provide added value to nations’ assessments of vegetation aboveground biomass density (AGBD) with minimal additional costs. Yet, neither open access to global-scale EO datasets of vegetation heights or biomass, nor the availability of computational power, has proven sufficient for their wide uptake in climate policy-related assessments. Using Mexico as an example, one

Over the last five decades, Arctic sea ice has been shrinking in area and thickness. As a result, increased marine traffic has created a need for improved sea ice forecasting on seasonal to annual time-scales. In this study, we introduce a novel UNET-based deep learning model to forecast sea ice concentration up to 12 months. Based on yearly hindcast validation, the UNET 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month predictions

While studies on rock damage have mostly examined cyclic mechanical loading, or addressed thermal and mechanical loadings separately, compressed air energy storage (CAES) projects require the coupling of both effects. Granite was used to demonstrate a systematic experimental procedure in which cyclic temperature effects was incorporated into fatigue damage study of rocks subject to cyclic mechanical

Earthquakes can initiate slow-moving landslides and cause them to transition into rapid failures. Although observations are limited, the literature suggests that strong earthquakes are more likely to trigger nearby failures, while smaller earthquakes may increase susceptibility. However, understanding the role of seismic disturbances requires considering other environmental conditions. This study focuses

Due to cyclic freezing-thawing and drying-wetting, cracks are commonly encountered in loess regions and adversely affect the seepage and stability of slope engineering. However, the influences of freeze-thaw (FT) cycles on desiccation cracking of intact loess are rarely known. In this study, evaporation tests were performed on an intact loess with different water contents and subjected to various numbers

High-quality and continuous satellite data are essential for land surface studies such as monitoring of land surface phenology, but factors such as cloud contamination and sensor malfunction degrade the quality of remote sensing images and limit their utilization. Filling gaps and recovering missing information in time series of remote sensing images are vital for a wide range of downstream applications

NASA's Global Ecosystem Dynamic Investigation (GEDI) mission provides billions of lidar samples of canopy structure over the Earth's temperate and pantropical forests. Using the GEDI sample data alone, gridded height and biomass products have been created at a spatial resolution of 1 km or coarser. However, this resolution may be too coarse for some applications. In this study, we present a new method

The Permian-aged Wolfang Basin in Queensland, Australia, formed as a rift-controlled half graben containing significant coal resources. Recently, the use of high-resolution zircon ages has allowed for a recalibration of the eastern Australian palynostratigraphy, necessitating a re-examination of the timing of deposition in the Wolfang Basin relative to the glacial episodes that mark the end of the

An extensive monitoring dataset gathered from 35 multi-layer compaction monitoring wells (MLCWs), 83 groundwater level monitoring wells, and four extensometers were used in this study to comprehend the susceptibility of geological materials to land subsidence at the Choushui River alluvial fan due to the contrasting subsidence trends observed in the Yunlin (south) and Changhua (north) areas of the

The Chollay-Piuquenes batholith (CPB) represents voluminous Lower-Middle Triassic magmatism on the western margin of Gondwana. It crops out in the Chilean Frontal Cordillera (28°30′S–30°30′S), covering ∼2,400 km2. It is composed of the Chollay and Piuquenes plutonic complexes, that were emplaced over a 16 Myr interval, with magma production rates ranging from 6 to 7.5 km3/Myr km−1. The batholith lithologies

Complex fracture networks significantly affect the deformation, damage, and strength of rock masses. Three-dimensional (3D) fracture density is an important parameter for estimating the mechanical properties and seepage characteristics of rock masses. This study, using a universal elliptical fracture model with all variable parameters that approximates the true fracture shape more closely than a circular

The in-situ transformation of oil shale is an intricately complex process involving multiple physical field coupling. Through a series of laboratory experiments, this study reveals the relationship between the anisotropy of pore structure and the anisotropy of physical and mechanical properties in oil shale during the heating process. Results reveal that during heating, pyrolysis-induced parallel bedding

The study investigates how climate-induced multiple rainfall infiltrations on the Loess Plateau result in microstructural changes in loess, subsequently influencing its infiltration characteristics. To simulate the loess infiltration properties under multiple rainfall events, three infiltration tests were performed using a vertical infiltration apparatus. Additionally, SEM and NMR techniques were employed

