Relevant length scale of barchan dunes

A new experiment can create small scale barchan dunes under water: some sand is put on a tray moving periodically and asymmetrically in a water tank, and barchans rapidly form. We measure basic morphological and dynamical properties of these dunes and compare them to field data. These favorable resu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review letters Vol. 89; no. 26; p. 264301
Main Authors Hersen, Pascal, Douady, Stéphane, Andreotti, Bruno
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 23.12.2002
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Summary:A new experiment can create small scale barchan dunes under water: some sand is put on a tray moving periodically and asymmetrically in a water tank, and barchans rapidly form. We measure basic morphological and dynamical properties of these dunes and compare them to field data. These favorable results demonstrate experimentally the relevance of the so-called "saturation length" for the control of the dunes physics.
ISSN:0031-9007
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.264301