Aeolian and subaqueous bedforms in shear flows

Abstract

A sediment bed sheared by an unbounded flow is unconditionally unstable towards the growth of bedforms called ripples under water and dunes in the aeolian case. We review here the dynamical mechanisms controlling this linear instability, putting the emphasis on testing models against field and laboratory measurements. We then discuss the role of nonlinearities and the influence of finite size effects, namely the depth of the atmospheric boundary layer in the aeolian case and the water depth in the case of rivers.