2022-02-22
Dust aerosols have a significant influence on weather, climate and human health due to large mass loading and wide distribution of these aerosols. Irregular dust shapes substantially affect optical properties and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) measurements at short wavelengths. However, dust simulation models have not been fully assessed, which hinders understanding of radiative pro...
2022-02-21
Based on biomarkers and bulk organic carbon isotope, we reconstructed a 5-million-year history of terrestrial material input to the northwest shelf of Australia. Vegetational organic input continuously decreased through the Pliocene-Pleistocene period due to decreased vegetation coverage and discharge under general aridification process. Triggered by lowered sea level and drier climates, soil inpu...
Exhumation in the Namche Barwa syntaxis, eastern Himalaya
2022-02-21
The Namche Barwa syntaxis in the eastern Himalaya is rapidly evolving in terms of its tectonics and topography. Here we constrain the exhumation history of the Yigong River to the immediate north of the syntaxis across different time scales using a multidisciplinary approach. Our new thermochronometric data reveal an acceleration of exhumation rates since 2 Ma in the downstream of the Yigong. Cosm...
Machine Learning for Identification of Primary Water Concentrations in Mantle Pyroxene
2022-02-21
The H2O content of clinopyroxene (cpx) phenocrysts in basaltic magma has become an important way to evaluate the H2O content of Earth’s mantle. However, due to the diversity of substitution mechanisms for H in cpx, it is difficult to ascertain using traditional geochemical methods whether hydrogen (H) measured in cpx phenocrysts represents a primary signature that can ultimately inform estimates ...
Reduced Tropical Cyclone Genesis in the Future as Predicted by a Machine Learning Model
2022-02-18
Due to a lack of observations and limited understanding of the complex mechanisms of tropical cyclone (TC) genesis, the possible TC activity response to future climate change remains controversial. In this work, a machine learning model, called the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model, is established using various environmental variables. The model performs slightly better ...
2021-11-08
The Mesozoic South China experienced the transformation from the Triassic large-scale intracontinental compression deformation to the Cretaceous massive magmatic activity and regional large-scale tectonic extension. This understanding has become a consensus in the academic community, but the dynamic mechanism of this transformation is still hotly debated on whether it was controlled by the collisi...
Climate More Responsive to Marine Cloud Brightening Than Ocean Albedo Modification: A Model Study
2021-02-25
To counteract anthropogenic CO2-induced global warming, various climate intervention approaches have been proposed. Among them, two approaches intend to reflect more sunlight back to space over ocean. One is marine cloud brightening that involves enhancement of marine cloud albedo. The other is ocean albedo modification that involves enhancement of ocean surface albedo. This study uses an Earth sy...
Reductions of Black carbon in a megacity during COVID-19 pandemic
2020-12-01
Summary: The researchers assess sources and variations of black carbon (BC) in a megacity of China during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results show that various vehicles in the urban can emit almost half of BC particles in the air. The reduction of vehicular emissions can be future plan for the modern megacities to take benefit for human health and regional climate warming.Black carbon (BC) as ...
2020-09-21
The new study of Prof. Weijun Li’s group has been published online byJournal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres: In-situ Observations of Light-absorbing Carbonaceous Aerosols at Himalaya: Analysis of the South Asian Sources and Trans-Himalayan Valleys Transport Pathways.Figure 1. A photo of an atmospheric pollutants layer in a trans-Himalayan valley during observation period.The Himalaya-Tibetan...
2020-09-08
Superpixels have become effective alternative to pixels in the past decade. By grouping a set of neighboring pixels into one perceptually meaningful superpixel, the number of superpixels is much smaller than the number of pixels, and therefore facilitates image analysis such as machine learning.In this study, Chai (2020) formulates superpixel segmentation as finding a rooted spanning forest of a g...
Ambient-noise anisotropic tomography suggests an episodic growth model for the Tibetan Plateau
2020-07-22
How the Tibetan Plateau uplifted and deformed remains vigorously debated and several competing models have been proposed. Recently, we constructed a new azimuthally anisotropic shear-velocity model for the lithosphere beneath Eastern Tibet using ambient-noise tomography from more than 600 seismic stations. In this model, the Tibetan upper crust exhibits strong azimuthal anisotropy with fast direct...
2020-06-11
As the sole rift currently recognized in the eastern Himalaya, Cona rift plays a critical role to evaluate previously proposed numerous models interpreting the E-W extension in the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen, since its activation history provides an unique constraint to reveal the general spatiotemporal pattern across the entire Himalaya.In this study, Bian et al. (2020) integrated results from mult...
Appraisal of alkenone-and archaeal ether-based salinity indicators in mid-latitude Asian lakes
2020-06-01
Lake water salinity, an important indicator of lake hydrological conditions, is critical to deciphering terrestrial paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes. By far, reconstruction of lake water salinity remains challenging as limited lake salinity indicators have shown to be universally valid for mid-latitude Asia, asking for development of novel salinity proxies with more broad applications....
2020-05-18
The subduction of the Pacific plate (including the paleo-Pacific plate) has a profound and extensive impact on the shaping and transformation of the South China plate and even the East Asian continent. The determination of the earliest start of subduction of the Pacific Plate is crucial to understanding the evolution and geodynamics of the Indosinian-aged and Yanshanian-aged tectonic events in the...