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Earth sciences often investigate the causal relationships between processes and events, but there is confusion about the correct use of methods to learn these relationships from data. This Technical Review explains the application of causal inference techniques to time series and demonstrates its use through two examples of climate and biosphere-related investigations.
The advent of advanced plate tectonic reconstruction software has instigated an explosive growth in their generation and use by the wider Earth science community. This Technical Review provides a best-practice guide for quantitative plate reconstructions and their applications.
Detection, monitoring and prediction are essential to managing landslide risks. This Technical Review examines the use of remote-sensing technology in tracking landslides and mitigating disaster.
Vegetation dynamics can be tracked using remotely sensed vegetation indices, but these metrics can result in conflicting conclusions. This Technical Review details the history, application and potential pitfalls associated with vegetation indices and makes recommendations for their best use.
The use of isotopes has provided key insights into the Earth system, but their use can be fraught with experimental and theoretical pitfalls. This Technical Review explains the use of and fractionation factors associated with hydrogen, carbon and oxygen isotopes in water cycle and CO2–carbonate–water system studies.
Seismology provides information on the structure and composition of the Earth’s deep mantle. Without accurate constraints on the elastic properties of deep-mantle minerals, however, the seismic dataset cannot be fully interpreted. This Technical Review outlines the current techniques that are used to investigate the elasticity of typical mantle minerals.
Advances in numerical methods and high-performance computing have enabled imaging of Earth’s interior across scales using the physics of seismic-wave propagation. This Technical Review summarizes the use of full-waveform inversion in controlled-source and earthquake seismology.
