Our ability to detect extraterrestrial life may be impeded by both: our level of technology and actively prevented by those we want to observe. To overcome this barrier we must be able to probe further into interstellar space. We discuss the issue while making analogies to isolated tribes on Earth and how we may be the isolated tribes of the galaxy until we can travel out into space.

One approach to a search for the artifacts within the Solar system is to look for the objects (e.g., probes, defunct or active) with anomalous orbits that are significantly different from those of the asteroids. To this effect, we used the data on the orbital parameters of 524,214 asteroids from AstDys-2. Approximately 24% of the asteroids belong to the known families in the orbital parameter space. The unclassified ones are labeled as the ‘background’, produced mainly by the dynamical scattering in the course of the evolution of the solar system. We apply Machine Learning tools to identify objectively defined outliers in the feature space of orbital parameters. Various techniques can be used for this task, including DBSCAN, which use distance measures, and Isolation Forest, which use decision trees, and many others.

The technosignature search needs to become more quantifiable. It is necessary to address time frames of relevant signals for technosignatures, study the acceleration of innovation, and the role of innovation in detecting complex life.

Overlapping areas between Protected Areas and Indigenous peoples’ territories are important spaces for articulating cross-scale governing institutions and augmenting socioecological adaptability in developing countries. However, cooperation hinges on conflicts resolution between local (Indigenous peoples’ authorities) and national institutions (Protected Areas’ federal managers), official recognition of ancestral rights to Indigenous peoples, and the investment of social and financial capital for protecting important natural resources in synchrony with local communities. For this, is necessary to improve our understanding of the impacts of cross-scale interaction on natural resources’ conservation. In this research, we study these interactions on the Orinoco River watershed, one of the most important areas for the conservation of biodiversity in South America. Overlaps between Protected Areas and Indigenous peoples’ territories in this watershed account for 9% of its surface area. To test the effect of different political setups on conservation, we employed conservation indicators that use spatially-defined biophysical attributes. First, we explored differences between governing units (non-overlapping Protected Areas or PA, non-overlapping Indigenous peoples’ territories or IT, and overlapping areas or OV), then, we analyzed different overlapping categories (Partial, Near, None, and Full), finally, we analyzed how the recognition of ancestral rights impacts local governance by comparing Indigenous territories with rights and without rights. We found that conservation measurements were higher where any type of overlap took place, which suggests that the interaction between local and national institutions has a positive effect on the protection of important ecosystem services, furthermore, the proxies used to measure ecosystem services values indicate that areas contiguous to OV (Near overlapping category) have greater benefit than commonly expected. Our results were inconclusive regarding the effect of public recognition to local authorities on the local governance; however, this study contributes to the body of evidence about the contribution of these communities to the conservation of strategic ecosystems. This research highlights the importance of collaborative work for the conservation of natural resources, furthermore, it could support future investments of public funds on the creation and strengthening of cross-scale alliances and coalitions for the conservation and management of strategic ecosystems in the Orinoco River watershed.

Perseverance landed at the Octavia E. Butler landing site next to the Séítah dune region in Jezero crater on 18 February 2021, in close proximity to the largest exposed carbonate deposit on Mars. These carbonate signatures have been shown to be associated with the strongest olivine signatures at Jezero crater (Goudge+ 2015, Brown+ 2020). Alteration of olivine can lead to carbonate+H2 production, an energy source for microbes (Mayhew+, 2013). The question of the origin of the olivine-carbonate unit represents both an opportunity and a challenge for the rover mission and future sample return efforts. Carbonate The landing site is not near the region of carbonate detections (Figure 1), however the rover’s westward traverse will take us over the carbonates on approach to the crater rim. No reliable indications of the 2.5 μm carbonate band have yet been convincingly detected by the SCAM VISIR instrument. Olivine Studies of the olivine-carbonate unit concluded the olivine is relatively Fe-rich and coarse grained (mm: Poulet+ 2007, Clenet+ 2013). The strongest in-situ olivine signatures are found in dune material analysed by LIBS/VISIR (Beyssac+ Mandon+ this conf). This grain size characterization work may be used to investigate the interaction of olivine with water and CO2 (Escamilla-Roa+ 2020). These surface-gas processes are enhanced when olivine is in fine grain form. Ash dispersal modeling is ongoing (Ravanis+ this conf) to determine the range different sized ash particles could have traveled on ancient Mars. We cannot directly compare the 1 μm band for CRISM and VISIR, so we developed a new method that measures the curvature of three points on the absorption bands to assess their relative Fo# shifts and applied it to both datasets. Lab spectroscopy will be used to assess spectral variations with composition versus grain size. Two key factors driving the Fo# are mantle composition and melt temperature. Brown+ (2020) estimated a range of Fo44-65 for the most redshifted olivine observed by CRISM. McGetchin+Smythe (1978) showed that an Fe-rich mantle composition would produce highly viscous lavas and suggested an upper bound of Fo70 for olivine. Understanding the astrobiological potential of the olivine-carbonate unit is a priority of M2020 (Farley+ 2020) and we will speculate on potential formation models in this contribution.

