Structure or statistics? A comment on “Turbulent structures at the bottom of the Gobi desert boundary layer and their impact on aeolian sand transport and dust emission” by Liang et al. (2025), Geomorphology 472, 109593

<p dir="ltr">The recent paper by Liang et al. (2025) confirms some well-known mechanisms for sediment entrainment such as fine particles being mobilized by ejection events and larger particles by sweeps. It also notes an unusual distribution function for the vertical velocity component and suggests this is due to similar mechanisms observed in fluvial systems. However, the framing of the problem is in terms of the joint probability distribution function of the fluctuating velocities, while geomorphologists typically seek more process-oriented explanations. In this comment we note a mistake in the original paper and point out how greater explanatory power can be accomplished by moving beyond summary statistics. Such approaches attempt to define and study flow structures, which implies looking in greater detail at the time-series data obtained in the field.</p>