Aeolian processes and their role in desertification have been studied extensively at low elevations but have been rarely studied at high elevations in areas such as the Tibetan Plateau, where aeolian processes were active in the geologic past and remain active today. In this review, we summarize research that improves our understanding of aeolian processes on the Tibetan Plateau, including the distribution, characteristics, and provenance of aeolian sediments; the history of aeolian activity; aeolian geomorphology; and wind‐driven land degradation. Contemporary aeolian processes primarily occur in dry basins, in wide river valleys, on lakeshores, on mountain slopes, and on gravel pavements. Sediment characteristics suggest a local origin and provide interesting contrasts with those of China's Loess Plateau. The history of aeolian activity and its paleoclimatic implications, reconstructed based on aeolian archives, is short (mostly since the Late Glacial) and shows wide regional differences. Aeolian geomorphology is simple and suggests short formation time. Wind‐driven land degradation is less severe than previously thought, driven by different factors in different areas, and exhibited complex interactions with freeze‐thaw processes. Aeolian research has been conducted within the general framework of aeolian science but addresses issues specific to the Tibetan Plateau that arise due to the low air temperature, low air density, and the presence of a cryosphere. We propose six priorities for future research: aeolian physics, the effect of freeze‐thaw cycles, comparisons with other areas, regional differences, effects of wind‐driven land degradation, and integrated observation and monitoring.

With economic development and population growth, energy demand has shown an upward trend. Renewable energy is inexhaustible and causes little pollution, which has broad prospects for development. In recent years, wind energy has been developed as an essential renewable energy source. The use of wind power is very environmentally friendly and plays a critical role in economic growth. Assessing the characteristics and potential of wind energy is the first step in the effective development of wind energy. The wind speed distribution at a specific location determines the available wind energy. This paper reviews the wind speed distribution models used for wind energy assessment, and they are applicable to different wind regimes. All potential wind speed distribution models should be considered for modeling wind speed data at a particular site. Previous studies have selected several parameter estimation methods and evaluation criteria to estimate model parameters and evaluate the goodness-of-fit. This paper discusses their advantages and disadvantages. The characteristics of wind speed distribution are constantly varying geographically and temporally. Wind energy assessment should consider local geographical elements, such as local climate, topography, and thermal properties difference between the land and the sea, and focus on long-term variations in wind characteristics.

Crescent-shaped barchan dunes often display an asymmetric shape, with one limb longer than the other. As shown in previous studies, asymmetric bimodal winds constitute one major cause of barchan asymmetry, but the heterogeneous conditions of sand availability or flux, as well as topographic influences, may be also important. Understanding the morphology and dynamics of asymmetric barchans may have an impact in a broad range of areas, particularly as these dunes may serve as a proxy for planetary wind regimes and soil conditions in extraterrestrial environments. However, in addition to the existing theories and numerical models that explain barchan asymmetry, direct measurements of migration rates and morphologic changes of real asymmetric barchans over a time span of several years would be beneficial. Therefore, here we report such measurements, which we have acquired by investigating asymmetric barchans in the Hexi Corridor, northwest of China. We have found that dune interactions and asymmetric influx conditions are the most important causes of barchan asymmetry in this field. Particle size distributions in the Hexi Corridor display strong variations over different parts of the asymmetric barchans, as well as over different dunes, with gravel particles being incorporated from the substrate as the dunes migrate. Our observations have shown that upwind sediment sources are important for dune formation in the Hexi Corridor, and that interdune interactions affect dune shape in different ways, depending on their offset. The asymmetric barchans in the Hexi Corridor are active, with an average migration rate (MR) between 8 and 53 m year⁻¹, in spite of the different asymmetric shapes. Our data for dune migration rates can be described well by a scaling of MR = A/(W + W0), where W is the barchan cross-wind width, A ≈ 2835 m² s⁻¹, and W0 ≈ 44 m. A similar scaling fits very well the migration rate as a function of dune along-wind width L, (i.e., MR = B/(L + L0), with B ≈ 1722 m² s⁻¹ and L0 ≈ 13 m). Linear relations are also found between both dune widths and the average limb and windward side lengths, thus indicating that the morphometric relations that are predicted from models for steady-state, symmetric crescent-shaped dunes can be applied to different transitional morphologies of interacting, asymmetric barchans.