Rapid economic development and expansion of the human population in China have made China currently the world’s largest producer and consumer of reactive Nitrogen (Nr), leading to severe damage to human and ecosystem health. In this context, managing N is fundamental to sustainable development in China. An accurate N budget is a basis for effective N management and evidence-based decision-making to tackle both food security and environmental protection challenges. However, significant disparities exist among previous estimates of N budgets and fluxes flow. This study attempts to advance understanding of uncertainties in China’s N budget using the Coupled Human And Natural Systems (CHANS) model and Monte Carlo simulation from 1980 to 2018. Results show that the spatial and temporal variations in agricultural and industrial activities and insufficient knowledge on N cycling parameterization are the two dominant causes of uncertainties in the N budget in China. Uncertainties of N inputs generally are <10%, while they are <30% for N outputs and >30% for N accumulations. Uncertainty of nitrogen oxides emission is more sensitive to energy consumption due to the large contributions from industry and transportation, while the uncertainty of ammonia emission is predominantly affected by agricultural activity. Combining surface measurements, satellite observations, and atmospheric simulation models enables cross-check of N fluxes in multiple systems and reduce uncertainties of the N budget.

Chihuahua State, in northwestern Mexico, has had strong growth in its irrigated agriculture, going from 2010 – 2018 of 461,099 to 597,222 ha. Although the total area planted has decreased due to often droughts. Main growth has occurred in the Chihuahuan desert area, through groundwater extraction, causing aquifers’ overexploitation. This unsustainable growth will provoke a collapse in the management of water resources. This work shows a methodology to determine the current agricultural frontier and monitor the evolution of the irrigated area. Methodology employs the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform to obtain and process satellite images, and was applied in the Laguna de Hormigas aquifer, located in the Chihuahuan desert area. For this aquifer, 10.55 times its recharge is extracted. Methodology uses Sentinel 2, Landsat 5, and Landsat 8 satellite images. To identify the agricultural frontier, we use Sentinel 2 images (level 1C) with cloud cover less than 10% from 2015-2020. The agricultural frontier is obtained by classifying two bands, one with maximum vegetative development and another with maximum humidity in each pixel. The bands are generated from a statistical historical analysis of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the normalized difference water index (NDWI). To monitor the evolution of irrigated areas from 2000 – 2020, Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 images of level 2 collection 2 are processed. The agricultural frontier defines the area where growth occurs. From Landsat images, for each year one image with maximum vegetative development is obtained which is processed to show if it has cultivated areas or not. Considering that cultivated areas have an NDVI value greater than 0.2. Results shows that agricultural development in the Laguna de Hormigas aquifer starts in 2010, but from 2016 is accelerated. Results are consistent with the statistics published in the Agrifood and Fisheries Information Service. The methodology developed is useful to analyze the spatio-temporal evolution of agricultural areas in arid regions and can be used in similar zones, without special computational requirements because it uses databases and cloud tools.

