Earth and Space Science is an open access journal publishing original articles spanning all of the Earth, planetary and space sciences. ESS particularly welcomes papers presenting key data sets, observations, methods, instruments, sensors, and algorithms and showing their applications.

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Open access

GOES-R PM2.5 Evaluation and Bias Correction: A Deep Learning Approach

  •  19 February 2025

Key Points

  • Aerosol optical depth obtained from GOES-R ABI was used to estimate surface PM2.5 concentrations

  • The algorithm developed used deep learning to improve the PM2.5 estimations from GOES-GWR algorithm

  • The deep learning model was validated against independent data set and shows improved performance metrics

Open access

PyReX: A Recursion Based Crossover Detection Algorithm in Python for Along‐Track Geophysical Measurements

  •  17 February 2025

Key Points

  • A recursion based algorithm for efficient detection of crossovers

  • The time complexity has improved to log N

  • Better performance with high sampling rate measurements

Open access

Calibrating Strain Measurements: A Comparative Study of DAS, Strainmeter, and Seismic Data

  •  16 February 2025

Key Points

  • Comparing recordings from DAS, optical fiber strainmeters (OFSs), and a seismometer revealed amplitude calibration and coupling issues

  • Laboratory tests showed that DAS recordings had reduced amplitudes at lower frequencies

  • Some underwater strain recordings correlated with the tide were localized by calculating the coherence between DAS and OFS data

Open access

Local Time Variations of Quiet Time Meridional Winds During Solar Minimum Solstices Based on ICON Observations and Numerical Simulations

  •  13 February 2025

Key Points

  • ICON-observed F-layer meridional winds show that diurnal and semidiurnal variations dominate at ∼20°N–40°N and 10°S–∼20°N respectively

  • In June, pressure gradient force dominated the semi-diurnal variation, and Coriolis force had a leading role in the diurnal variation

  • Semi-diurnal variations of meridional winds at low latitudes in June were more affected by upward propagating tides than those in December

Open access

Spatio‐Seasonal Risk Assessment of Upward Lightning at Tall Objects Using Meteorological Reanalysis Data

  •  12 February 2025

Key Points

  • Strong winds near the surface and upward deflection by obstructing terrain increase the risk of upward lightning at tall objects

  • Lightning at tall wind turbines can account for up to 20% of total lightning activity north of the Alps

  • High-risk areas are north and east of the Alps in winter and shift southward in the transition seasons and summer

Open access

Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) Collection 4 Formaldehyde Products

  •  12 February 2025

Key Points

  • We present the ozone monitoring instrument (OMI) Collection 4 formaldehyde (HCHO) product, retrieved using the SAO retrieval algorithm

  • OMI Collection 4 HCHO product is well-correlated with the ground-based Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectrometers (FTIR) HCHO measurements

  • OMI Collection 4 HCHO provides a stable long-term data record and shows strong agreement with OMPS and TROPOMI HCHO products

Open access

Exploring Machine Learning's Potential for Estimating High Resolution Daily Snow Depth in Western Himalaya Using Passive Microwave Remote Sensing Data Sets

  •  12 February 2025

Key Points

  • ML based high resolution daily snow depth is estimated for the first-time over entire Western Himalaya using Passive Microwave Remote Sensing Data

  • Proposed snow depth model has higher accuracy than operational passive microwave snow depth products

  • Demonstrated the potential of machine learning for snow depth estimations in data scare high altitude region

Open access

Wind Profile Characteristics That Warn of Summertime Flash Heavy Rain Events Over the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River Basin

  •  12 February 2025

Key Points

  • Flash heavy rain events (FHREs) are most frequent during Meiyu, increasing from northwest to southeast across the middle Yangtze River basin

  • Before FHREs, strong southerlies dominate the lower troposphere in the east, while weak easterlies prevail in the west

  • Hours before rainfall, winds accelerate notably over the eastern plain, while directional shifts are observed over the western mountains

Open access

Characteristics of Regional Hourly Extreme Precipitation With Different Durations Over the Northeast Plain, China During Summer

  •  12 February 2025

Key Points

  • The regional extreme precipitation events (REPEs) increases from north to south of the Northeast Plain of China (NPC) in the summer of 2000–2020

  • The diurnal variation of REPE over NPC exhibits the double-peak structure during the 2000–2020 summer

