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Stephen Sutton

Broadly, my research interest is process aeolian geomorphology, seeking a better understanding of the systems that shape the land’s surface through wind action.  Currently I part of team studying aeolian processes on Titan, one of the moons of Saturn.  Titan has large dune fields, demonstrating that aeolian sediment transport processes are active on its surface, and a better understanding of how these processes operate would allow us to better understand the implications that the presence of the dunes have for interpreting Titan’s current or past atmospheric circulation, atmospheric chemistry, and surface and tectonic history.

We are studying these processes through hardware simulation, mimicking important atmospheric and sediment parameters in a unique high-pressure wind tunnel.  The Titan Wind Tunnel (TWT), housed in the Planetary Aeolian Lab at NASA Ames, operates at up to 20 atmospheres of pressure which allows for experiments at room temperature to have the same  kinematic viscosity as found on Titan’s ~94 K (~180° C) surface.  Kinematic viscosity allows for Reynolds number similarity, which ensures we have to correct type of flow turbulence and drag on the sand for the simulation of the initiation of sediment transport. 

My research interests also include grainfall-avalanching processes on aeolian dunes, seeking to find scaling relations that link bedform evolution to sediment saltation in new ways.  As well as the influence the presence of non-erodible roughness elements on surface sheltering through either shear stress partitioning or interference with saltating grain trajectories.

Publications

 

Conference Abstracts

  • Sutton*, S.L.F., C. McKenna Neuman and W.G. Nickling, (2010). Locating the avalanche initiation point on an aeolian dune. Poster presentation. Seventh International Conference on Aeolian Research. Santa Rosa, La Pampa, Argentina, 5-9 July, 2010.
  • McKenna Neuman, C.*, L.F. Sutton and S. Sanderson, (2010). Reflections on the development of armored surfaces. Poster presentation. Seventh International Conference on Aeolian Research. Santa Rosa, La Pampa, Argentina, 5-9 July, 2010.
  • Sutton*, S.L.F. and C. McKenna Neuman, (2009). Using 3-D laser imaging to track topographic changes on the slipface of an avalanching aeolian dune. Oral Presentation. 2009 Joint Assembly. Toronto, Ontario, May 24-27, 2009.
  • McKenna Neuman*, C., Sutton, and S. Sanderson, (2008). Reflections on the development of armoured beds. Oral presentation. Canadian Geophysical Union, Annual General Meeting.
  • Sutton*, S.L.F. and C. McKenna Neuman, (2008). The role of reptation in dune slipface dynamic. Poster presentation. Planetary Dune Workshop: A Record of Climate Change, Alamogordo, NM, USA, April 29-May 2, 2008. Abstract published in Planetary Dune Workshop: A Record of Climate Change, 65-66. LPI Contribution No. 1403, Lunar Planetary Institute, Houston.
  • Sutton*, S.L.F. and C. McKenna Neuman, (2006). Sediment entrainment to the lee of roughness elements, effects of vortical structures. Oral presentation. Sixth International Conference on Aeolian Research. University of Guelph, Guelph, ON. July 24-28, 2006.
  • Sutton*, S.L.F. and C. McKenna Neuman, (2006). Effects of roughness elements on bed level fluid flow characteristics, a wind tunnel investigation. Poster Presentation. Sixth International Conference on Aeolian Research. University of Guelph, Guelph, ON. July 24-28, 2006.
  • Sutton*, S.L.F. and C. McKenna Neuman, (2005). Wind tunnel measurement of surface shear stress, turbulence and ow patterns surrounding single and multiple roughness elements. Oral presentation. Special Session: Brian McCann and his contributions (VI): Sediment transport and aeolian processes. Canadian Association of Geographers Annual Meeting. Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences Congress. The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, May 31 – June 5, 2005.

 

(* Presenter)

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