A new study reveals that sand dunes breathe water vapor

The researchers expect their probe to have several applications, including studying the mechanism of water depletion in agriculture, calibrating satellite observations over deserts, and exploring extraterrestrial environments that may contain trace amounts of water.

Deserts may seem at first glance barren, barren, lifeless, but scientific research has revealed that sand dunes in particular grow and move, and they breathe moist air as well, which was recently proven by an international research project that lasted over several decades.

A study published on March 21 in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface showed how water vapor penetrates and exits grains of sand in what can be compared to inhalation and exhalation.

The researchers believe that this discovery will have wide-ranging applications in pharmaceutical research, agriculture and food, as well as planetary exploration, and the research was supported by the Qatar Foundation, according to a press release published on the Cornell University website.

Journey of 40 years of trial and error

The Log team, in cooperation with Capacitec, has developed a new form of device called capacitance sensors that uses multiple sensors to record everything related to the properties of a material, from density and velocity, to water content, all with unprecedented spatial accuracy. Also its usefulness in hydrology research.

In the early 2000s, Luge, in cooperation with Ahmed Ould El Mokhtar of the University of Nantes in France, began using the sensors he had developed to measure the moisture content of sand dunes, with the aim of gaining a better understanding of the process by which agricultural land turns into a barren desert, which has become Even more urgent today is the result of accelerating global climate change.

The study stated that the LOG sensors are able to collect data on a scale of one millimeter to accurately determine the moisture and density of the sand.

Log believed that the sensors must be developed to suit the new work environments, and thus began the trial and error journey during 10 years, during which he made periodic trips to the deserts in Qatar and Mauritania to test different versions of the probe.

Sand dunes

Log's sensors revealed the extent of sand penetration with a small amount of air seeping through it, a phenomenon that previous research indicated its existence without being able to prove it.

"If we continue our activity in this way, the land will turn into a barren desert in the future," Loge said.

Inhale and exhale in sand dunes

Over the past decade, Log has collaborated with Anthony Hay, assistant professor of microbiology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to study how microbes can help stabilize sand dunes and prevent them from encroaching on roads and infrastructure.

Luge and his team found that desert surfaces exchange moisture with the atmosphere at a lower rate than expected, and that water evaporates from individual sand grains at a slow rate as well.

According to a report published in the "Science Alret" website, the study showed that "the wind flows over the sand dunes, and as a result creates local pressure imbalances, forcing the air literally to enter the sand (inhale) and exit it (exhale)", Thus, it can be said that sand breathes as a living organism breathes, and this "breathing" is what allows microbes to persist in the depths of the extremely dry sand dunes despite the high temperature.

Sand dunes

It is noteworthy that members of the Log team had completed collecting the bulk of the data in 2011, but it took another decade until they were able to understand some of the results, such as identifying the surface-level disturbances that push temporary / occasional moisture waves down through the dunes and quickly Relatively large.

"We could have published the data 10 years ago, but it wasn't satisfactory for us until we had an accurate understanding of what was going on within the dunes," Loge said.

"This is the first time that low levels of humidity can be measured," he added.

The researchers expect their probe to have several applications, including studying the mechanism of water depletion in agriculture, calibrating satellite observations over deserts, and exploring extraterrestrial environments that may contain trace amounts of water.