  • The intensity of REPE significantly increases over NPC in the summer of 2000–2020

Open access

Impact of NWP Model Configuration and Training Sample Characteristics on Random Forest‐Based Day‐1 Convective Outlook Guidance

  •  11 February 2025

Key Points

  • Differences in training sample subsets have significant impacts on RF-based forecast performance

  • Impacts of sample climate can be comparable or larger than impacts of NWP model configuration

  • Forecast performance increase resulting from increasing training sample size is limited beyond ∼30 training forecast cases

More articles
Open access

Global Bathymetry and Topography at 15 Arc Sec: SRTM15+

Key Points

  • An updated global elevation grid is presented using a spatial sampling interval of 15 arc sec
  • New bathymetry data include more than 33.6 million ship soundings and more than 6 years of non-repeat altimetry measurements
  • The percentage of seafloor mapped by echo soundings remains low; our current compilation covers only 10.84% at 15-arc sec resolution

Open access

A new digital bathymetric model of the world's oceans

Key Points

  • GEBCO_2014, a digital global bathymetric model, is documented
  • Thirty-three percent of ocean grid cells have been updated from previous version
  • Updated regional bathymetric compilations and other data incorporated

Open access

NRLMSIS 2.0: A Whole‐Atmosphere Empirical Model of Temperature and Neutral Species Densities

Key Points

  • A major, reformulated upgrade to NRLMSISE-00 is presented using extensive new data sets from the ground to ~100 km altitude
  • Vertical structure of the atmosphere is now self-consistently coupled; O density now extends down to 50 km
  • New model is warmer in upper troposphere, cooler in stratosphere and mesosphere; thermospheric N2 and O densities are lower

Open access

An update to the Horizontal Wind Model (HWM): The quiet time thermosphere

Key Points

  • The horizontal wind model has been updated
  • New data fill observational gaps
  • Empirical specifications are consistent with ionospheric models

Open access

The Ames Stereo Pipeline: NASA's Open Source Software for Deriving and Processing Terrain Data

Key Points

  • The Ames Stereo Pipeline is an open source user-friendly suite of stereogrammetry tools
  • The software can be applied to data from the Earth and other planets in the solar system
  • The software suite contains tools to help prepare data for stereo correlation and processes output terrain data

Open access

The GEDI Simulator: A Large‐Footprint Waveform Lidar Simulator for Calibration and Validation of Spaceborne Missions

Key Points

  • GEDI's simulator has been validated and found accurate enough for pre-launch calibration activities
  • The uncertainties of the simulator have been quantified and ALS beam density identified as a sufficient measure of accuracy
  • Interesting quirks of full-waveform metrics have been highlighted and investigated

Open access

Comparative Assessment of Various Machine Learning‐Based Bias Correction Methods for Numerical Weather Prediction Model Forecasts of Extreme Air Temperatures in Urban Areas

Key Points

  • Machine learning based bias correction of air temperature forecasts of a numerical model
  • All machine learning models improved prediction skills of air temperature
  • An ensemble of three machine learning models resulted in more robust bias correction than individual machine learning models

Open access

ISC‐EHB 1964–2016, an Improved Data Set for Studies of Earth Structure and Global Seismicity

Key Points

  • Over 35 million arrival times of seismic phases reported to the ISC for well-recorded global earthquakes have been reprocessed
  • The data set, called ISC-EHB, contains refined locations and depths for 170,550 globally distributed seismic events between 1964 and 2016
  • The ISC-EHB data set is used to highlight features of subduction zones globally

Open access

Automated River Plastic Monitoring Using Deep Learning and Cameras

Key Points

  • The proposed automated monitoring method locates river plastic on images reliably
  • The method generalizes reasonably well to new locations and would benefit from a larger data set
  • Automated method counts agree reasonably with manual methods

Open access

Mapping spatial distribution of forest age in China

Key Points

  • The mean forest age in China is ~43 years, with a large spatial heterogeneity resulting from human and natural disturbances
  • Forests in south China are generally young, while older forests are mostly found in east Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and west and northeast China
  • Forest types and climate factors are major factors determining forest growth rate

More articles
Open access

Evaluation of Bias Correction Methods for Regional Climate Models: Downscaled Rainfall Analysis Over Diverse Agroclimatic Zones of India

