Ripple and Protodune Dynamics at Great Sand Dunes National Park, March-April 2023

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado, USA, is the location for this dataset of repeat terrestrial laser scans (TLS) measuring ripple and protodune migration on a moist surface. The dataset includes raw point cloud data from TLS scans, along with wind speed measurements from a CSAT 3D sonic anemometer and sediment transport data from Sensit and Wenglor fork sensors. The data was collected in March and April 2023 and is provided by the British Geological Survey (BGS).

Use Cases

• Modeling wind-driven sediment transport based on anemometer and sediment sensor data mentioned in the description
• Analyzing the migration and erosion patterns of early-stage protodunes based on repeat terrestrial laser scans
• Studying ripple dynamics on moist surfaces using high-resolution topographic change data
• Calibrating or validating computational fluid dynamics (CFD) or geomorphic models with field-measured wind and transport data

Strengths

• Includes multi-modal field measurements: terrestrial laser scans, 3D wind speed, and sediment transport
• Data collection is temporally focused on a specific event period in March and April 2023
• Geographic scope is precisely defined for the Medano Creek area within a national park

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling
• Data may reflect geographic and seasonal bias inherent to a single creek area in spring

Provenance

Source

British Geological Survey (BGS)

Collection Method

Field measurements using repeat terrestrial laser scans (TLS), a CSAT 3D sonic anemometer, and Sensit and Wenglor fork sediment sensors.

Time Range

March and April 2023

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-09 08:27:44.382673; freshness should be verified

Geography

Medano Creek Area, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado, USA