Highlight articles

This page features highlight articles from EGU's open access journals Earth Surface Dynamics, Geoscientific Model Development and Solid Earth. These articles of particular interest are selected by journal editors.

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The influence of upper-plate advance and erosion on overriding plate deformation in orogen syntaxes

Solid Earth
DOI 10.5194/se-9-1207-2018
5 November 2018

In this modeling study, we investigate rock uplift at plate corners (syntaxes). These are characterized by a unique bent geometry at subduction zones and exhibit some of the world’s highest rock uplift rates. We find that the style of deformation changes above the plate’s bent section and that active subduction is necessary to generate an isolated region of rapid uplift. Strong erosion there localizes uplift on even smaller scales, suggesting both tectonic and surface processes are important.

Oblique rifting: the rule, not the exception

Solid Earth
DOI 10.5194/se-9-1187-2018
26 October 2018

Fragmentation of continents often involves obliquely rifting segments that feature a complex three-dimensional structural evolution. Here we show that more than ~ 70 % of Earth’s rifted margins exceeded an obliquity of 20° demonstrating that oblique rifting should be considered the rule, not the exception. This highlights the importance of three-dimensional approaches in modelling, surveying, and interpretation of those rift segments where oblique rifting is the dominant mode of deformation.

GHOST: Geoscientific Hollow Sphere Tessellation

Solid Earth
DOI 10.5194/se-9-1169-2018
10 October 2018

I present the GHOST (Geoscientific Hollow Sphere Tessellation) software which allows for the fast generation of computational meshes in hollow sphere geometries counting up to a hundred million cells. Each mesh is composed of concentric spherical shells made of quadrilaterals or triangles. I focus here on three commonly used meshes used in the geodynamics/geophysics community and further benchmark the gravity and gravitational potential procedures in the simple case of a constant density.

sympl (v. 0.4.0) and climt (v. 0.15.3) – towards a flexible framework for building model hierarchies in Python

In the same way that the fruit fly or the yeast cell serve as model systems in biology, climate scientists use a range of computer models to gain a fundamental understanding of our climate system. These models range from extremely simple models that can run on your phone to those that require supercomputers. Sympl and climt are packages that make it easy for climate scientists to build a hierarchy of such models using Python, which facilitates easy to read and self-documenting models.

The Variable Infiltration Capacity model version 5 (VIC-5): infrastructure improvements for new applications and reproducibility

Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) is a widely used hydrologic model. This paper documents the development of VIC version 5, which includes a reconfiguration of the model source code to support a wider range of modeling applications. It also represents a significant step forward for the VIC user community in terms of support for a range of modeling applications, reproducibility, and scientific robustness.

Developing a global operational seasonal hydro-meteorological forecasting system: GloFAS-Seasonal v1.0

Global overviews of upcoming flood and drought events are key for many applications from agriculture to disaster risk reduction. Seasonal forecasts are designed to provide early indications of such events weeks or even months in advance. This paper introduces GloFAS-Seasonal, the first operational global-scale seasonal hydro-meteorological forecasting system producing openly available forecasts of high and low river flow out to 4 months ahead.

The seismogenic fault system of the 2017 Mw 7.3 Iran–Iraq earthquake: constraints from surface and subsurface data, cross-section balancing, and restoration

A balanced cross section across the hypocentre of the 2017 Iran–Iraq M_w7.3 earthquake is presented. The structural style of the area is characterised by inversion tectonics with partial decoupling between the basement and the 10 km thick sedimentary cover. The main shock is located along a low-dipping lateral ramp of the Mountain Front Fault. The balanced cross section indicates that the Mountain Front Fault is the only fault where an M_w7.3 earthquake may occur.

On the Holocene evolution of the Ayeyawady megadelta

Here we provide the first results on the evolution of the Ayeyarwady delta, the last unstudied megadelta of Asia. In addition to its intrinsic value as a founding study on the Holocene development of this region, we advance new ideas on the climate control of monsoonal deltas as well as describe for the first time a feedback mechanism between tectonics and tidal hydrodynamics that can explain the peculiarities of the Ayeyarwady delta.

Glacial isostatic adjustment modelling: historical perspectives, recent advances, and future directions

This article is a contribution to a special issue onTwo centuries of modelling across scales. It describes the historical observations, evolving hypotheses, and early calculations that led to the development of the field of glacial isostatic sdjustment (GIA) modelling, which seeks to understand feedbacks between ice-sheet change, sea-level change, and solid Earth deformation. Recent and future advances are discussed. Future progress will likely involve an interdisciplinary approach.

Crossing the chasm: how to develop weather and climate models for next generation computers?

Weather and climate models consist of complex software evolving in response to both scientific requirements and changing computing hardware. After years of relatively stable hardware, more diversity is arriving. It is possible that this hardware diversity and the pace of change may lead to an inability for modelling groups to manage their software development. This “chasm” between aspiration and reality may need to be bridged by large community efforts rather than traditional “in-house” efforts.

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