Abstract The study of aeolian geomorphological systems over the last half century has advanced along several important fronts, supported by developments in technologies and analytic methods and the evolution of modeling approaches. Remote sensing has led to a wealth of knowledge concerning the distribution and dynamics of dunes on Earth and elsewhere, and wind tunnels have elucidated the roles of aeolian processes in reshaping surfaces. Improvements in laboratory and field instrumentation allow measurement of aeolian sand transport systems at levels of detail unimaginable when the Binghamton Geomorphology Symposium began. We have seen, for example, the advent of large, sophisticated field campaigns and advanced modeling approaches using cellular automata and computational fluid dynamics methods. Select avenues of development, especially concerned with depositional environments, are briefly summarized. Advances in many fields have not been matched with proportional advances in our ability to predict rates of sand transport in natural environments, one of the most fundamental challenges. At least eight, commonly cited, sand transport-rate models do not agree with each other and do not replicate field observations even under near-ideal conditions. This review focuses on select reasons why that might be so, and categorizes those reasons into six, principal theoretical and empirical vexations that have made sand transport an intractable problem: predicting rates of transport; characterizing grain size; characterizing fluid and sand densities; estimating shear velocity; predicting the threshold of motion, including the effects of sand moisture content; and understanding granular electrification. The examination of potential sources of error in the rate of transport and threshold of motion models leads to a point-by-point consideration of our current assumptions and protocols (or lack thereof). The objective is to help us identify the hard targets and the soft targets for future research.

中文翻译：

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认识风沙：六大烦恼

摘要 在过去半个世纪中，在技术和分析方法的发展以及建模方法的发展的支持下，风沙地貌系统的研究在几个重要方面取得了进展。遥感带来了关于地球和其他地方沙丘分布和动态的丰富知识，风洞阐明了风成过程在重塑表面的作用。实验室和现场仪器的改进允许在宾厄姆顿地貌学研讨会开始时以难以想象的细节水平测量风沙输送系统。例如，我们已经看到了使用元胞自动机和计算流体动力学方法的大型、复杂的现场活动和高级建模方法的出现。选择发展途径，特别关注沉积环境，进行了简要总结。许多领域的进步并没有与我们预测自然环境中沙子迁移率的能力成比例的进步相匹配，这是最基本的挑战之一。至少有八个通常被引用的沙子传输速率模型彼此不一致，即使在接近理想的条件下也不能复制现场观察。这篇综述着重于选择的原因，并将这些原因分为六个主要的理论和经验问题，这些问题使沙子运输成为一个棘手的问题：预测运输速度；表征晶粒大小；表征流体和沙子的密度；估计剪切速度；预测运动阈值，包括沙子含水量的影响；并了解颗粒状电气化。对传输速率和运动模型阈值的潜在误差源的检查导致对我们当前的假设和协议（或缺乏）的逐点考虑。目的是帮助我们确定未来研究的硬目标和软目标。