U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
                    Here's how you know **Official websites use .gov**
                            
                            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
 **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                            
                            A **lock** (                            
                              A locked padlock                                                      
                            
                            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Menu Agricultural Research Service
						
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 Wind Erosion and Water Conservation Research: Lubbock, TX
 close



    Research

                    Research Projects
                                    Publications
                                    Collaborations
                                    News
                                    Software
                People

                    Staff Listing
                                    CareersSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home Plains Area Lubbock, Texas Cropping Systems Research Laboratory Wind Erosion and Water Conservation Research Research Publications at this Location





- ARS National Programs
- Search for a scientific manuscript
- Search for a research project
- ARS Software
- Programs and Projects
- Collaborations
- Subjects of Investigation
- Publications

Title:   Author  item
                                            Stout, John
  Submitted to: Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
                                    Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
                                    Publication Acceptance Date: 9/3/2009
                                    Publication  Date: 3/15/2010
                                    Citation: Stout, J.E. 2010. Diurnal patterns of blowing sand. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. 35(3):314-318.Interpretive Summary: Early explorers of desert regions often noticed that dust storms tend to occur more frequently during the day and less frequently at night. More recent observations of blowing dust have confirmed that there is a strong tendency for dust storms to occur preferentially, but not exclusively, during the day.  In the present study, attempts have been made to explore this dynamic process from a slightly different perspective.  Instead of using blowing dust as an indicator of aeolian activity, direct detection of blowing sand was used to compute diurnal patterns.  Blowing sand was detected using a fast responding “saltation sensor” that utilizes a piezoelectric transducer to detect the wind-induced movement of sand grains.  Measurements taken over a four-month period at a site located in the Southern High Plains suggest that sand movement tends to occur more frequently during daylight hours with a peak in aeolian activity occurring in the afternoon between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m.
                                Technical Abstract: The diurnal pattern of blowing sand results from a complex process that involves the interaction between the sun, wind, and earth.  During the day, solar heating produces thermal instability, which enhances the convective mixing of high momentum winds from the upper levels of the atmosphere to the surface layer.  The sun also dries the sand surface so that the critical threshold is as low as possible.  Thus, in the afternoon, the combination of strong turbulent winds and a low surface threshold increases the likelihood that winds may intermittently exceed the critical threshold of the surface to produce bursts of blowing sand.  Here an attempt has been made to explore this dynamic aeolian process using a new method for monitoring the diurnal pattern of blowing sand.  This technique involves detecting blowing sand with a piezoelectric saltation sensor and then determining the relative proportion of time that blowing sand is detected for a given “time of day”.  Measurements taken over a four-month period in the Southern High Plains suggest that sand movement tends to occur more frequently during daylight hours with a peak in aeolian activity occurring in the afternoon between 1400 and 1500 Local Standard Time (LST).


Return to top


Connect with ARS Sign up


ARS Home
                            USDA.gov
                            Plain Writing
                            Policies & Links
                            Civil Rights Statements
                            FOIA
                            Accessibility Statement
                            Privacy Policy
                            Non-Discrimination Statement
                            Quality of Information
                            USA.gov
                            WhiteHouse.gov