Aeolian ResearchPub Date : 2022-10-01DOI: 10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100829
Liqiang Kang , Wen Zhang , Xueyong Zou
{"title":"Experimental investigation on the erosion-deposition characteristics around isolated plants of different shapes in a wind tunnel","authors":"Liqiang Kang , Wen Zhang , Xueyong Zou","doi":"10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100829","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100829","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Accurate description of the characteristics of erosion and deposition around single model plants of different shapes is important to evaluate the protective role of plants in wind erosion control. The variation of bed topography with time was measured in a wind tunnel for two flexible models and two rigid tree-like models. The bed surface height close to the plant decreases forming a deep well, while in the lee, a deposition area generally appears whose shape is affected by plant type. The local wind erosion rate on both sides usually decreases with time, and the deposition area in the lee with the local erosion rate less than zero gradually moves downwind with time while disappears for the tree-like plant model with a long trunk and a large crown. Under similar frontal areas of plants, both the erosion and deposition areas around the tree-like plant with a short trunk and conical crown, and the flexible plant with a large upper part and a small lower part are generally larger than that around the slender flexible plant. The rigid tree-like plant with a short trunk and a dense conical crown is better for erosion control due to the smallest net erosion rate and the erosion area similar to the deposition area, while the other plant models have larger net erosion rate and much larger erosion area.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49246,"journal":{"name":"Aeolian Research","volume":"58 ","pages":"Article 100829"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2022-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"137124850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aeolian ResearchPub Date : 2022-10-01DOI: 10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100815
Victor J.P. Hême de Lacotte , Nigel P. Mountney
{"title":"A classification scheme for sedimentary architectures arising from aeolian-fluvial system interactions: Permian examples from southeast Utah, USA","authors":"Victor J.P. Hême de Lacotte , Nigel P. Mountney","doi":"10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100815","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100815","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The preservation of the sedimentary deposits of arid environments is determined by both geomorphic and geologic processes. Sedimentary evidence of aeolian-fluvial system interactions in arid-climate settings are preserved in both recent and ancient sedimentary successions. However, despite considerable prior sedimentological research, there is no unifying scheme to provide generalized definitions of commonly occurring types of preserved aeolian-fluvial interactions. This study addresses this shortcoming by introducing a novel classification scheme for sedimentary architectures arising from such system interactions. The scheme is demonstrated through reference to examples from the Permian Cutler Group, Paradox Basin, Southeast Utah, USA – a sedimentary record of competing aeolian dune-field and fluvial-fan systems along a palaeo-coastline. Well-preserved, laterally continuous outcrops arranged in different orientations enable three-dimensional architectural characterization. The sedimentary record of eight distinct types of aeolian-fluvial interaction are identified: (i) water-table-controlled interdune sedimentation; (ii) deposits of low-energy fluvial floods; (iii) isolated fluvial channel-fills originating from episodic and confined flooding of interdunes in orientations parallel to the trend of dune crestlines; (iv) channel fills oriented perpendicular to the trend of dune crestlines; (v) amalgamated fluvial channel elements resulting from persistent, long-lived but confined dune-field flooding; (vi) deposits of unconfined sheet-like flood deposits; (vii) fluvial breaching of dunes and their reworking by catastrophic flooding; (viii) aeolian reworking of fluvial deposits. Each interaction type is characterized in terms of preserved sedimentary facies, architectural element geometries and associated proprieties, to demonstrate sedimentary variability in three dimensions. Results provide a guide with which to make sedimentological comparisons and interpretations between active systems and their preserved depositional record.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49246,"journal":{"name":"Aeolian Research","volume":"58 ","pages":"Article 100815"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2022-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43301099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aeolian ResearchPub Date : 2022-08-01DOI: 10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100814
P.R. Sujitha , Priyabrata Santra , A.K. Bera , M.K. Verma , S.S. Rao
{"title":"Detecting dust loads in the atmosphere over Thar desert by using MODIS and INSAT-3D data","authors":"P.R. Sujitha , Priyabrata Santra , A.K. Bera , M.K. Verma , S.S. Rao","doi":"10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100814","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100814","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Suspended dust particles in atmosphere have adverse impacts on environment, ecosystem as well as on human health. To avoid negative impacts of dust storm events, early warning system to predict it well in advance may be a suitable option. However, for this purpose, assessment on magnitude of dust load and its dynamics in atmosphere is a primary requirement. The present study aims to develop remote sensing based assessment of dust load in atmosphere specifically over the Indian Thar Desert region. The severe dust storm event occurred on 5<sup>th</sup> June 2017 over the Indian Thar Desert has been used in this study to develop integrated dust detection algorithm using split window technique, mid-infrared technique and different dust indices derived from MODIS and INSAT-3D data. Evaluation of the developed algorithm revealed that the area classified under dust load depends on threshold value of dust indices used in the algorithm, type of dust detection techniques followed and the specifications of remote sensing sensors used to retrieve the dust image. The integrated dust detection algorithm developed in this study has the capability to eliminate the problem in variations of predicted dust loadings in atmosphere. Validation of the developed algorithm to detect dust pixels showed good agreement with independent observations on aerosol optical depth (AOD), wind speed profile data and ground visibility data. The method adopted can be helpful to implement an operational system for detection and monitoring of dust storms over the Thar Desert region.