This study introduces an Entropy-based index: the Lorenz-entropy (LE) index, which we have developed by integrating Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR), econometrics, and forest ecology. The main goal of the LE is to bridge the gap between theoretical entropy concepts and their practical applications in monitoring vertical structural complexity of tropical forest ecosystems. The LE index quantifies

For decades, solutions to regional-scale landslide prediction have primarily relied on data-driven models, which, by definition, are disconnected from the physics of the failure mechanism. The success and spread of such tools came from the ability to exploit proxy variables rather than explicit geotechnical ones, as the latter are prohibitive to acquire over broad landscapes. Our work implements a

A very large percentage of the Italian municipalities is exposed to landslides, floods, and/or coastal erosion, according to the 2021 edition of the Report on hydrogeological instability in Italy. Even the south-eastern area of the country, the Apulia Region, is affected by different geo-hydrological hazards, with a concentration of landslides in the north-western portion, named the Daunia Apennine

Global Positioning System (GPS) instruments capture the daily crustal 3D deformation responding elastically to terrestrial water storage (TWS) variations, providing a powerful tool for hydrological studies. Here, we further expand the application of GPS in flood potential assessment. GPS vertical and horizontal crustal deformation are inverted into TWS variations using a 3D-Inversion model, and then

During the Mesozoic, the North China Craton (NCC) especially the eastern part underwent significant destruction of its cratonic roots. During ∼125–120 Ma, the source of magmatism shifted from an ancient enriched lithospheric mantle to a juvenile depleted asthenospheric mantle. While this geochemical change is clear in the eastern NCC, it is unclear whether a similar shift occurred in the central NCC

On 1 September 2022, a giant loess landslide occurred in Huzhu Tu Autonomous County, Qinghai Province, China. This catastrophic event brought to light a unique loess fluidisation phenomenon. In specific parts of the landslide, the loess completely transformed into a viscous, fluid-like state, whereas other parts showed a deep-seated slide that retained their structural integrity. In this case, loess

Past studies investigated the seismic vulnerability of earth dams subjected to far-field earthquakes. Near fault, pulse type motions are known to amplify the seismic demands in long-period structures due to the resonating effect. Thus, this study investigates the seismic demand amplification in an earth dam under near fault pulse type motions, accounting for the dynamic dam-reservoir interactions (DRI)

The Barton-Bandis model for the nonlinear shear strength of rock joints is the most commonly used strength criterion in rock engineering practice. There have been advancements in determination of Joint Roughness Coefficient (JRC), such as the use of laser scanning; however, the equally important Joint Wall Compressive Strength (JCS) parameter has not been significantly advanced. The JRC and JCS are

The authors regret that several errors were identified in the winter wheat yield maps in the article. These errors were caused by a problem with the procedure of exporting maps from the Google Earth Engine cloud platform. They did not affect the scatterplots and relevant yield prediction accuracies presented in the article, since the accuracies were determined from the plot-level remotely sensed data

Extreme rainfall events exacerbated by global warming can pose great threats to soil stability, causing severe soil erosion and triggering various disasters, such as landslide, debris flow, and land degradation. This study explores the efficacy and critical influence factors of a bio-approach utilizing microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) for soil erosion control by conducting a series

Soil spectral reflectance is a necessary input for land surface and radiative transfer models, and can be used to infer soil properties. Numerous soil reflectance inversion models have been developed based on mechanistic approaches, each with their own limitations. Mechanistic models based on radiative transfer theory are usually based on only a few input soil properties, whereas data-driven approaches

Accurate estimation of evapotranspiration (ET) is essential for the precise quantification of energy and water budgets under climate change. Remote sensing ET models provide an effective way to map ET across different spatial and temporal scales. However, conductance-based ET models such as PML_V2 are associated with limited or no water stress constraints on soil evaporation and canopy transpiration

Increasing the soil erosion resistance is one of the core issues in slope erosion control and ecological environmental restoration of open-pit coal mine (OPCM) dumps. In this study, fly ash (FA) and polyacrylamide (PAM) were used to improve the soil quality of an OPCM dump, and an indoor physical model was constructed to investigate the water and soil loss characteristics of the improved soil via simulated

This study employs seismic refraction tomography (SRT) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) to assess subsurface geological conditions along the proposed Porsgrunn Highway in Norway. The primary objective is to analyze SRT and ERT tomograms to identify subsurface geological structures. However, interpreting tomograms is often limited by smoothed boundaries and reduced resolution. To address

