This book provides a comprehensive summary of the recent developments in wind erosion research and a clear outline of its future directions. The physics of wind erosion, from particle entrainment to transport and deposition, is described with rigor from the viewpoints of fluid dynamics and soil physics. The techniques for quantitative wind-erosion prediction through computational modelling constitutes a unique feature of this book in contrast to others published in the same field. The author has advocated the development of integrated wind-erosion modelling systems which couple dynamic models for the atmosphere and land surface with spatially distributed data for land-surface conditions.The successful applications of such a system have demonstrated its usefulness in wind-erosion assessment and prediction on regional to continental scales.
This book offers a valuable reference point for researchers and postgraduate students engaged in wind-erosion related studies, ranging from global climate change to atmospheric aerosols, dust storms, air quality, and land conservation. The second edition has been expanded and updated throughout. It includes new information regarding mineral dust, a major focal point of studies on climate change in recent years as well as lidar information. It features some simplified sections to be more readily accessible by readers.
Preface.- Acknowledgments.- 1.Wind Erosion and Wind-Erosion Research.- 2.Patterns of Wind Erosion in the World.- 3.Atmospheric Boundary-Layer and Atmospheric Modelling.- 4.Land-Surface Modelling.- 5.Basic Concepts of Wind Erosion.- 6.The Dynamics and Modelling of Saltation.- 7.Dust Emission.- 8. Dust Transport and Deposition.- 9.Integrated Wind-erosion.- 10.Sand Dunes, Dynamics and Modelling.- 11.Technique for Wind-Erosion Measurements.- 12.Concluding Remarks.
Yaping Shao is Professor of Meteorology at the Institute for Geophysics and Meteorology at the University of Cologne. After graduation from the Flinders University of South Australia in 1990, he worked in the Pye Laboratory of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization of Australia and then in the School of Mathematics at the University of New South Wales. Shao has maintained a strong interest in Aeolian processes ever since the early 1990s. He has studied the physics of sand movement and dust emission by means of wind-tunnel experiments, worked on the theory of dust emission and developed numerical models for dust-storm predictions. His research aims to bridge the gaps between mathematics, computation, physics and observation in the studies on complex natural environmental problems.