https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2014-02263-2
Review
Morphodynamic modeling of aeolian dunes: Review and future plans
1 Institut für Multiskalensimulation, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91052 Erlangen, Germany
2 Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Leipzig, Postfach 100920, Leipzig 04009, Germany
3 Department of Geography and Environmental Development, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel
4 Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal do Ceará, 60455-760, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil
a e-mail: eric.parteli@fau.de
b e-mail: klaus.kroy@uni-leipzig.de
c e-mail: tsoar@bgu.ac.il
d e-mail: soares@fisica.ufc.br
e e-mail: thorsten.poeschel@fau.de
Received: 6 May 2014
Revised: 18 August 2014
Published online: 24 October 2014
Sand dunes are ubiquitous in deserts, on coasts, on the sea bottom, and on the surface of Mars, Venus and Titan. The quantitative understanding of dune dynamics is thus of relevance for a broad range of physical, geological and planetary sciences. A morphodynamic model for dunes, which combines an analytical description of the average turbulent wind field over the topography with a continuum saltation model, has proven successful to quantitatively reproduce the shape of aeolian dunes of different types. We present a short review on the physics of dune formation and the model development, as well as some future plans for further developments and applications.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2014
