Star Wars, Dunes and Offshore Wind Farms

At a windfarm far, far away, rare crescent-shaped dunes have been slowly making their way across the seabed. On land, the unusual dunes are famous for engulfing a Star Wars movie set in the Sahara, but in a new HR Wallingford study, world-renowned scientists tracked similar dunes underwater to show how they move past monopiles.

The research, published in the latest edition of the journal Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, is the most extensive study of its kind and will help support offshore wind developers. It captures the effects of the sedimentology phenomena, called marine barchan dunes, trooping across the seabed and looks at whether they cause increased erosion (scour) around the monopiles. The scouring process happens too quickly to... ... More: Official Press Release HR Wallingford

Keywords:

HR Wallingford, dune, offshore, water, wind farm, monopile, foundation, scour, erosion, increase, process, pit