Seismic, potential-field, and earthquake data have been collected and modeled across the San Andreas fault (SAF) in a number of locations in southern and central California. In most locations the fault does not have a vertical or steep dip (>85 deg). In at least 3 locations it has a 2-part dip: below 6- to 9- km depth the fault dips moderately (between about 40 and 70 deg), and above that depth interval it is steep. The subsurface geometry of the fault from southeast to northwest is as follows. In two locations in the Coachella Valley, spanning a major bend in the SAF, the deeper segment of the SAF dips moderately northeast and the shallower segment is steep. Through the San Gorgonio Pass and San Bernardino areas, the SAF continues to dip northeast (as gently as 37 deg at one location), but the 2-part dip seen in the Coachella Valley is not resolvable. From Cajon Pass to the western Mojave Desert, spanning the two LARSE seismic profiles, the SAF dips steeply and is approximately planar. Around the Big Bend of the SAF, southwest of Bakerseld, the fault appears to dip moderately southwest, although this dip is constrained only by potential field data, and a 2-part dip cannot be resolved. At Parkfield, the fault dips steeply southwest and is approximately planar. A southwest dip continues to be observed northwestward into the Santa Cruz Mountains where we resolve a 2-part dip for the rupture of the 1989 M 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake. The deeper segment of the fault dips moderately southwest, whereas the shallower segment is steep and complex. The change in fault dip in the depth interval of 6-9 km, that is observed in at least 3 locations along the SAF in southern and central California, may result in part from a change in rheology in the upper part of the crust. Rheology changes from elastic at greater depths, where earthquakes occur, to non-linear at shallower depths, where earthquakes diminish in number. A steeper dip at shallower depth likely represents a minimum-work configuration for fault rupture. The approach of the fault to the free surface may also play a part in this depth-dependent geometry.

Background: Capillary trapping of gas bubbles and oil blobs within water-saturated media plays an important role for underground gas storage and secondary oil recovery. Wettability and roughness of the surface are elementary properties of a porous medium that determine the trapping efficiency. In previous work [1,2], we demonstrated that glass beads and natural sands display a significant difference (15%) of the trapped gas phase. Here, we carry out a systematic study of the capillary trapping efficiency in dependence of the wettability and surface roughness. Methods: We conducted a series of column experiments to study capillary trapping of gaseous CO2 using both glass beads and natural sands as sediments. Based on the high-resolution non-invasive micro-CT visualization method and subsequent image processing, we quantified capillary trapping efficiency, gas-cluster morphology and gas-cluster size distribution. We used the silanization method for varying degrees of wettability resulting in three different contact angles on microscopic soda lime glass slides: (i) Piranha cleaning (= 7°), (ii) untreated glass (= 30°) and (iii) silanized glass (=100°). Results: We observed that by-pass trapping is the dominant trapping mechanism in glass beads (smooth surfaces). The displacement process is piston-like. For natural sands (rough surface), thick film flow occurs, causing an efficient snap-off trapping mechanism. Our results indicate that the capillary trapping efficiency of natural sands is stronger reduced by a transition from water-wet to CO2-wet 3-phase system (increasing contact angle) when compared to glass beads. [1] H. Geistlinger, I. Ataei-Dadavi, S. Mohammadian, and H.-J. Vogel (2015) The Impact of Pore structure and Surface Roughness on Capillary Trapping for 2D- and 3D-porous media: Comparison with Percolation theory. Special issue: Applications of Percolation theory, Water Resour Res, 51, doi:10.1002/2015WR017852. [2] H. Geistlinger, I. Ataei-Dadavi, and H.-J. Vogel (2016) Impact of Surface Roughness on Capillary Trapping Using 2D-Micromodel Visualization Experiments. Transport in Porous Med., DOI 10.1007/s11242-016-0641-y.

