Vegetation in Drylands: Effects on Wind Flow and Aeolian Sediment Transport | Land Portal

Información del recurso

Date of publication: 
Octubre 2017
Resource Language: 
ISBN / Resource ID: 
10.3390/land6030064
License of the resource: 
Copyright details: 
© 2017 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article.

Drylands are characterised by patchy vegetation, erodible surfaces and erosive aeolian processes. Empirical and modelling studies have shown that vegetation elements provide drag on the overlying airflow, thus affecting wind velocity profiles and altering erosive dynamics on desert surfaces. However, these dynamics are significantly complicated by a variety of factors, including turbulence, and vegetation porosity and pliability effects. This has resulted in some uncertainty about the effect of vegetation on sediment transport in drylands. Here, we review recent progress in our understanding of the effects of dryland vegetation on wind flow and aeolian sediment transport processes. In particular, wind transport models have played a key role in simplifying aeolian processes in partly vegetated landscapes, but a number of key uncertainties and challenges remain. We identify potential future avenues for research that would help to elucidate the roles of vegetation distribution, geometry and scale in shaping the entrainment, transport and redistribution of wind-blown material at multiple scales. Gaps in our collective knowledge must be addressed through a combination of rigorous field, wind tunnel and modelling experiments.

Autores y editores

Author(s), editor(s), contributor(s): 

Mayaud, R. Jerome
Webb, P. Nicholas

Publisher(s): 

Proveedor de datos

Foco geográfico

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