What determines the size of giant dunes?

Physicists at the Laboratory of Physics and Mechanics of Heterogeneous Media (CNRS / Université Paris Diderot / ESPCI ParisTech / Université Pierre et Marie Curie) have shown, in collaboration with scientists from the US and Algeria, that the size of giant dunes is controlled by the depth of the atmospheric convective boundary layer. More specifically, the physicists have shown that such dunes grow through the accumulation of small superimposed dunes, and that their growth is limited by interaction with a part of the atmosphere called the inversion layer, which confines wind flow around the dunes. These findings are published in the 26 February 2009 issue of the journal Nature.

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<p><a href="http://www.physorg.com/news155400032.html">What determines the size of giant dunes?</a></p> <p>Physicists at the Laboratory of Physics and Mechanics of Heterogeneous Media (CNRS / Université Paris Diderot / ESPCI ParisTech / Université Pierre et Marie Curie) have shown, in collaboration with scientists from the US and Algeria, that the size of giant dunes is controlled by the depth of the atmospheric convective boundary layer. More specifically, the physicists have shown that such dunes grow through the accumulation of small superimposed dunes, and that their growth is limited by interaction with a part of the atmosphere called the inversion layer, which confines wind flow around the dunes. These findings are published in the 26 February 2009 issue of the journal <i>Nature</i>.</p>