Concluding Remarks

In his famous book entitled ‘The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes’, Bagnold (1941) focused on the studies of sand movement. At that time, saltation was the core subject of wind-erosion research. While the movement of sand remains to be a subject of considerable interest today, the emphasis of wind-erosion research has been shifted from sand to dust. This shift is clearly seen in the recent trend of publications. In 2006, about 50% of wind-erosion related research papers was on dust, in contrast to about 5% in the 1940s (J. Stout, personal communication, 2006). This shift is accompanied by a remarkable expansion of the wind-erosion research territory, as reflected in the following aspects.