Singing Sands

Walking across the sand anywhere from the United States, Namibia, Wales, Dunhuang, China, Japan, Qatar, and Egypt and you may come across a squealing, booming, or whistling sound.

These “singing” sands are caused by vibrations in the sand and require a combination of round sand grains, silica content, and humidity and emit a variety of sounds. A dune can exist in a desert like the Namib Desert or on the coast of Lake Michigan in Indiana. Deserts worldwide are caused by similar patterns of wind, temperature, and moisture.

• Where might you find sand dunes?
• What properties about sand dunes allow them to “sing”?
• What sort of temperature and moisture would lead to a desert?
• How does wind influence desert formation?

Download an SOS playlist for this module.

Koppen-Geiger Climate Classification - 2007

Singing sands are more likely to be found in certain biomes, and this map shows how those biomes are distributed around the world.

Land Cover (map with ribbon of labels)

This map shows where deserts and dunes might be found along with other types of land cover.

For SOSx use Vegetation - Real-time.