Comparison of the Californian Desert Dunes With the Mediterranean Coastal Dunes at the Sea Shores

Abstract

The development of the dunes is governed by the effects of turbulence. Turbulence is a type of fluid flow that is strongly rotational and apparently chaotic. Turbulence separates nearby parcels of air and thus mixed fluid properties. The evolution of sand dunes is determined by the interactions between the atmosphere, the surface and the transport and deposition of sand. We are concerned with this physical process and its computational simulation from three perspectives; namely, (1) flow structure; (2) sand transport and deposition and (3) interactions between flow structure and sand transport-deposition, which determine the dune morphology.