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Analysis of Meandering River Morphodynamics Using Satellite Remote Sensing Data—An Application in the Lower Deduru Oya (River), Sri Lanka

Authors :
Vindhya Basnayaka
Jayanga T. Samarasinghe
Miyuru B. Gunathilake
Nitin Muttil
Dileepa C. Hettiarachchi
Amila Abeynayaka
Upaka Rathnayake
Source :
Land, Vol 11, Iss 7, p 1091 (2022)
Publication Year :
2022
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2022.

Abstract

River meandering and anabranching have become major problems in many large rivers that carry significant amounts of sediment worldwide. The morphodynamics of these rivers are complex due to the temporal variation of flows. However, the availability of remote sensing data and geographic information systems (GISs) provides the opportunity to analyze the morphological changes in river systems both quantitatively and qualitatively. The present study investigated the temporal changes in the river morphology of the Deduru Oya (river) in Sri Lanka, which is a meandering river. The study covered a period of 32 years (1989 to 2021), using Landsat satellite data and the QGIS platform. Cloud-free Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 satellite images were extracted and processed to extract the river mask. The centerline of the river was generated using the extracted river mask, with the support of semi-automated digitizing software (WebPlotDigitizer). Freely available QGIS was used to investigate the temporal variation of river migration. The results of the study demonstrated that, over the past three decades, both the bend curvatures and the river migration rates of the meandering bends have generally increased with time. In addition, it was found that a higher number of meandering bends could be observed in the lower (most downstream) and the middle parts of the selected river segment. The current analysis indicates that the Deduru Oya has undergone considerable changes in its curvature and migration rates.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
2073445X
Volume :
11
Issue :
7
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Land
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.5c1afa78df4dbba383a4854adb9288
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/land11071091