Data from: Water vapor transport across an arid sand surface - non-linear thermal coupling, wind-driven pore advection, subsurface waves, and exchange with the atmospheric boundary layer

Louge, Michel Yves; Valance, Alexandre; Xu, Jin; Ould el-Moctar, Ahmed; Chasle, Patrick

Data from: Water vapor transport across an arid sand surface - non-linear thermal coupling, wind-driven pore advection, subsurface waves, and exchange with the atmospheric boundary layer

dc.contributor.author	Louge, Michel Yves
dc.contributor.author	Valance, Alexandre
dc.contributor.author	Xu, Jin
dc.contributor.author	Ould el-Moctar, Ahmed
dc.contributor.author	Chasle, Patrick
dc.date.accessioned	2022-03-01T19:30:08Z
dc.date.available	2022-03-01T19:30:08Z
dc.date.issued	2022-03-01
dc.description.abstract	These files contain data and other outputs supporting all results reported in Louge et al. Water vapor transport across an arid sand surface - non-linear thermal coupling, wind-driven pore advection, subsurface waves, and exchange with the atmospheric boundary layer. In Louge et al., we found: Deserts inhale and exhale water vapor through their surface. Although this process affects the water balance over vast sand seas, it is poorly understood for want of sensitive instruments. We discover how it operates using a new probe that detects tiny amounts of moisture on sand grains. Our analysis reveals that vapor infiltration is considerably slower in dry sand, and that wind flowing over a dune creates weak internal air currents contributing to the transport of moisture. Their strength depends on dune location, wind speed and direction. When wind is strong enough to let dry sand meander over a dune, the resulting rapid variation in surface moisture sends evanescent waves of humidity downward. An analysis of these waves implies that water evaporation from individual sand grains behaves like a slow chemical reaction. The exchange of moisture with the atmosphere is not always driven by the difference between humidity at the dune surface and in the ambient, as current models assume, and it is weaker than they predict. In future, the new probe can be used as ground truth to calibrate satellite observations over deserts, explore extra-terrestrial environments holding scant water, and detect moisture contamination in pharmaceutical products.	en_US
dc.description.sponsorship	This paper was made possible by the support of NPRP grants 09-546-2-206 and 6-059-2-023 from the Qatar National Research Fund, and by a Qatar Foundation Research Excellence Award.	en_US
dc.identifier.doi	https://doi.org/10.7298/kqgg-5888
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1813/111029
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.relation.isreferencedby	Louge, Michel Yves, Alexandre Valance, Jin Xu, Ahmed Ould el-Moctar, and Patrick Chasle (2022). Water vapor transport across an arid sand surface - non-linear thermal coupling, wind-driven pore advection, subsurface waves, and exchange with the atmospheric boundary layer.Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 127, e2021JF006490. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JF006490
dc.relation.isreferencedbyuri	https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JF006490
dc.rights	Attribution 4.0 International
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subject	Instruments useful in three or more fields	en_US
dc.subject	Soil moisture	en_US
dc.subject	Evapotranspiration	en_US
dc.subject	Land/atmosphere interactions	en_US
dc.subject	Nonlinear waves	en_US
dc.title	Data from: Water vapor transport across an arid sand surface - non-linear thermal coupling, wind-driven pore advection, subsurface waves, and exchange with the atmospheric boundary layer	en_US
dc.type	dataset	en_US