The Dynamics and Modelling of Saltation

Saltation is one of the three major modes of particle motion during wind erosion, along with suspension and creep. During an erosion event, a large numbers of sand-sized particles hop along the surface in the wind direction, resulting in a horizontal transport of soil mass. This transport and the interactions between the particles, flow, surface roughness elements and topography lead to the evolution of sand dunes, the deformation of surface topography and the development of fence-line drifts in agriculture areas. A saltating particle obtains momentum from the atmosphere and strikes the surface with an increased velocity. The impact of saltating particles is one of the major mechanisms for dust emission, which is known as saltation bombardment (Gillette, 1974; Nickling and Gillies, 1989; Shao et al. 1993b and Alfaro et al. 1997).