I am afraid that Aeolus didn't show up a lot the last few weeks. The wind was weak and often blowing from the east, which is not the kind of weather we are looking for. There was no need to set up any sand catchers or saltation sensors, but we still had some instruments that could prove themselves useful. There might be little wind, but that's good enough for our sonic anemometers! These instruments measure the wind direction and velocity by using sound. Sonic pulses travel between a pair of transducers and the time it takes to get from one to the other is used to determine wind speed.The wind - and therefore sand transport - can get affected by the local topography; in this case, the dunes. It's possible for the wind to change direction when it hits a 'wall' like that, or create vortexes when it flows over it. If the wind changes direction, then the transported sand will do that too, which is why we want to know the details of this phenomena. |
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