An investigation of surface-airflow interactions for aeolian saltation: Field and laboratory experiments

Aeolian processes are a vital component to dune development and sediment budgets in coastal and desert regions. Laboratory derived saltation models used to predict the sediment fluxes do not compare well with transport rates measured in natural field environments. This thesis examines the impact that wind tunnel scaling exerts on the two main components of the aeolian transport system: the wind velocity and mass flux profiles. It is illustrated that the surface response to airflow differs dramatically in wind tunnels and natural field environments. Primarily, saltating particles have lower and shorter trajectories during wind tunnel experiments. These results have real ramifications for the predictive power of the transport models and renders them inappropriate for real world applications.