Communications of the ACM
First Global River Database Documents 40 Years of Change
Machine learning and image processing software helped the researchers examine decades worth of images.
Credit: University of Texas at Austin
A database developed by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin shows the movement of the river centerlines of the 48 most threatened deltas in the world over the past 40 years.
Using publicly available remote sensing data, the database could help predict ongoing river movement and assist governments in managing population density and future development.
The researchers used machine learning and image processing software to analyze images from the last four decades, and tools from fluid mechanics to track changes to river locations over that period.
They found that movement occurs more often with rivers that have high sediment flux and flood frequency.
Planners can use data on the movement of different segments of rivers to compare rural and urban areas to inform decision making in terms of river management and development.
From University of Texas at Austin News
View Full Article
Abstracts Copyright © 2021 SmithBucklin, Washington, DC, USA
No entries found