The considerable challenges of accessing unpredictable events at remote seafloor locations make submarine eruptions difficult to study in real time. The serendipitous discovery of two persistently active sites (NW Rota-1 in the Mariana arc, at ~550 m, and West Mata in the NE Lau basin at ~1200 m) resulted in multi-year, multi-parameter studies that included water column plume surveys and direct (ROV) observations. Intense magmatic-hydrothermal plumes rose buoyantly above both sites, while deep particle plume layers, dominated by fine ash and devoid of hydrothermal tracers, were found dispersing laterally on isopycnal surfaces at variable depths below the eruptive vents and above the seafloor. The presence or absence of deep ash plumes was directly correlated with explosive activity or quiescence, respectively. An estimated 0.4-14.6 x 105 m3/yr of fine ash entered the water column surrounding these volcanoes and remained suspended at distances exceeding 10’s of km. We show that deep ash plume layers in the water column are a common feature of explosive submarine eruptions at other sites as well, and that they demonstrate a syn-eruptive mode of transport for fine ash that will result in deposition as “hidden” cryptotephra or fallout deposits in marine sediments at distances greater than previously predicted. Cruise FK171110 extended the time series of observations at West Mata, and resulted in discovery of new lava flows emplaced after September 2012, with one constrained between March 2016 and November 2017. ROV dives confirmed that West Mata was quiescent during this expedition, but widespread deep ash plumes were present. Turbidity in the deep ash plumes decreased by 80% over a 25-day period, with an average loss of 3% (0.15-0.6 g/m2) per day, suggesting the eruption that formed the 2016-2017 eruptive deposits had occurred within 8-121 days prior to the FK171110 expedition. Future studies of submarine volcanic processes will depend on improved exploration and event detection capabilities. In addition to recognizing the characteristic hydrothermal event plumes rising into the water column above actively erupting sites, widespread ash plumes dispersing at depths deeper than eruptive vents can also be diagnostic of ongoing, or very recent, eruptions. We infer the eruptive status at other sites based on these criteria.

Driven by unusually warm air in the Arctic, severe winter weather moves down south to mid-latitude areas, reflecting the complexity in the ways that climate change may affect local weather extremes. Food and agriculture have been identified as central to global efforts to adapt to climate change. However, research is notably lacking in understanding the vulnerability of farming communities to winter storms that are recognized as one of catastrophic events leading to agricultural damage and loss. This study focuses on mapping the interplay of social and physical factors (e.g. building age, farm-related income, education level, access to farming facilities) that differentiate Iowa farming communities with unequal vulnerability. Semi-structured interview was used in this study to identify the determinants of vulnerability of farming communities to winter storms. Incorporating spatial analysis and factor analysis, this study quantified the effects of physical factors on the sensitivity and exposure of winter storms, and prioritized primary livelihood capitals that determine the adaptive capacity to winter storms. Current results have demonstrated the vulnerability patterns of farming communities to winter storms shaped under varying societal-physical environments and weather conditions. This research shows implications in livelihood pathways to transforming adaptations to vulnerability reduction.

Vertical motions of Earth’s surface are used to inform almost all branches of the Earth Sciences, and central role in understanding geological, biological and climatic processes. An important challenge is generating enough information to reliably constrain histories of vertical motion. Significant effort has been expended in generating information about denudation (e.g. from thermochronometry), uplift (e.g. from stable isotopes or drainage analyses) and subsidence patterns. However, a canonical inventory of measurements that determine continental uplift on timescales pertinent to growth and decay of continental topography does not exist. We address this issue using the distribution of unequivocally marine rock recorded in new, detailed, paleobiological inventories. We show that these new compilations of paleobiological and paleoenvironmental data, that were generated to address paleobiological problems, also provide an unprecedented number of self-consistent, high-resolution measurements of continental and ocean island uplift. We focus on the Cretaceous to Recent history, which captures the large-scale marine incursions of the continents. Our results highlight that significant improvements can be made in understanding the histories of the continents in using these measurements of uplift. We present examples from North and South America, southern Africa and Australia to show how this new database can be explored to better understand the processes that generate high topography. They emphasize the importance of large inventories of paleobiological data for understanding long-wavelength uplift and the role tectonic and mantle convective processes play in generating continental topography.

In our current system, research assessment and reward are weighted heavily towards scientific inputs and outputs, and research impact is measured in funding dollars awarded and research articles produced. The value of science, however, extends well beyond contributions to the research activity itself. ‘Project Redefining Recognition’ is a cross-society initiative which seeks to develop a shared future vision and clear set of actions across the Earth, Space, and Environmental Sciences to expand research assessment to explicitly include, recognize, and reward actions that advance open science, broad communication and public engagement.This presentation will look closely at the ways in which Society partners participating in ‘Project Redefining Recognition’ are supporting their communities in sharing and applying their science, and the challenges and opportunities in our current system to recognize and reward those efforts.

