Related papers: Coexistence of two dune growth mechanisms in a lan…
Modern dune fields are valuable sources of information for the large-scale analysis of terrestrial and planetary environments and atmospheres, but their study relies on understanding the small-scale dynamics that constantly generate new…
It has been observed that the direction in which a sand dune extends its crest line depends on seasonal variation of wind direction; when the variation is small, the crest line develops more or less perpendicularly to the mean wind…
In zones of loose sand, wind-blown sand dunes emerge due the linear instability of a flat sedimentary bed. This instability has been studied in experiments and numerical models but rarely in the field, due to the large time and length…
Barchan dunes --- crescent-shaped dunes that form in areas of unidirectional winds and low sand availability --- commonly display an asymmetric shape, with one limb extended downwind. Several factors have been identified as potential causes…
Early-stage bedforms develop into mature dunes through complex interactions between wind, sand transport and surface topography. Depending on varying environmental and wind conditions, the mechanism driving dune formation and, ultimately,…
Wind topographically forced by hills and sand dunes accelerates on the upwind (stoss) slopes and reduces on the downwind (lee) slopes. This secondary wind regime, however, possesses a subtle effect, reported here for the first time from…
Emergence and growth of sand dunes results from the dynamic interaction between topography, wind flow and sediment transport. While feedbacks between these variables are well studied at the scale of a single and relatively small dune, the…
We model formation and evolution of transverse dune fields. In the model, only the cross section of the dune is simulated. The only physical variable of relevance is the dune height, from which the dune width and velocity are determined, as…
We review the main processes that drive the morphodynamics of dunes, i.e. their growth in height, migration and elongation, and emphasise the contribution of experiments to the understanding of these mechanisms. The main control parameters…
The dune skeleton model is a reduced model to describe the formation process and dynamics of characteristic types of dunes emerging under unidirectional steady wind. Using this model, we study the dependency of the morphodynamics of…
Sand dunes are ubiquitous in nature, and are found in abundance on Earth and other planetary environments. One of the most common types are crescent-shaped dunes known as barchans, whose mid-line could be assumed to behave as 2D dunes. In…
Crescent shaped barchan dunes are highly mobile dunes that are usually presented as a prototypical model of sand dunes. Although they have been theoretically shown to be unstable when considered separately, it is well known that they form…
Wind-blown sand dunes are both a consequence and a driver of climate dynamics; they arise under persistently dry and windy conditions, and are sometimes a source for airborne dust. Dune fields experience extreme daily changes in…
A simple model for the dynamics of dunes associated with vegetation is proposed. Using the model, formation processes of transverse dunes, parabolic dunes and elongated parabolic dunes according to two environmental factors: i)the amount of…
Most terrestrial sand seas form at `horse' latitudes, where the wind direction exhibits seasonal variation. Here, we extend the two-dimensional linear stability analysis of a flat sand bed associated with a unidirectional wind to the…
Almost fifty years of investigations of barchan dunes morphology and dynamics is reviewed, with emphasis on the physical understanding of these objects. The characteristics measured on the field (shape, size, velocity) and the physical…
Beautiful dune patterns can be found in deserts and along coasts due to the instability of a plain sheet of sand under the action of the wind. Barchan dunes are highly mobile aeolian dunes found in areas of low sand availability and…
Barchans are isolated mobile dunes often organized in large dune fields. Dune fields seem to present a characteristic dune size and spacing, which suggests a cooperative behavior based on dune interaction. In Duran et al. (2009), we propose…
Desert surfaces are typically non uniform, with individual sand dunes generally surrounded by gravel or non-erodible beds. Similarly, beaches vary in composition and moisture that enhances cohesion between the grains. These bed…
Barchans are crescent-shaped sand dunes forming in aride regions with unidirectional wind and limited sand supply. We report analytical and numerical results for dune shapes under different environmental conditions as obtained from the…