Dusty Plasma of a Wind-Sand Flux in Desertified Areas

Measurements of electric currents of saltation in the wind-sand flux and currents caused by the wind transport of dust aerosol particles have been carried out in the desertified territories of Astrakhan oblast and Kalmykia. Empirical distribution functions of the specific charge of saltating particles in a wind-sand flux are presented for the conditions of quasi-continuous and intermittent saltation. It is established that the electric charge surface density reaches +25 nC/m 2 . It is shown that the local electric field on the surface of the saltating particles can exceed 450 kV/m. An abnormal high electrization mechanism of the wind-sand flux is proposed, including the initiation of high-speed saltation: electric (corona) discharges on the underlying surface, which makes it possible to consider the wind-sand flux a dusty plasma. An analytical model has been developed for the escape of saltating particles from the underlying surface during a corona discharge. It is shown that, when saltation is initiated by a corona discharge, the escape velocity of charged particles can exceed 1 m/s.