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On the long-term behavior of meandering rivers

Publication ,  Journal Article
Camporeale, C; Perona, P; Porporato, A; Ridolfi, L
Published in: Water Resources Research
December 1, 2005

[1] In spite of notable advances in the description of river morphodynamics, the long-term dynamics of meandering rivers is still an open question, in particular, regarding the existence of a possible statistical steady state and its scaling properties induced by the competing action of cutoffs and reach elongation. By means of extensive numerical simulations, using three fluid dynamic models of different complexity and analysis of real data from the Amazon, North America, and Russia, we show that the reach cutoffs, besides providing stability and self-confinement to the meander belt, also act as a dynamical filter on several hydrodynamic mechanisms, selecting only those that really dominate the long-term dynamics. The results show that the long-term equilibrium conditions are essentially governed by only one spatial scale (proportional to the ratio of the river depth and the friction coefficient) and one temporal scale (proportional to the square of the spatial scale divided by the river width, the mean longitudinal velocity, and the erodibility coefficient) that contain the most important fluid dynamic quantities. The ensuing statistical long-term behavior of meandering rivers proves to be universal and largely unaffected by the details of the fluid dynamic processes that govern the short-term river behavior. Copyright 2005 by the American Geophysical Union.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Water Resources Research

DOI

ISSN

0043-1397

Publication Date

December 1, 2005

Volume

41

Issue

12

Start / End Page

1 / 13

Related Subject Headings

  • Environmental Engineering
  • 4011 Environmental engineering
  • 4005 Civil engineering
  • 3707 Hydrology
  • 0907 Environmental Engineering
  • 0905 Civil Engineering
  • 0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience
 

Citation

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Camporeale, C., Perona, P., Porporato, A., & Ridolfi, L. (2005). On the long-term behavior of meandering rivers. Water Resources Research, 41(12), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1029/2005WR004109
Camporeale, C., P. Perona, A. Porporato, and L. Ridolfi. “On the long-term behavior of meandering rivers.” Water Resources Research 41, no. 12 (December 1, 2005): 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1029/2005WR004109.
Camporeale C, Perona P, Porporato A, Ridolfi L. On the long-term behavior of meandering rivers. Water Resources Research. 2005 Dec 1;41(12):1–13.
Camporeale, C., et al. “On the long-term behavior of meandering rivers.” Water Resources Research, vol. 41, no. 12, Dec. 2005, pp. 1–13. Scopus, doi:10.1029/2005WR004109.
Camporeale C, Perona P, Porporato A, Ridolfi L. On the long-term behavior of meandering rivers. Water Resources Research. 2005 Dec 1;41(12):1–13.
Journal cover image

Published In

Water Resources Research

DOI

ISSN

0043-1397

Publication Date

December 1, 2005

Volume

41

Issue

12

Start / End Page

1 / 13

Related Subject Headings

  • Environmental Engineering
  • 4011 Environmental engineering
  • 4005 Civil engineering
  • 3707 Hydrology
  • 0907 Environmental Engineering
  • 0905 Civil Engineering
  • 0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience