EPSP Connects - WED FEB 18th

[Roberto Fernández]

Dear colleagues, 

Please join us next Wednesday Feb 18^th at 11am (US East Coast) for a new session of EPSP Connects. We have two speakers this month. Details below. 

Register here: https://bit.ly/EPSP_FEB26 

Title:

Untangling Influences on Channel Adjustment and Avulsion in Gravel Bed Rivers

Abstract:

Avulsions create and sustain multi-channel riverscapes. These avulsions, or the redistribution of flow between channels, regulate aquatic and riparian habitat as well as fluvial hazards. To understand how gravel bed rivers evolve, we must understand how upstream and local factors drive the adjustment of individual channels and pairs of channels created by bifurcations. Here we present two studies of channel adjustment. In the first, we use historical and field observations of dozens of channel bifurcations to statistically examine how relative channel size and avulsion trajectory respond to variability in factors that regulate flow diversion at channel inlets and factors that may regulate channel adjustment downstream of those inlets. We find that relative channel size and avulsion trajectory can be explained by the interaction of factors driving flow diversion and factors resisting channel expansion, particularly wood-induced roughness. The second study uses numerical modeling to investigate the role of macro-roughness (large wood, boulders, restoration structures, etc) in driving adjustment of individual channel threads. Results indicate that morphologic responses to roughening can vary in complex ways both as a function of the roughness forcing and over time. This variability has implications for implementing and monitoring roughness-focused river restoration interventions. Together, these studies help illuminate how riverscapes evolve and how they might respond to environmental and management changes.

Speaker Bios: 

Dan Scott is a fluvial geomorphologist who studies how rivers shape and are shaped by landscapes and living things. His work spans the western United States and uses field observation, remote sensing, and statistical modeling to understand the dynamics of riverscape wood, sediment, and morphology. Based in Longmont, CO, he co-owns Riverscape Science and Stewardship, a river science consulting cooperative, works as a senior geomorphologist for Watershed Science and Engineering, a Washington-based consulting firm, and works as a Research Scientist at Colorado State University.

Charlie Shobe is a Research Geomorphologist at the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins, Colorado. His work integrates numerical models and field data to understand the processes that shape rivers and watersheds, especially as they respond to environmental and human-driven changes. Charlie was previously an assistant professor of geology at West Virginia University.

Long link (in case the shortened one does nto work on your end): https://psu.zoom.us/meeting/register/uNcWikS3Tp6tAoLZHFSQPQ

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Roberto Fernández, PhD (he/él)

Assistant Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Institute of Energy and the Environment Faculty Member

Penn State University

Associate Editor

Geomorphica (www.geomorphica.org)

#RepresentationMatters
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icemeanders.bsky.social
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/icemeanders

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/geomoRF
Zoom: https://psu.zoom.us/my/roberto.fernandez