Bridging Physics and the Environment: Emerging Applications

Abstract

Physics provides fundamental tools and conceptual frameworks for understanding complex environmental systems and processes. Through quantitative methods, modeling, measurement technologies, and theoretical constructs, physics underpins many contemporary approaches to environmental research and management. This review examines the major applications of physics in environmental studies, spanning atmospheric science, hydrology, climate dynamics, remote sensing, air and water quality monitoring, soil physics, and pollution modelling. Key physical principles, including fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, electromagnetic radiation, and mass and energy conservation, are essential for interpreting environmental phenomena from micro- to global scales. Techniques such as remote sensing, radiative transfer, and dispersion modeling are rooted in electromagnetic and fluid physics, offering spatially extensive and temporally resolved data critical for monitoring land cover, water quality, and atmospheric constituents. Physical models and measurement methods like eddy covariance provide direct estimates of energy and gas fluxes between Earth surface and atmosphere, crucial for climate and ecosystem studies. Physics also plays a central role in renewable energy technologies, noise and radiation pollution assessment, and emerging physics-informed computation methods such as physics-informed neural networks for pollutant source localization. By linking fundamental physical laws with environmental applications, this interdisciplinary field enhances predictive capability and informs sustainable policy. A comprehensive understanding of environmental challenges necessitates integrating physical methods with ecological, chemical, and socio-economic insights, positioning physics as indispensable in addressing global environmental change.