This story appears in the November 2012 issue of National Geographic magazine. I got my first lesson in the physics of sand dunes in 1998 on an expedition into the Sahara. In order to take aerial ...

Behind many of these beaches are sand dune systems which provide homes for diverse forms of wildlife including plants and insects, some so highly specialised that without these dune habitats ...

So much of nature is just as ominous as it is beautiful. And that’s definitely true of the sand dunes in Slowinski National Park, Poland. Set along the country’s Baltic coastline, the 186.18 ...

Over time, many beaches will naturally replenish. But sand dunes will take longer. And there are areas where the damage will linger. Cyclone Alfred travelled up and down the coast for a fortnight ...