Nature Communications (Jan 2020)

A wind-albedo-wind feedback driven by landscape evolution

  • Jordan T. Abell,
  • Alex Pullen,
  • Zachary J. Lebo,
  • Paul Kapp,
  • Lucas Gloege,
  • Andrew R. Metcalf,
  • Junsheng Nie,
  • Gisela Winckler

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13661-w
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 9

Abstract

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Wind changes the surface of the Earth, but the surface characteristics of the planet also impact the winds above it. Here, the authors propose a feedback process in which wind erosion in the western Gobi Desert alters the thermal properties of the surface, which in turn increases near-surface winds.