Scientists have introduced a groundbreaking approach that allows them to calculate the invisible forces acting on individual sand grains. This advancement opens a new window into understanding how Martian winds have molded the planet’s rugged terrain.
Developed by a research team at the State University of Campinas in Brazil, the technique blends laboratory experiments, digital simulations, and AI to produce intricate maps showing how each grain moves. Using photographs of dune surfaces, the researchers estimated the strength and direction of forces influencing every grain. Their findings shed light on the unseen physics behind dune formation.
On both Earth and Mars, dunes arise wherever air or water flow moves across loose sand. The crescent-shaped formations, known as barchans, are especially useful to scientists studying ancient wind patterns and shifting environments. Until now, however, no one had been able to measure the physical forces affecting each grain of sand.
The researchers explained that measuring the force acting on every grain would normally require fitting each with an impossibly small accelerometer. Since that technology does not exist, the team found another way.
They replicated small-scale dunes in a controlled aquatic laboratory, then executed complex 3D simulations to compute the exact motion and energy distribution of every particle. By training a convolutional neural network—a specific form of AI used for image analysis—the scientists connected images of dunes with simulated force patterns. Once the system learned this relationship, it could predict unseen forces directly from new photographs, even when faced with unfamiliar dune shapes.
Renato Miotto, the project’s lead researcher, noted that any collection of particles visible in an image—whether salt crystals, ice grains, or artificial beads—could be studied using this method. As long as accurate simulations exist, he said, AI can decode the hidden mechanics behind their behavior.
This breakthrough holds promise far beyond planetary research. On Earth, engineers could use similar models to forecast coastal erosion, monitor sediment flow in rivers, or manage granular substances in manufacturing. For space exploration, the same approach could revolutionize how we interpret imagery of alien landscapes. The dunes of Mars, driven by the same universal physics as those on Earth, may now tell stories that have been buried beneath their rippling surfaces for millennia.
