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Abstract Accurate community velocity models (CVMs) are critical for understanding and modeling potential earthquake shaking hazards. Those models require an understanding of the depth, geometry, and sediment density within sedimentary basins. We conducted gravity research in Lemmon Valley, Nevada, an area experiencing rapid urban and industrial growth, to help map the Lemmon Valley Basin and to better constrain the local CVM. Raw gravity readings taken at 179 locations along three transects totaling 50 line-km were reduced to a complete Bouguer anomaly for each point. Combining with preexisting gravity data allowed interpolation of these readings across the entire basin and production of 2D and 3D models of the depth to dense bedrock. This model revealed a relatively steep-sided basin in Lemmon Valley bounded by normal faults on both sides. The basin is 5 km long and 2 km wide and extends between 400 and 800 m deep. This newly resolved basin has been added to the CVM for the Reno, Nevada, area. This higher-resolution CVM will allow urban planners, engineers, and architects to use more appropriate earthquake mitigation strategies when designing bridges, buildings, and other structures in this part of western Nevada. 

Abstract Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) in volcanic areas commonly exhibits high temperatures, concentrations of metals and CO₂, and acidity, all of which could affect sensitive coastal ecosystems. Identifying and quantifying volcanic SGD is crucial yet challenging because the SGD might be both discrete, through fractured volcanic rock, and diffuse. At a volcanic area in the Philippines, the novel combination of satellite and drone‐based thermal infrared remote sensing, ground‐based fiber‐optic distributed temperature sensing, and in situ thermal profiling in coastal sediment identified the multi‐scale nature of SGD and quantified fluxes. We identified SGD across ∼30 km of coastline. The different approaches revealed numerous SGD signals from the intertidal zone to about a hundred meters offshore. In active seepage areas, temperatures peaked at 80°C, and Darcy fluxes were as high as 150 cm/d. SGD is therefore locally prominent and regionally important across the study area. 

Abstract Rift propagation, rather than basal melt, drives the destabilization and disintegration of the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf. Since 2016, rifts have episodically advanced throughout the central ice-shelf area, with rapid propagation events occurring during austral spring. The ice shelf's speed has increased by ~70% during this period, transitioning from a rate of 1.65 m d⁻¹in 2019 to 2.85 m d⁻¹by early 2023 in the central area. The increase in longitudinal strain rates near the grounding zone has led to full-thickness rifts and melange-filled gaps since 2020. A recent sea-ice break out has accelerated retreat at the western calving front, effectively separating the ice shelf from what remained of its northwestern pinning point. Meanwhile, a distributed set of phase-sensitive radar measurements indicates that the basal melting rate is generally small, likely due to a widespread robust ocean stratification beneath the ice–ocean interface that suppresses basal melt despite the presence of substantial oceanic heat at depth. These observations in combination with damage modeling show that, while ocean forcing is responsible for triggering the current West Antarctic ice retreat, the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf is experiencing dynamic feedbacks over decadal timescales that are driving ice-shelf disintegration, now independent of basal melt. 

Weathering and transport of potentially acid generating material (PAGM) at abandoned mines can degrade downstream environments and contaminate water resources. Monitoring the thousands of abandoned mine lands (AMLs) for exposed PAGM using field surveys is time intensive. Here, we explore the use of Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems (RPASs) as a complementary remote sensing platform to map the spatial and temporal changes of PAGM across a mine waste rock pile on an AML. We focus on testing the ability of established supervised and unsupervised classification algorithms to map PAGM on imagery with very high spatial resolution, but low spectral sampling. At the Perry Canyon, NV, USA AML, we carried out six flights over a 29-month period, using a RPAS equipped with a 5-band multispectral sensor measuring in the visible to near infrared (400–1000 nm). We built six different 3 cm resolution orthorectified reflectance maps, and our tests using supervised and unsupervised classifications revealed benefits to each approach. Supervised classification schemes allowed accurate mapping of classes that lacked published spectral libraries, such as acid mine drainage (AMD) and efflorescent mineral salts (EMS). The unsupervised method produced similar maps of PAGM, as compared to supervised schemes, but with little user input. Our classified multi-temporal maps, validated with multiple field and lab-based methods, revealed persistent and slowly growing ‘hotspots’ of jarosite on the mine waste rock pile, whereas EMS exhibit more rapid fluctuations in extent. The mapping methods we detail for a RPAS carrying a broadband multispectral sensor can be applied extensively to AMLs. Our methods show promise to increase the spatial and temporal coverage of accurate maps critical for environmental monitoring and reclamation efforts over AMLs.