Coal remains a significant energy source globally, with the United States holding a substantial portion of the world’s coal reserves but it creates the dangerous effects of global warming. Despite its abundance, questions arise regarding the accessibility and environmental impact of coal reserves. Therefore, this research forecasted the future of coal reserves, coal prices, electricity from coal, carbon

Conventional time-of-failure estimated from slope surface displacement over time, ignores the crucial geotechnical and environmental causative factors that lead to slope instability. The instrumentation and monitoring are expensive, labour-intensive, and often not feasible for large number of hill slopes. This paper focuses on the physics-based determination of time-of-failure charts for laterite soil

An analytical model is derived for predicting the flow field and stability of an unsaturated infinite slope subjected to steady infiltration. The proposed model is novel because it accounts for the hydraulic anisotropy of unsaturated soil. The governing equation for steady-state seepage in an infinite slope is established in terms of matric suction under a constant surface flux boundary condition.

Chair-like bedding rock landslides are prevalent in the Three Gorges Reservoir area (TGRA), necessitating further investigation into their inducing mechanisms. This study focuses on the Muyubao and Tanjiahe landslides, conducting a comparative analysis of their deformation characteristics and mechanisms while comprehensively considering geological and hydrological factors. The findings indicate that

Laboratory tests involving soil desiccation cracking are subjected to geometrical boundary constraints that are not always present in field conditions. To better understand the effects of sample geometry on desiccation cracks, several researchers have used controlled climatic conditions coupled with image analysis to accurately quantify the crack characteristics of soil samples subjected to laboratory

Natural alluvial foundations are inherently heterogeneous. To enhance seepage safety, a cut-off wall is commonly embedded in a dam foundation. However, walls can also have stochastic defects. The dual uncertainties arising from soil heterogeneity and wall defects pose significant challenges for seepage safety evaluation. In this study, systematic numerical simulations were conducted on an internally

Land surface temperature (LST) is an important parameter that critically contributes to Earth’ s climate. Thermal anisotropy is a major challenge that must be addressed while generating long-term LST products from satellites. For instance, the differences between GOES-16 and GOES-17 LST products caused by thermal anisotropy have not yet been resolved, which impacts the high-frequency monitoring of

Subpixel mapping (SPM) addresses the widespread mixed pixel problem in remote sensing images by predicting the spatial distribution of land cover within mixed pixels. However, conventional pixel-based spectral unmixing, a key pre-processing step for SPM, neglects valuable spatial contextual information and struggles with spectral variability, ultimately undermining SPM accuracy. Additionally, while

Understanding the optical properties of dorsiventral leaves and quantifying leaf biochemical traits through physical models are important for interpreting canopy radiative transfer and monitoring plant growth. Previous models, such as the dorsiventral leaf model (DLM), have effectively accounted for the inner asymmetry of the leaf but neglected the asymmetry of surface structures between the upper

The pursuit of economic development poses substantial environmental challenges, and achieving both economic and sustainable development are difficult goals to balance. Based on China’s unique political structure, government officials serve as central decision-makers in regional development. The policy choices of these officials are constrained by the official promotion tournament system. We examined

The Lomagundi Carbon Event (LE), the large, long-lived Paleoproterozoic positive carbon isotope excursion, is traditionally associated with a significant increase in atmospheric oxygen. However, the magnitude and extent of atmosphere–ocean oxygenation during this critical period of Earth’s history remain poorly constrained. Here, we present molybdenum isotope data and Ce anomaly values of Paleoproterozoic

New high-resolution ID-TIMS geochronology of zircon from tuff horizons reveals a regionally traceable temporal hiatus of ∼ 3–10 Ma in sedimentation along the contact between the Middle-Upper Jurassic Walloon Coal Measures (WCM) and the Upper Jurassic Springbok Sandstone (SS), Surat Basin, Australia. Undecompacted sedimentation rates of 15–65 m.Ma−1 in the WCM drop to apparent sedimentation rates of

Large boulders entrained by debris flow can generate destructive impact force and cause significant damage to a rigid barrier located downstream. Baffle arrays can be installed in front of the rigid barrier to reduce the potential damage from large boulders by dissipating flow energy with filtering boulders from the debris flows. In this study, to investigate the effect of baffle arrays on the flow