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Relevant Length Scale of Barchan Dunes

Pascal Hersen, Stéphane Douady, and Bruno Andreotti
Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 264301 – Published 9 December 2002
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Abstract

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.

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  • Received 5 June 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.264301

©2002 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Pascal Hersen, Stéphane Douady, and Bruno Andreotti

  • Laboratoire de Physique Statistique, 24 rue Lhomond, 75005, Paris, France

Comments & Replies

Comment on “Relevant Length Scale of Barchan Dunes”

Klaus Kroy and Xiang Guo
Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 039401 (2004)

See Also

Underwater Desert

Charles Choi
Phys. Rev. Focus 10, 25 (2002)

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Issue

Vol. 89, Iss. 26 — 23 December 2002

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