2.3 Weather and Climate

Wind

AEOLIAN TRANSPORT

The word AEOLIAN is a fancy way of saying wind!

Saltation

Surface Creep

Suspension

Temperature

Temperature affects the drying of the sand and the ability for vegetation to be present

  • Temperature affects how fast sand dries as wet sand cannot be moved by Aeolian transport.
  • Furthermore, temperatures together with rainfall influence the type of dune vegetation present. The more vegetation present the more easily sand can be stored as the roots of many vegeation hold the sand dunes together.
  • In the Stockton Bight area, temperatures are mostly moderate with the average daily maximum in summer ranging from 21 to 27°C and in winter it is 10 to 15°C.
  • There are no frosts because it is on the coastline. Thus, the temperature assists in the accretion cycle by providing enough heat to dry the sand to be able to be transported by wind and it assists by creating the right temperatures for enough vegetation growth to be able to trap and store the sand that creates the high dune systems and the reservoirs needed to replenish after removal.
  • Precipitation

    The amount of Precipitation determines how wet the sand gets and assists in the ability of vegetation to grow.