The SESAME Human-Earth Atlas
Human activities such as food production, mining, transportation, and construction have extensively modified Earth’s land and marine environments, causing biodiversity loss, water pollution, soil erosion, and climate change. However, studying spatial aspects of the relationships that link the global human system with non-human parts of the Earth-system is hampered by data fragmentation. Here we present the Surface Earth System Analysis and Modeling Environment (SESAME) Human-Earth Atlas, which includes hundreds of variables capturing both human and non-human aspects of the Earth system on two common spatial grids of 1- and 0.25-degree resolution. The Atlas is structured by common spheres, and many variables resolve changes over time. Machine learning is used selectively to interpolate data in undersampled regions. Many of the national-level tabular human system variables are downscaled to spatial grids using dasymetric mapping, accounting for country boundary changes over time. Raster, point, line, polygon, and tabular jurisdictional (i.e., country) data were mapped onto a standardized spatial grid at the desired resolution. The Atlas facilitates data discovery and modeling of human-Earth system dynamics.

Faisal, A.A., Kaye, M., Ahmed, M. et al. (2025) The SESAME Human-Earth Atlas. Sci Data 12, 775. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05087-5

Delineating the technosphere: definition, categorization, and characteristics
The global assemblage of human-created buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and other artifacts has been called the “technosphere”, and it plays a major role in the present-day dynamics of the Earth system. The technosphere enables the rapid extraction of natural resources and the combustion of fossil fuels, impacting biodiversity and causing climate change while generating copious amounts of waste materials. At the same time, the technosphere supports humans in many ways, including the provision of food, shelter, transportation, and long-distance communication, and it is the main component of material wealth. Despite its importance, Earth system science has been slow to explicitly incorporate the technosphere as an integrated part of its conceptual and quantitative frameworks. Here we propose a refined definition of the technosphere, intended to assist in developing functional integration with other Earth system spheres as well as social sciences. We also suggest a categorization system for the things that make up the technosphere based on how their end uses support human motivations. Given the formal definition and resolved categorization, we delineate basic attributes of the technosphere, including its mass distribution among categories and across the Earth surface, and discuss its first-order temporal dynamics. In particular, of the 1-trillion-tonne technosphere mass, we estimate that roughly one-half is buildings and one-third transportation infrastructure, both of which we map globally at 1° resolution. Movable entities, mostly composed of vehicles, vessels, and machinery, account for less than 2 % of the total technosphere mass yet are comparable to the biomass of all animals on Earth. We show that reconstructions of the technosphere since 1900 are consistent with an autocatalytic process, resulting in exponential growth with a long-run increase of > 3 % yr⁻¹, equivalent to a 20-year doubling time. Building a stronger quantitative understanding of the technosphere can help to better integrate it within Earth system science while bridging natural and social sciences to support physically plausible pathways towards sustainability and human wellbeing.

Galbraith, E. D., Faisal, A. A., Matitia, T., Fajzel, W., Hatton, I., Haberl, H., Krausmann, F., and Wiedenhofer, D. (2025) Delineating the technosphere: definition, categorization, and characteristics, Earth Syst. Dynam., 16, 979–999, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-16-979-2025

Assessing the exposure of buildings to long-term sea level rise across the Global South
Future sea levels are expected to rise, resulting in the progressive inundation of coastal cities. Because the spatio-temporal progression of this inundation is complex, few estimates have been made of how sea level rise will impact specific features of the built environment beyond 2100. Here we provide a first-order assessment of the exposure of buildings to sea level rise from satellite observation in Africa, Southeast Asia, and South and Central America. We define an inundation metric as a function of Local Sea Level Rise (LSLR) and consider this metric across a wide range of possible multi-century LSLR Values. Of the 840 million buildings in the study region, we find ~3.0 million at risk of inundation with 0.5 m LSLR, increasing to ~45 million with 5 m LSLR, and ~136 million with 20 m LSLR. Our results highlight geographic variability in exposure and demonstrate the benefits that low-emissions pathways imply for preserving built environments.

Willard-Stepan, M., Gomez, N., Cardille, J.A. et al. (2025) Assessing the exposure of buildings to long-term sea level rise across the Global South. npj Urban Sustain 5, 72
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-025-00259-z