Jump at the onset of saltation
  We reveal a discontinuous transition in the saturated flux for aeolian saltation by simulating explicitly particle motion in turbulent flow. The discontinuity is followed by a coexistence interval with two metastable solutions. The modification of the wind profile due to momentum exchange exhibits a second maximum at high shear strength. The saturated flux depends on the strength of the wind as $q_s=q_0+A(u_*-u_t)(u_*^2+u_t^2)$. 
M. V. Carneiro, T. P\"ahtz, H. J. Herrmann
physics.comp-ph cond-mat.stat-mech nlin.CD physics.flu-dyn