The Capbreton submarine canyon is a striking feature of the southeast of the Bay of Biscay. This canyon forms a deep incision through the continental shelf and slope, and displays remarkable structures linked to its present-day hydrosedimentary activity. Its head has been disconnected from the Adour River since 1310 CE, but remains close enough to the coast to be supplied with sediment by longshore drift. Gravity processes in the canyon body are abundantly described and documented, but activity in the head and the fan of the canyon is poorly constrained. Furthermore, many questions remain regarding the details of processes affecting the head, the body and the fan of the Capbreton canyon. In this work, we address the paucity of documentation concerning (1) the temporal evolution of sediment transfer between the head and the deep reaches of the canyon, and (2) the interaction between gravity processes and the morphology of the canyon floor, including both shaping and feedback mechanisms. Highlights ► Rare time series allows the morphologic follow-up of an active canyon ► 20-years comparison underlines alternating filling and erosive periods ► Erosion processes are highlighted by fast upstreammigrating knickpoints
This paper introduces the annual energy density concept for electric power generation, which is proposed as an informative metric to capture the impacts on the environmental footprint. Our investigation covers a wide range of sources classified by rated power and compares different regions to establish typical spatial flows of energy and evaluate the corresponding scalability to meet future net-zero emission (NZE) goals. Our analysis is conducted based on publicly available information pertaining to different regions and remote satellite image data. The results of our systematic analysis indicate that the spatial extent of electric power generation toward 2050 will increase approximately sixfold, from approximately 0.5% to nearly 3.0% of the world’s land area, based on International Energy Agency (IEA) NZE 2050 targets. We investigate the worldwide energy density for ten types of power generation facilities, two involving nonrenewable sources (i.e., nuclear power and natural gas) and eight involving renewable sources (i.e., hydropower, concentrated solar power (CSP), solar photovoltaic (PV) power, onshore wind power, geothermal power, offshore wind power, tidal power, and wave power). In total, our study covers 870 electric power plants worldwide, where not only the energy density but also the resulting land or sea area requirements to power the world are estimated. Based on the provided meta-analysis results, this paper challenges the common notion that solar power is the most energy-dense renewable fuel source by demonstrating that hydropower supersedes solar power in terms of land use in certain regions of the world, depending on the topography.
This paper introduces the concept of the annual energy density of electric power generation, which is proposed as an informative metric to capture the impacts on the environmental footprint. Our investigation covers a wide range of sources based on the installed capacity and compares different regions to establish typical flows of energy densities and evaluate their scalability to meet future net-zero emission goals. Our data analysis is based on publicly available information from different regions. The results of our systematic analysis show that the land use for electric power generation toward 2050 will increase about six times, from about 0.5 % to nearly 3.0 %, based on IEA targets. We investigate worldwide energy densities for ten different types of power generation facilities, two from non-renewable sources (i.e., nuclear and natural gas) and eight from renewable sources (i.e., hydro, solar CSP, solar PV, onshore wind, geothermal, offshore wind, tidal, and wave). In total, our study covers 871 electric power plants worldwide, where not only their energy density has been estimated but also their resulting environmental footprint. Based on the meta-analysis provided, this paper challenges the common notion that solar power is the most energy-dense renewable fuel by showing that hydro supersedes solar in terms of land use in certain regions of the world, depending on the topography.
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