The aftermath of Cyclone Alfred's powerful storm surges, as captured by drones, show just how much sand has been swallowed up by the ocean. How long will this erosion last?

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 ...

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 ...