Title
An entropy-based classification scheme of meandering rivers
Date Issued
22 June 2016
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
book part
Author(s)
University of Pittsburgh
Publisher(s)
CRC Press
Abstract
Past research has found a strong analogy between meandering river systems and thermodynamics. In this study we verify the first law of thermodynamics which is applied to meandering rivers by quantifying the curvature frequency balance. Thus, both the amalgamation process (i.e. lower curvature scales joining to give birth to higher curvature scales) and the splitting process (i.e. higher curvature scales being split into lower ones) are quantified. We also evaluate the second law of thermodynamics for meandering systems by estimating the yearly Shannon negentropy. Likewise, we propose a meandering classification scheme that is based on: [1] the yearly negentropy gradient, and [2] a quantitative continuum of the degree of confinement, which is estimated from the Frechet distance between the meandering centerline curvature and that of the mean center. Thus, we believe that our meandering classification scheme has the potential to complement the prevailing observational Brice classification scheme.
Start page
1743
End page
1747
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Oceanografía, Hidrología, Recursos hídricos
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85138066976
Resource of which it is part
River Flow 2016: Iowa City, USA, July 11-14, 2016
ISBN of the container
978-131728912-8
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus