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journal article Mar 01, 2017

Process connectivity in a naturally prograding river delta

Alicia Sendrowski Paola Passalacqua ORCID
Water Resources Research Vol. 53 No. 3 pp. 1841-1863 · American Geophysical Union (AGU)
View at Publisher Save 10.1002/2016wr019768
Abstract
AbstractRiver deltas are lowland systems that can display high hydrological connectivity. This connectivity can be structural (morphological connections), functional (control of fluxes), and process connectivity (information flow from system drivers to sinks). In this work, we quantify hydrological process connectivity in Wax Lake Delta, coastal Louisiana, by analyzing couplings among external drivers (discharge, tides, and wind) and water levels recorded at five islands and one channel over summer 2014. We quantify process connections with information theory, a branch of mathematics concerned with the communication of information. We represent process connections as a network; variables serve as network nodes and couplings as network links describing the strength, direction, and time scale of information flow. Comparing process connections at long (105 days) and short (10 days) time scales, we show that tides exhibit daily synchronization with water level, with decreasing strength from downstream to upstream, and that tides transfer information as tides transition from spring to neap. Discharge synchronizes with water level and the time scale of its information transfer compares well to physical travel times through the system, computed with a hydrodynamic model. Information transfer and physical transport show similar spatial patterns, although information transfer time scales are larger than physical travel times. Wind events associated with water level setup lead to increased process connectivity with highly variable information transfer time scales. We discuss the information theory results in the context of the hydrologic behavior of the delta, the role of vegetation as a connector/disconnector on islands, and the applicability of process networks as tools for delta modeling results.
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Metrics
58
Citations
50
References
Details
Published
Mar 01, 2017
Vol/Issue
53(3)
Pages
1841-1863
License
View
Authors
A
Alicia Sendrowski

Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, Center for Water and the Environment University of Texas at Austin Austin Texas USA

P
Paola Passalacqua

Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, Center for Water and the Environment University of Texas at Austin Austin Texas USA

Funding
National Science Foundation Award: CAREER/EAR‐1350336
Cite This Article
Alicia Sendrowski, Paola Passalacqua (2017). Process connectivity in a naturally prograding river delta. Water Resources Research, 53(3), 1841-1863. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016wr019768
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