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On the march

Huge sand dunes aren’t found only in deserts. These massive dunes (note people for scale) are bearing down on a coastal town in equatorial Brazil. WHOI scientist Ilya Buynevich, from the Coastal Systems Group, and researchers from the University of Para, Brazil, are studying the large dunes, in this relatively humid region east of the Amazon to understand their origin and evolution before they began migrating over mangroves and settlements. The WHOI Ocean and Climate Change Institute funded research on dunes and their movement.
(Photo by Ilya Buynevich, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Nils Asp, University of Para, Brazil)