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Aeolian processes and effects

Aeolian processes and effects is a research topic within Earth-Surface Processes. Science Explorer counts 25k research works in it since 1950. 10.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the dynamics of aeolian processes, including wind erosion, sand dune formation and mobility, the impact of vegetation cover, and the influence of climate change on desert landscapes. It also delves into the interactions between aeolian and fluvial systems, dust emission, and the geomorphological effects of windbreaks.

  • Aeolian Processes
  • Wind Erosion
  • Sand Dunes
  • Dune Dynamics
  • Vegetation Cover
  • Climate Change
  • Sediment Transport
  • Desertification
  • Coastal Dunes
  • Dust Emission
Research works
25k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.6k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+5%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
42% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Aeolian processes and effects

Which countries lead Aeolian processes and effects research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (1.3k and 683 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 1.3k works
  2. 2 United States 683 works
  3. 3 France 247 works
  4. 4 Germany 153 works
  5. 5 India 141 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 126 works
  7. 7 Spain 114 works
  8. 8 Iran 110 works
  9. 9 Italy 99 works
  10. 10 Japan 97 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 42.4%United States: 22.3%France: 8.0%Germany: 5.0%6 others listed: 22.4%42%largest
China1,301 · 42.4%United States683 · 22.3%France247 · 8.0%Germany153 · 5.0%6 others listed687 · 22.4%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Aeolian processes and effects research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Aeolian processes and effects research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Russian Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 188 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 101 works
  3. 3 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 44 works
  4. 4 Lanzhou UniversityChina 42 works
  5. 5 Beijing Normal UniversityChina 41 works
  6. 6 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 32 works
  7. 7 United States Geological SurveyUnited States 20 works
  8. 8 China Meteorological AdministrationChina 20 works
  9. 9 Inner Mongolia Agricultural UniversityChina 20 works
  10. 10 Delft University of TechnologyNetherlands 20 works

Who are the leading researchers in Aeolian processes and effects?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Aeolian processes and effects include Philippe Ciais, Kai You Wang and Peter B. Reich.

  1. 1 Philippe Ciais France 237k citations
  2. 2 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  3. 3 Peter B. Reich United States 189k citations
  4. 4 J. Mueller France 178k citations
  5. 5 Josep Peñuelas Spain 160k citations
  6. 6 Carlos Manuel Duarte Saudi Arabia 152k citations
  7. 7 Markku Kulmala Finland 145k citations
  8. 8 John H. Seinfeld United States 140k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Aeolian processes and effects?

The most cited paper in Aeolian processes and effects is "An investigation of particle trajectories in two-phase flow systems" (S. A. Morsi, A. J. Alexander, 1972), with 3,089 citations. Next come "Environmental and Economic Costs of Soil Erosion and Conservation Benefits" (2,880) and "Characterization and Distribution of Water-repellent, Self-cleaning Plant Surfaces" (2,849).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 An investigation of particle trajectories in two-phase flow systems S. A. Morsi, A. J. Alexander · Journal of Fluid Mechanics 26 Sep 1972 3,089
2 Environmental and Economic Costs of Soil Erosion and Conservation Benefits David Pimentel, Célia A. Harvey, Ida Aju Pradnja Resosudarmo et al. · Science 24 Feb 1995 2,880
3 Characterization and Distribution of Water-repellent, Self-cleaning Plant Surfaces Christoph Neinhuis · Annals of Botany Open access Jun 1997 2,849
4 An assessment of the global impact of 21st century land use change on soil erosion Pasquale Borrelli, David A. Robinson, Larissa R. Fleischer et al. · Nature Communications Open access 4 Dec 2017 2,802
5 Biological Feedbacks in Global Desertification William H. Schlesinger, James F. Reynolds, Gary L. Cunningham et al. · Science 2 Mar 1990 2,542
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Aeolian processes and effects research done?

The largest centres of Aeolian processes and effects research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Lanzhou (China), Paris (France) and Nanjing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Lanzhou, Hohhot and Delft.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 372 works
  2. 2 LanzhouChina 97 works
  3. 3 ParisFrance 75 works
  4. 4 NanjingChina 75 works
  5. 5 Xi'anChina 68 works
  6. 6 TehranIran 49 works
  7. 7 MoscowRussia 42 works
  8. 8 ÜrümqiChina 38 works
  9. 9 ShanghaiChina 38 works
  10. 10 HohhotChina 35 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. LanzhouCN · 97.1 works11×
  2. HohhotCN · 35.5 works10.0×
  3. DelftNL · 27.3 works8.2×
  4. ÜrümqiCN · 38.0 works7.9×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Aeolian processes and effects than the world average.

See Aeolian processes and effects on the map

Where is the best place to study Aeolian processes and effects?

Among universities, judged by research, Beijing Normal University, Northwest A&F University and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 17.06%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Northwest A&F Univer…Beijing Normal Unive…University of Chines…Lanzhou University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Beijing Normal UniversityChina 76.523.6%13.8×41 -1.8%
2Northwest A&F UniversityChina 70.530.8%8.6×12 +40.8%
3University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 70.218.6%5.2×32 +31.5%
4Lanzhou UniversityChina 66.010.9%16.1×42 +26.9%
5Delft University of TechnologyNetherlands 57.89.8%7.7×20 +29.9%
6ETH ZurichSwitzerland 54.222.6%3.3×8 +14.8%
7Ocean University of ChinaChina 49.720.0%5.4×10 +72.4%
8University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 48.414.6%2.3×12 -17.4%
9Hohai UniversityChina 47.99.0%7.9×17 +25.2%
10University of AveiroPortugal 47.810.7%6.7×8 +16.4%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Aeolian processes and effects, country by country

Is Aeolian processes and effects research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 5% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Aeolian processes and effects.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Aeolian processes and effects as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.019% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Aeolian processes and effects0.017% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Aeolian processes and effects over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Aeolian processes and effects10.2% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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