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49246,"journal":{"name":"Aeolian Research","volume":"57 ","pages":"Article 100814"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2022-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42456521","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aeolian ResearchPub Date : 2022-08-01DOI: 10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100816
Jing Wang , Yanna Yang , Zhen Chen , Zhuolun Peng , Quanzhou Gao
{"title":"New research on the origin of the late Quaternary Old Red Sand in the coastal area of South China","authors":"Jing Wang , Yanna Yang , Zhen Chen , Zhuolun Peng , Quanzhou Gao","doi":"10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100816","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100816","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>A late Quaternary red sandy sediment called the Old Red Sand is widely distributed in coastal South China. Most studies have considered it a single sand body composed of wind-transported beach sand. However, the Old Red Sand also contains silt and clay. To determine the implications of this fine fraction for the origin of the Old Red Sand, four sections were studied using various depositional analyses. Under a scanning electron microscope, quartz particles in the fine fraction are well rounded, with abundant aeolian marks on their surfaces. The grain size is homogeneous and comparable to that of typical loess. The diffuse reflectance spectroscopy results suggest a higher content of haematite than goethite within the fine fraction, indicating subaerial deposition without strong hydration. The geochemical composition of the fine fraction is close to that of the upper continental crust and comparable to that of typical aeolian deposits, indicating the extensiveness of material sources, with terrestrial dust being fully mixed by wind over a large area. The depositional characteristics, sedimentary environment and provenance of the fine fraction are markedly different from those of the coarse fraction, which is composed of near-source beach sand. Therefore, the Old Red Sand is not a deposit with a single source. Both near-source coarse beach sand and exotic fine dust contributed to the formation of the deposit in the late Pleistocene, especially the last glacial period. The fine fraction is a key factor contributing to the cementation and redness of the sand body.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49246,"journal":{"name":"Aeolian Research","volume":"57 ","pages":"Article 100816"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2022-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41596100","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aeolian ResearchPub Date : 2022-08-01DOI: 10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100812
Niels van Kuik , Job de Vries , Christian Schwarz , Gerben Ruessink
{"title":"Surface-area development of foredune trough blowouts and associated parabolic dunes quantified from time series of satellite imagery","authors":"Niels van Kuik , Job de Vries , Christian Schwarz , Gerben Ruessink","doi":"10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100812","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100812","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Foredune trough blowouts are elongated wind-eroded depressions in the most seaward dune and their adjoining depositional lobes. Despite their importance to the sand budget and floral diversity of coastal dunes, the spatiotemporal evolution of trough blowouts is not well understood. We designed an automated workflow in the Google Earth Engine platform to produce time series of blowout surface area from medium-resolution satellite imagery available since the mid-1980s and applied it to a blowout system in the Netherlands, Denmark and the USA. Blowout surface areas were found to vary on multi-annual, seasonal and episodic time scales. Multi-annual change reflects successive development through stages of growth, stabilization and decay. The transition from growth to stabilization appears to be related to a change in blowout shape (width-to-length ratio). The decay phase starts with vegetation obstructing the blowout connection to the beach; the lobe can still migrate inland and develop into a parabolic dune before also becoming fully vegetated. The seasonal variations in blowout area increase with latitude; the observed larger areas in winter at the Dutch and Danish site presumably reflect seasonal plant development and the effect of stronger winds in winter. Episodic increases in blowout area, observed during winter at the Danish site only, are associated with pronounced foredune erosion. None of the episodic events changed blowouts into a different stage or persistently affected seasonal dynamics. Future work should focus on the combined analysis of changes in blowout area and sand volume to improve our understanding of sand-vegetation interactions driving blowout dynamics.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49246,"journal":{"name":"Aeolian Research","volume":"57 ","pages":"Article 100812"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2022-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1875963722000428/pdfft?md5=3edd9284ea2d795d5f7e478e74018d25&pid=1-s2.0-S1875963722000428-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45497498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aeolian ResearchPub Date : 2022-08-01DOI: 10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100813
Clayton K. Chandler , Jani Radebaugh , John H. McBride , Thomas H. Morris , Clement Narteau , Karl Arnold , Ralph D. Lorenz , Jason W. Barnes , Alex Hayes , Sébastien Rodriguez , Tammy Rittenour