Key Points

  • Linear scaling (SCL) and empirical quantile mapping (EQM) performed well, particularly for simulating wet days (R95)

  • Local intensity scaling (LOCI) method was relatively less effective in correcting the errors

  • No distinct variation noted among correction methods to reproduce dry bias (CDD)

Open access

InSAR Observations of Construction-Induced Coastal Subsidence on Miami's Barrier Islands, Florida

Key Points

  • We identify a widespread subsidence of up to 8 cm in the vertical direction over the 2016–2023 period in Sunny Isles and Surfside based on Sentinel-1 data

  • There is a spatio-temporal correlation between new constructions in the area and subsidence signal

  • The subsidence is likely due to prolonged creep deformation of sandy layers within the limestone, affected by construction activities

Open access

Performance Assessment of Geophysical Instrumentation Through the Automated Analysis of Power Spectral Density Estimates

Key Points

  • Automated geophysical instrument quality control based on a database of power spectral density (PSD) estimates

  • Strict quality criteria on PSD estimates to verify the performance of geophysical instruments

  • Operational for the Netherlands Seismic-Acoustic Network (NSAN) and extendable to other geophysical monitoring infrastructures

Open access

NRLMSIS 2.0: A Whole‐Atmosphere Empirical Model of Temperature and Neutral Species Densities

Key Points

  • A major, reformulated upgrade to NRLMSISE-00 is presented using extensive new data sets from the ground to ~100 km altitude
  • Vertical structure of the atmosphere is now self-consistently coupled; O density now extends down to 50 km
  • New model is warmer in upper troposphere, cooler in stratosphere and mesosphere; thermospheric N2 and O densities are lower

Open access

Global Bathymetry and Topography at 15 Arc Sec: SRTM15+

Key Points

  • An updated global elevation grid is presented using a spatial sampling interval of 15 arc sec
  • New bathymetry data include more than 33.6 million ship soundings and more than 6 years of non-repeat altimetry measurements
  • The percentage of seafloor mapped by echo soundings remains low; our current compilation covers only 10.84% at 15-arc sec resolution

Open access

Global Distribution and Morphology of Small Seamounts

Key Points

  • We used the latest vertical gravity gradient maps to update and refine a global seamount catalog, finding 19,325 new seamounts

  • Smaller seamounts (<2,500 m tall) having good bathymetry coverage (739) were modeled with a radially symmetric Gaussian function

  • Two modeling approaches show that smaller seamounts have a sigma to height ratio of 2.4 which agrees with an earlier study by Smith (1988)

Open access

The GEDI Simulator: A Large‐Footprint Waveform Lidar Simulator for Calibration and Validation of Spaceborne Missions

Key Points

  • GEDI's simulator has been validated and found accurate enough for pre-launch calibration activities
  • The uncertainties of the simulator have been quantified and ALS beam density identified as a sufficient measure of accuracy
  • Interesting quirks of full-waveform metrics have been highlighted and investigated

Open access

Advances in the Evaluation of Cloud Seeding: Statistical Evidence for the Enhancement of Precipitation

Key Points

  • Quantitative effects of artificial precipitation enhancement experiments caused widely academic debates in atmospheric physics
  • Recent progresses and critical problems on how to evaluate cloud seeding and acquire statistical evidence are reviewed
  • We describe important issues, aiming to reduce systematic errors and uncertainties as well as improve quantitative sounding and evaluation

Open access

From Open Data to Open Science

Key Points

  • Open science is a collaborative culture enabled by technology that empowers the open sharing of data, information, and knowledge within the scientific community and the wider public to accelerate scientific research and understanding

  • This study provides a synopsis of various open science activities occurring throughout the community and synthesizes those activities around three broad open science focus areas

  • Science has become increasingly data driven, and data programs now play a critical role in enabling and accelerating open science

  • Data programs can set strategic policies and directions that are critical to enabling and promoting open science

Open access

Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document for GEDI Footprint Aboveground Biomass Density

Key Points

  • Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) aboveground biomass density is from models trained on a comprehensive database of field measurements and simulated GEDI waveforms

  • On-orbit prediction requires stratification by plant functional type and world region

  • Quality flags and metrics distinguish GEDI measurements that are representative of the conditions under which models were developed

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