Abstract submission will open in October 2020
The scientific programme of the conference will include poster and oral presentations with sessions including:
Session 1: Mechanics and processes of aeolian sediment transport
This session will encompass experimental studies (field and wind tunnel) and numerical models that advance our knowledge of the interaction between boundary-layer flow and aeolian sediment transport. The primary focus is on the motion of particles very near or along the bed surface, as saltation, reptation and creep, over length scales not exceeding one meter in vertical extent. Papers are particularly encouraged that address the role of ballistic impact; as for example, in crust and aggregate deterioration, particle segregation, small-scale bedform development (e.g. ballistic ripples) and related stratigraphy, ventifact formation, and the entrainment/emission of dust-sized particles. Significant advances have also been made recently regarding our understanding of flow perturbations and stress partitioning over and around non-erodible roughness elements (such as vegetation) as well as the saltation curtain itself, so we welcome related papers that address: i) self-regulation and morphodynamic response, and ii) the effects of turbulence at various spatio-temporal scales.
Session 2: Sand dune dynamics and processes
In response to wind dynamics, dune patterns continuously modify landscape surfaces in semi-arid and arid deserts, around ice caps and along coastal environments. Similarities in dune patterns can be traced back to the physical laws and principles underpinning aeolian processes and to generic interacting dune features. Moreover, each dune field encounters specific environmental conditions that can provide unique sources of information on the wide range of spatial and temporal scales involved in bed form dynamics.
This session examines dune dynamics and processes operating in all settings from coastal to desert and tropical to arctic. Contributions are welcome concerning field observations, development and application of models, numerical simulations, monitoring techniques, physical experiments, and interdisciplinary research linking aeolian and dune geomorphology and morphodynamics with climatology, ecology, sedimentology, and vegetation.
Session 3: Dust emission, transport, deposition and effects
Atmospheric mineral dust, as a consequence of climate, weather, and land use, has widespread responsive effects on climate, weather, ecosystems, and people. The magnitude of these effects depends on the quantity of dust in the atmosphere, its spatio-temporal distribution, and its physical and chemical properties. We invite contributions using different approaches (theory, modelling, field, and laboratory experiments), and covering a wide range of spatial (local, regional, global), and temporal (present-day, past, future) scales that characterize the dust cycle from source-to-sink, including:
- Sources and their characteristics
- Emission, transport, and deposition
- Composition, properties, and changes thereof
- Effects on climate, weather, environments, and people
Session 4: Aeolian palaeoenvironments
Aeolian landscapes in continental and coastal contexts are potentially significant archives of Quaternary climatic and environmental changes at local to continental scales. They have been affected through the Quaternary by the impacts of climate change and human agency on process domains, sediment availability and other factors. Past conditions are recorded in various ways within aeolian sediments, over landscape scales across dunefields, in stacked sediment sequences characteristic of loess, and as aeolian components in marine, lake and swamp sediments. The responses of aeolian landscapes to climatic and environmental variation are recorded in landform morphology as well as within the sediments themselves, including biomarkers, soils and chemical precipitates. Records of varying precision cover timescales from hundreds to 100k years.
We particularly invite submissions that showcase approaches and methodological developments that enhance the interpretation of archives of environmental change in aeolian landscapes. We welcome papers on new proxies, multi-proxy approaches, geochronology and age modelling, including enhanced temporal precision, model-data integration and process-informed paleoenvironmental interpretations. We encourage presentations that illustrate advances in the integrity of palaeoenvironmental reconstructions from aeolian archives.
Session 5: Anthropogenic interactions with aeolian systems
In 2011 the FAO reported that the world population will increase from 6.9 billion people to 9.1 billion by 2050. People interact with and manage a diverse range of aeolian environments from arid and semi-arid rangelands to coastal and inland dune systems. Land management activities can increase or decrease wind erosion and aeolian system dynamics depending on the management practices implemented. This session will present the latest research on the impacts of land use and land management on aeolian dynamics in the landscape.
Contributions are invited that report on:
- Wind erosion, dust emission and dune system responses to land use, land management and land cover change.
- Policies and strategies used to control wind erosion, dust emission and dune movement.
- Evaluation of the effectiveness of land management, wind erosion and dune control practices.
Session 6: Planetary aeolian systems
Planets, moons, and comets exhibit landscapes modified by atmospheric flows, often with features in the form of regular patterns such as dunes and ripples. The relative simplicity with which we recognize these patterns belies the complexity of their explanation. These bedforms are referenced as aeolian, in analogue to wind-blown processes on Earth. However, they develop within atmospheric and planetary conditions (e.g., gravity, flow density and viscosity, grain size and composition) that vary by orders of magnitude. This locates them in rather unusual parameter spaces with respect to Earth’s aeolian transport systems.
In an effort to identify similarities and differences to terrestrial analogues, this session aims to explore the parameter space of atmosphere-surface interactions on worlds other than Earth. Contributions on, but not limited to, hydrodynamics, thresholds, wind flows, sediments/particles, ice-saltation coupling, erosion, dust, and patterns using in situ analyses, remote sensing, models, theory, experiments, and field work are invited.
Registeration Link:
https://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/events/icar2021/register.html
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