{"title":"Near-surface structure of a large linear dune and an associated crossing dune of the northern Namib Sand Sea from Ground Penetrating Radar: Implications for the history of large linear dunes on Earth and Titan","authors":"Clayton K. Chandler , Jani Radebaugh , John H. McBride , Thomas H. Morris , Clement Narteau , Karl Arnold , Ralph D. Lorenz , Jason W. Barnes , Alex Hayes , Sébastien Rodriguez , Tammy Rittenour","doi":"10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100813","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100813","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We imaged the near-surface sedimentary structures<span><span><span> of a large linear dune, flanking dune forms and an associated crossing linear dune never before studied in the northern Namib Sand Sea using 200-MHz Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR). The dry, uniform sandy conditions and wavelength used allowed for highly detailed observations of sedimentary structures to depths of ∼ 12 m across a >1km lateral scan. Sedimentary features observed in the main linear dune include scouring and abrupt changes in strata such as trough cross stratification (TCS), onlap, downlap, truncation and avalanche-related bedding, all a result of complex sand transport conditions. Different phases of deposition have produced an opposed succession of strata on each side of the dune. These successions alternate 2-dimensional (2D), or </span>bedform<span><span> instability mode features with 3-dimensional (3D), or fingering mode features, separated by a clear process boundary. These alternating successions reflect a change in the dominant wind environment in the recent past. The changing winds may feed into the building and overall stability of this dune field and may be a model for conditions in other large linear/longitudinal dune fields. The subsurface structure of an oblique crossing linear dune demonstrates sand transport generally down the dune long axis in the direction predicted from modern, ERA-Interim model as well as </span>paleoclimate model winds. This suggests relatively long-term stability of this intermediate-sized </span></span>landform and the potential long-term coexistence of large dunes and secondary forms. These studies have implications for the extensive sand seas of Titan, where lack of large secondary forms may indicate a simple wind regime over long time periods.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":49246,"journal":{"name":"Aeolian Research","volume":"57 ","pages":"Article 100813"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2022-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47208966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aeolian ResearchPub Date : 2022-08-01DOI: 10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100817
G.H.P. Campmans, K.M. Wijnberg
{"title":"Modelling the vertical grain size sorting process in aeolian sediment transport using the discrete element method","authors":"G.H.P. Campmans, K.M. Wijnberg","doi":"10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100817","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100817","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We present a model study of the aeolian saltation process where sediment samples are studied for the size selective transport processes. The discrete element method is used to simulate the sediment particles of different sizes, coupled with a fluid boundary layer model to capture the driving wind forces. Sediment samples with identical median grain size, but with systematically varying size distributions were simulated to investigate under various wind shear rates which sediment fractions are transported. The presented model results show - well in line with other research - that the median grain size is an appropriate sediment sample parameter to quantify the total rate of sediment transport. However, our results show that this does not determine what fractions of sediment are in transport. The larger the standard deviation in the sediment size distribution the smaller the median grain size becomes of the sediment that is in transport compared to the median grain size present at the bed.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49246,"journal":{"name":"Aeolian Research","volume":"57 ","pages":"Article 100817"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2022-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1875963722000477/pdfft?md5=10582953b974e44db35cbce20c0acb4e&pid=1-s2.0-S1875963722000477-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43543957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aeolian ResearchPub Date : 2022-08-01DOI: 10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100802
Dilibaier Tursun , Feng Zhang , Feng Wu , Xiufan Liu , Shixin Wu , Tao Sun , Jianghua Zheng , Jian Yue
{"title":"Geochemical characterization of major elements in Gurbantunggut Desert sediments, northwestern China and their regional variations","authors":"Dilibaier Tursun , Feng Zhang , Feng Wu , Xiufan Liu , Shixin Wu , Tao Sun , Jianghua Zheng , Jian Yue","doi":"10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100802","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100802","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Identifying the geochemical composition of desert sands in the Gurbantunggut Desert is essential for understanding the formation of desert dunes in the mid-latitudes. In this study, we collected samples of desert sands (125–250 μm), fluvial sands, and lacustrine sands across the Gurbantunggut Desert and calculated the sand drift potential at four meteorological stations. The sand samples from the Gurbantunggut Desert were mostly enriched in SiO<sub>2</sub><span>, while the other major elements were depleted compared to those of the Upper Continental Crust (UCC). The chemical weathering indices (α</span><sup>Al</sup>E, CIA, and WIP) indicate that the sand-sized sediments in the Gurbantunggut Desert are in the initial stage of continental chemical weathering. SiO<sub>2</sub> and K<sub>2</sub>O contents as well as mineralogical maturity of the desert sands increased from the piedmont to the desert center. UCC-normalized distribution patterns were also consistent along this transect due to the homogenization of desert sand composition, whereas the concentrations of other major elements (except for TiO<sub>2</sub> and MnO) decreased. We conclude that (1) regional variations in the composition of the Gurbantunggut Desert sands primarily reflect differences in provenance, transport, sorting, recycling of the sediments, and vegetation cover as well as the chemical weathering; and (2) differences in indices describing the major element composition of the sands reflect regional variations in provenance from the mountains to the depositional basin. Sands within piedmont rivers possess major element characteristics similar to those of dune sands in the region, suggesting that rivers represent a significant source of sands in the desert.