Physics and Modelling of Wind Erosion

This updated and revised second edition provides a comprehensive summary of developments in wind-erosion research and a clear outline of its future directions. It describes the physics of wind-erosion from the viewpoints of fluid dynamics and soil physics.

Wind erosion occurs in many arid, semiarid and agricultural areas of the world. It is an environmental process in?uenced by geological and climatic variations as well as human activities. In general, wind erosion leads to land degradation in agricultural areas and has a negative impact on air quality. Dustemissiongeneratedbywinderosionisthelargestsourceofaerosolswhich directly or indirectly in?uence the atmospheric radiation balance and hence global climatic variations. Strong wind-erosion events, such as severe dust storms, may threaten human lives and cause substantial economic damage. The physics of wind erosion is complex, as it involves atmospheric, soil and land-surface processes. The research on wind erosion is multidisciplinary, covering meteorology, ?uid dynamics, soil physics, colloidal science, surface soil hydrology, ecology, etc. Several excellent books have already been written about the topic, for instance, by Bagnold (1941, The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes), Greeley and Iversen (1985, Wind as a Geological P- cess on Earth, Mars, Venus and Titan), Pye (1987, Aeolian Dust and Dust Deposits), Pye and Tsoar (1990, Aeolian Sand and Sand Dunes). However, considerable progress has been made in wind-erosion research in recent years and there is a need to systematically document this progress in a new book.

This second edition is an expanded and updated throughout version of the first book by the same author It includes new findings regarding mineral dust, a major focal point of studies on climate change in recent years as well as lidar information It simplifies some sections of the book to be more readily understood by readers

Auteur

Yaping Shao is Professor of Meteorology at the Institute for Geophysics and Meteorology at the University of Cologne. After graduation from the Flinders University of South Australia in 1990, he worked in the Pye Laboratory of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization of Australia and then in the School of Mathematics at the University of New South Wales. Shao has maintained a strong interest in Aeolian processes ever since the early 1990s. He has studied the physics of sand movement and dust emission by means of wind-tunnel experiments, worked on the theory of dust emission and developed numerical models for dust-storm predictions. His research aims to bridge the gaps between mathematics, computation, physics and observation in the studies on complex natural environmental problems.

Texte du rabat

This book provides a comprehensive summary of the recent developments in wind erosion research and a clear outline of its future directions. The physics of wind erosion, from particle entrainment to transport and deposition, is described with rigor from the viewpoints of fluid dynamics and soil physics. The techniques for quantitative wind- erosion prediction through computational modelling constitutes a unique feature of this book in contrast to others published in the same field. The author has advocated the development of integrated wind-erosion modelling systems which couple dynamic models for the atmosphere and land surface with spatially distributed data for land-surface conditions. The successful applications of such a system have demonstrated its usefulness in wind-erosion assessment and prediction on regional to continental scales.

The book offers a valuable reference point for researchers and postgraduate students engaged in wind-erosion related studies, ranging from global climate change to atmospheric aerosols, dust storms, air quality, and land conservation.

This second edition has been expanded and updated throughout. It includes new information regarding mineral dust, a major focal point of studies on climate change in recent years as well as lidar information. It features some simplified sections to be more readily accessible by readers.

Contenu
Wind Erosion and Wind-Erosion Research.- Wind-Erosion Climatology.- Atmospheric Boundary Layer and Atmospheric Modelling.- Land-Surface Modelling.- Basic Aspects of Wind Erosion.- The Dynamics and Modelling of Saltation.- Dust Emission.- Dust Transport and Deposition.- Integrated Wind-Erosion Modelling.- Sand Dunes, Dynamics and Modelling.- Techniques for Wind-Erosion Measurements.- Concluding Remarks.