Friday, March 8, 2013

1303.1723 (S. Worman et al.)

Modeling the large-scale structure of a barchan dune field    [PDF]

S. Worman, A. B. Murray, R. Littlewood, B. Andreotti, P. Claudin
In nature, barchan dunes typically exist as members of larger fields that display enigmatic structures that cannot be readily explained by external forcing. To explore the possibility that observed patterns self-organize, we built a numerical model that treats barchans as discrete entities that obey known empirical relationships and interact with one another according to simplified rules derived from theoretical and numerical work, and from field observations. A rich array of patterns, similar to those observed in nature, emerge from these relatively simple behaviors and interactions, offering a cohesive depiction and a potential explanation of field-scale phenomena. This is the first model to integrate calving and results support the hypothesis that it exerts a first order control on the system; It is fundamental to the formation and stability of field patterns and when the process is disabled, all dunes in all runs grow without bound on short time-scales. Insights derived from this synthesis of dune-scale phenomena provide testable predictions for future empirical work.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1303.1723

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