Introduction - Dune Worlds: How Windblown Sand Shapes Planetary Landscapes - page 6

Fig. 1.7 Image from the Mars
Exploration Rover Opportunity.
The rover's solar cells and the
Planetary Society's sundial are
visible at bottom. The tracks
show wheel slippage as it
negotiates wind-blown ripples;
some coarse granules can be seen
on the flanks of the ripples, and
cracked white bedrock is exposed
in some places. JPL/NASA
Fig. 1.8 Small digital cameras
make the recording of field
conditions exceptionally easy.
New computational tools
( Chap. 17 ) make it possible to
build quantitative shape models
of dunes and ripples with only
minutes of effort. Digital cameras
are small and light enough to take
to the air; this example, showing
barchanoid ridges with interdune
lagoons in the Lencois Maran-
henses in Brazil, was lofted by
a parafoil kite that could scrunch
up into a coat pocket. Photo R.
Lorenz