Global scale analysis on the extent of river channel belts

• Published in: Nature communications 2023-04, Vol.14 (1), p.2163-2163, Article 2163
• Main Authors: Nyberg, Björn, Henstra, Gijs, Gawthorpe, Rob L., Ravnås, Rodmar, Ahokas, Juha
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 704/242; 704/4111; 704/445/215; 704/47/4113; Algorithms; Aquatic ecosystems; Belts; Channels; Classification; Freshwater ecosystems; Freshwater resources; Freshwater resources management; Humanities and Social Sciences; Landforms; Levees; multidisciplinary; Pattern recognition; Quantitative research; Rivers; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Surface area
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37852-8

Rivers form channel belts that encompass the area of the river channel and its associated levees, bars, splays and overbank landforms. The channel belt is critical for understanding the physical river evolution through time, predicting river behavior and management of freshwater resources. To date, there is no global-scale, quantitative study of the extent of river channel belts. Here we show, based on a pattern recognition algorithm, the global surface area of channel belts at an approximate 1 km resolution is 30.5 × 10 5  km 2 , seven times larger than the extent of river channels. We find 52% of river channels associated with the channel belts have a multi-threaded planform with the remaining 48% being single-threaded by surface area. The global channel belt (GCB) datasets provide new methods for high-resolution global scale landform classifications and for incorporating the channel belt into flood mitigation, freshwater budgets, ecosystem accounting and biogeochemical analyses. Here the authors present a global scale classification of river channel belt extents as a resource for improved ecosystem accounting and river behavior analysis. Moreover, the methods show advances in pattern recognition to define new global landform products.