Star Dune Dynamics

Project description

Accelerating desertification caused by climate change poses an increasing threat to infrastructure. The goal of this project is the development of automated methods used to examine topographic changes of large desert features called star dunes. Changes are analyzed at both weekly and bi-annual timescales. Star dunes were previously thought to be stable phenomena, but recent studies have shown that they have been migrating.
The main study area of this project is the Namib sand sea in Namibia. 3D point clouds are continuously acquired using ULS laser scanning bi-annually alongside the collection of meteorological records and sedimentological samples. Surface change quantification and time-series analysis will be used to extract information on environmental drivers behind dune surface changes. 

Objectives

• Development of spatiotemporal observation strategies and automated methods to detect surface changes on star dunes, such as dune crestline movements.
• Identification of processes driving star dune topography changes.
• Creation of open-source interfaces for dune surface deformation analysis and visualization.

Interactive star dune observation dashboard

Publications

Dhuri, Radhika. A Star in Motion: Cartographic Approach to Remotely Sensed Star Dune and Environment Dynamics. 2026, https://cartographymaster.eu/theses. Technical University of Munich.