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Geomorphology

Predicted expansion of sand deserts

Nature Climate Change volume 12, pages 967–968 (2022)Cite this article

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Global warming is changing monsoon systems, the Hadley circulation and the activity of extratropical cyclones. Now, a study shows how these changes will affect the Earth’s arid sand deserts, with profound implications for the environmental and technological sectors.

To understand the feedback between climate change and shifting desert sands, the key ingredient is wind. Wind is the most important geological agent of our planet’s arid sand deserts and provides the energy for the formation of dunes. To form, dunes require a wind speed of about 4.5 m s–1 (10 mph). This is the lowest wind velocity capable of sustaining wind-blown saltation transport, that is, sand grains moving through nearly ballistic loops in the air and splashing more grains upon hitting the soil3. However, two main factors control the shape of dunes and their response to wind-blown saltation. The first is how the directions of local sand-moving winds change over the year, and the second is the amount of mobile sand available on the ground for transport6.

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Acknowledgements

I thank the German Research Foundation (DFG) for funding through the Heisenberg Programme and grant 280821821.

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  1. Faculty of Physics, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany

    Eric J. R. Parteli

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Correspondence to Eric J. R. Parteli.

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Parteli, E.J.R. Predicted expansion of sand deserts. Nat. Clim. Chang. 12, 967–968 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01506-2

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