The Cabled Observatory Vent Imaging Sonar (COVIS) was initially installed on the Ocean Observatories Initiative’s Cabled Array (OOI-CA) observatory at ASHES hydrothermal vent field on Axial Seamount in July 2018. COVIS recorded the acoustic backscatter from the water-column plumes formed above hydrothermal sources and the seafloor within the sonar’s field-of-view until Oct 2018, when an instrument malfunction suspended regular data-collection procedures. In July 2019, COVIS was redeployed after repairs and has since been collecting data at full capacity. Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of the acoustic backscatter data recorded by COVIS along with the in-situ temperature measurements in 2018 and 2019. The results demonstrate significant influences of ocean tides and bottom currents on diffuse hydrothermal discharge within ASHES. In addition, comparison with local seismicity shows a positive correlation between diffuse hydrothermal venting and the seismic activity in the vicinity of the vent field, which provides evidence for an intimate connection between hydrothermal activity and geological processes during the dynamic period leading up to the next eruption of Axial Seamount. Overall, our results showcase the capabilities of underwater acoustic techniques as remote-sensing tools for long-term, quantitative monitoring of seafloor hydrothermal discharge.

Land use and land cover changes (LULCC) associated with urbanization affect watershed functions and services through fundamental alteration of biogeochemical cycles. Quantifying the potential changes in water, carbon, and energy due to urbanization helps sustainable city planning and integrated watershed management. We hypothesize that ‘impacts of urbanization do not create equal’. We conducted two case studies in the US and China at watershed to national scales to show how urbanization affect watershed hydrology, meteorology, and Gross Primary Productivity (GPP). We used both empirical data and ecohydrological models including WaSSI, SWAT, and MIKE SHE. We used stepwise regression and geographically weighted regression models to assess the variable impacts of urbanization on watershed water and carbon balances across a large disturbance and climatic gradient. We show that LULCC may overwhelm the impacts of climate warming on hydrology and urban microclimate (Urban Heat Island and Urban Dry Island) in the humid southern China. We found that the impacts of urbanization on both water yield and GPP are more pronounced in the area with high precipitation and forest covers. The magnitude of changes in ecosystem functions were influenced by many factors such as the background climate (high precipitation vs. low precipitation), previous land use and cover types and land use and cover changes, and the magnitude of urbanization (change in % impervious surface). We conclude that effective environmental management measures and strategies such as maintaining forest vegetation and wetlands to mitigate the negative effects must be designed to fit local watershed conditions.

Hurricanes that cause damage to lives and property are often accompanied by poor water quality that threatens the health of human communities and aquatic species. North Carolina has experienced 3 devastating 500-yr storms within 2 years; wastewater treatment plants and sanitary sewer overows occurred up to 300 km inland, as well as coal ash spills, breaches of confined animal feeding operation (CAFO) waste lagoons, and numerous fish kills. Many in-situ sensors went offline and hazardous conditions precluded field sampling during and after these events. Publicly available satellite data enables delineation of flooding over broad areas, which can aid in quantifying the extent of flood exposure and potential water quality impacts. We mapped flooding across the North Carolina Piedmont and Coastal Plain due to Hurricane Matthew (2016) and Hurricane Florence (2018) with Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar. We assessed how impacts were distributed across indicators of social vulnerability at the census tract level and freshwater ecological vulnerability at a watershed scale using quantile regression. Finally, we identied flood-prone infrastructure relevant to water supply and treatment, and mapped locations where nature-based solutions could be implemented to store floodwaters and process contaminants. Flooding mapped with >91% accuracy extended beyond the 500-year floodplain—furthermore, the legal floodplain systematically underestimated impacts to more vulnerable human populations and surface waters. Repeated flooding affected both point and non-point sources of nutrients, including 188 wastewater treatment plants representing >46% of treatment capacity and 77 swine CAFOs that generate ~ 478,926,961 tons of manure per year. Conservation of ~4,600 ha of currently unprotected forest and wetland, and restoration or changes in land management on ~3,100 ha represent key opportunities to protect human and natural communities under future storms. Our results suggest that current flood hazard maps are inadequate for resilience planning. Changes to design standards, land-use planning policies, and operation of infrastructure that conveys and treats water are warranted to improve floodplain resilience.

