2025/04/05 by Richard Boothroyd, Richard Williams, Trevor Hoey +8 · 1 voice · 9 citations
Environmental Science · #Channel (broadcasting) #Computer science #Flood Risk Assessment and Management #Geography #Geology #Hydrology (agriculture) #Hydrology and Sediment Transport Processes #Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies #Physical geography
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41467-025-58427-9
published in Nature Communications 16(1), 3263 (Nature Portfolio)
openalex publication_date 2025/04/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Abstract Big data present unprecedented opportunities to test long-standing theories regarding patterns and rates of geomorphic river adjustments. Here, we use locational probabilities derived from Landsat imagery (1988-2019) to quantify the dynamics of 600 km 2 of riverbed in 10 Philippine catchments. Analysis of lateral adjustments reveals spatially non-uniform variability in along-valley patterns of geomorphic river mobility, with zones of relative stability interspersed with zones of relative instability. Hotspots of mobility vary in magnitude, size and location between catchments. We could not identify monotonic relationships between local factors (active channel width, valley floor width and confinement ratio) and mobility. No relation between the channel pattern type and rates of adjustment was evident. We contend that satellite-derived locational probabilities provide a spatially continuous dynamic metric that can help unravel and contextualise forms and rates of geomorphic river adjustment, thereby helping to derive insights into idiosyncrasies of river behaviour in dynamic landscapes.