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49246,"journal":{"name":"Aeolian Research","volume":"57 ","pages":"Article 100802"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2022-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48073534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aeolian ResearchPub Date : 2022-08-01DOI: 10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100818
Peng Wu , Yuanyun Xie , Yue Li , Chunguo Kang , Yunping Chi , Lei Sun , Zhenyu Wei
{"title":"Decoupling between circulation pattern and dust path since the last glacial in the Songnen Plain, NE China: Insights from quantitative provenance reconstruction of the Harbin dust sediments","authors":"Peng Wu , Yuanyun Xie , Yue Li , Chunguo Kang , Yunping Chi , Lei Sun , Zhenyu Wei","doi":"10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100818","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100818","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Knowledge of the provenance of dust deposits in the easternmost margin of the Eurasian loess belt is essential for understanding the connection between circulation patterns and dust source-to-sink route in the Songnen Plain, NE China. Here, a total of 131 samples, from the loess-paleosol sequence since the last glacial (20) and the modern dust-storm sediments (7) in Harbin area together with potential dust source areas (104), were collected for elemental geochemical analysis to quantify the source apportionment and compare the performance of the Frequentist and Bayesian models. Fourteen geochemical properties (V, Zn, Ga, Sr, Mo, Ba, Pb, Y/Ta, MREE<sub>N</sub>/MREE<sub>N</sub>*, Th/Sc, Th/U, La/Sc, Zr/Hf and Co/Th) were selected as the optimum composite fingerprint after a range test, non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis H-test and stepwise discriminant function analysis. Based on both the models, the source contributions to the loess sequence and dust-storm deposits were in the following order: southwestern Songnen Sandy Land (57–95%, 49–97%), Horqin Sandy Land and Onqin Daga Sandy Land (2–43%, 0–31%), northwestern Songnen Sandy Land (0–21%, 0–20%) and Hulun Buir Sandy Land (0%, 0–8%). Following the goodness-of-fit and virtual mixtures, combined with root mean square error and mean absolute error, we argue that the Frequentist model is slightly more accurate than the Bayesian model in quantifying dust sources. The sandy lands figure importantly in acting as a dust transfer station. The comparison between the loess sequence and modern dust-storm source reconstructions reveals a decoupling between circulation pattern (northwesterly wind domination in the glacial) and dust path (dominantly southwestern direction), and small areas, high vegetation coverage and topographical barrier are considered to be the main reasons for the significantly limited dust emission in the NW-direction source area. Finally, the study highlights that improving land management practices in the SW-direction but not NW-direction sandy land may help ameliorate the effects of the Harbin dust pollution.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49246,"journal":{"name":"Aeolian Research","volume":"57 ","pages":"Article 100818"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2022-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47543743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aeolian ResearchPub Date : 2022-06-01DOI: 10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100801
Barend van der Merwe , Nelishia Pillay , Serena Coetzee
{"title":"An application of CNN to classify barchan dunes into asymmetry classes","authors":"Barend van der Merwe , Nelishia Pillay , Serena Coetzee","doi":"10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100801","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aeolia.2022.100801","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Barchan morphometric data have been used as proxies of meteorological and topographical data in environments where this data is lacking (such as other planetary bodies), gaining insights into barchan dune field dynamics such as barchan collision and sediment dynamics, and estimating migration speeds. However, manual extraction of this data is time-consuming which can impose limits on the spatial extent and temporal frequencies of observations. Combining remotely sensed big data with automated processing techniques such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs) can therefore increase the amount of data on barchan morphology. However, such techniques have not yet been applied to barchans and their efficacy remains unknown. This study addresses this issue by evaluating the classification performance (using the ACC, F 1 -score and MCC metrics) of CNNs on several different morphometric tasks: the side of horn elongation, the magnitude of elongation, the barchans a/c ratio, and a new metric, bilateral asymmetry, which takes a more holistic view of barchan asymmetry. Specifically, bilateral asymmetry offers a means by which the total points of variation on a barchan that is used in describing barchan morphology, can be expressed with a single measure. Twelve different CNN architectures, each with different hyperparameters, are trained and tested on a sample of 90 barchan dunes. Additionally, the potential of transfer learning is assessed using the VGG16 and ResNet50 architectures. The results show that the accuracy of the CNNs can exceed 80% in some cases and that “from scratch” CNNs can match the performance obtained using transfer learning approaches.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":49246,"journal":{"name":"Aeolian Research","volume":"56 ","pages":"Article 100801"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47492930","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}