Pharmaceuticals have been recognized as contaminants of emerging concern because of their ubiquitous presence in the environment and the potential they possess in causing undesirable ecological effects. Many long term ill effects of pharmaceuticals on humans are still unknown. Pharmaceuticals are recalcitrant to wastewater treatment facilities and their occurrence has been documented in almost all environmental matrices around the globe. Every third pill consumed by the world is synthesized in India, and despite that, much less attention and concern is noticed in documenting pharmaceuticals occurrence report in the Indian context. In Indian environment, pharmaceuticals have been detected in influent and effluent of wastewater treatment plants, surface waters and groundwater systems. Concentration of few pharmaceuticals such as ciprofloxacin (31 mg/L) and fluconazole (236 mg/L) reported in wastewaters of Hyderabad city in India show the highest values compared to pharmaceuticals concentration reported elsewhere in the world. Other pharmaceutical compounds that are detected in Indian matrix in mg/L range include cetirizine, losartan, and voriconazole. Metoprolol (950 µg/L), enrofloxacin (900 µg/L), citalopram (840 µg/L), moxifloxacin (694 µg/L), norfloxacin (420 µg/L), azithromycin (300 µg/L), atenolol (300 µg/L), levofloxacin (200 µg/L) are amongst other pharmaceuticals that have been detected at high concentration. Only a few research groups have paid attention on detecting pharmaceuticals in India. Disparity exists in occurrence data with most of the studies concentrated in southern India. India is amongst the top manufacturer and consumer of the pharmaceutical compounds and with pharmaceuticals occurring at alarmingly high concentration in environmental waters, much needed attention and emphasis is required to conduct nation-wide occurrence study program to fully assess the ecological risks possessed by the pharmaceuticals.

This research is part of the ongoing research project − Climate change Adaptation to ManagE the risks of extreme hydrologicaL and weather events for food security in vulnerable west Nile delta (CAMEL). The study area, West Nile Delta, is an important region in Egypt featuring agricultural and industrial significance to the nation, whilst it faces serious crises from the interaction of complex environmental problems (e.g. flooding) which is exacerbated by climate change in the recent decades. Under the pressure of growing population, food security has become a national issue. In the latest decades, the region has experienced more extreme weather events; the severe rainfall events have resulted in flooding destroying massive crops and causing losses of human life and livestock. The evolvement of society in this region has made the people living in the flood-prone area – mostly farm labours − relatively socio-economic vulnerable. This research hence focuses on the urgent foregoing issue − disastrous pluvial flooding, which seeks to mitigate the issue of crop production loss and human casualty caused by climate change. Therefore, an adaption measure of an early warning system for extreme events caused by heavy rainfall has become an urgent demand. However, the scarcity of data (e.g. insufficiency in the coverage of gauge stations and radar stations) has always been a main obstacle to relevant measures in Egypt. The research hence seeks to cope with such difficulty whilst to build an integrated flood early warning system for Egypt. Based on the integration of Nowcasting method (applying GPM and MPE satellite radar observation) and NWP method (downscaling ECMWF data) as the substitution for the insufficient ground observations, the integrated approach can take the advantages of both data sources to perform better forecasting. However, GPM and MPE data, compared with ground observation data, still reflects relative disadvantages in spatial and temporal resolution in terms of Nowcasting application. Besides, notwithstanding Nowcasting method can make up for the spatial resolution of the NWP method, its mainstream − optical flow approach based on the Lagrangian method − still lacks confidence in dealing with local advection circumstance, as well as fast and drastic formation and dissipation of precipitation. The research hence seeks to improve Nowcasting, by applying a phase-based frame interpolation method based on the Eulerian method, to refine the resolution of data to improve the performance of Nowcasting. It features better performance in precipitation change, strong precipitation divergence (i.e. light contrast), and computational efficiency. The improved Nowcasting, for further integrating with the NWP method, is being tested and proposed, which will end up with a recommendation of policy and a novel tool – real-time flood early warning system – so as to accommodate the hydrological extremes towards climate change in Egypt.