The low sun angle in this astronaut photo of Junggar Basin shows off the wind- and water-carved landscape. Located in northwestern China, this region is covered in dune fields, appearing Keep reading
Tag: dunes
Field of Dunes
Barchan dunes collide in this astronaut image of Brazil’s southern coastline. Barchan (pronounced “bar-kahn”) dunes are crescent-shaped; their tips point downwind into their direction of travel. When many barchan dunes Keep reading
Complex Dunes
Sometimes landscapes have a beauty that’s hard to see from the ground. This astronaut’s photo shows a dune field in the sand seas of Saudi Arabia. Vast linear dunes line Keep reading
Dune Fields From Space
An astronaut captured this image of the Oyyl Dune Field in Kazakhstan from the International Space Station. To the south and east of the dune field (right and lower parts Keep reading
How Dunes Form
On its face, the idea that sand and wind can come together to form massive mountainous dunes seems bizarre. But dunes — and their smaller cousins, ripples — are everywhere, Keep reading
Ice and Dunes
Although dunes are usually associated with scorching climates, they can form in any desert, including in the frozen steppes of western Mongolia. This sunrise photo, taken by an astronaut aboard Keep reading
Dune Invasion
Migrating sand dunes can encounter obstacles both natural and manmade as they move. Dunes — both above ground and under water — have been known to bury roads, pipelines, and Keep reading
Blue Dunes
This false-color image shows a Martian dune field near the northern polar cap. The image itself covers an area 30 kilometers wide, but the dune field stretches over an area Keep reading
An Oasis Among Dunes
The Saudi Arabian oasis of Jubbah sits in the bed of an ancient lake. It’s protected from the westerly winds that sculpt the surrounding dunes by the wind shadow of Keep reading
Dunes Avoid Collisions
The speed at which a dune migrates depends on its size; smaller dunes move faster than larger ones. That speed differential implies that small dunes should frequently collide into and Keep reading