The Music of Rivers: The Mathematics of Waves Reveals Global Structure and Drivers of Streamflow Regime
Abstract River flows change on timescales ranging from minutes to millennia. These vibrations in flow are tuned by diverse factors globally, for example, by dams suppressing multi‐day variability or vegetation attenuating flood peaks in some ecosystems. The relative importance of the physical, biolo...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2023-07-01
|
| Series: | Water Resources Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR034484 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849706686122557440 |
|---|---|
| author | Brian C. Brown Aimee H. Fullerton Darin Kopp Flavia Tromboni Arial J. Shogren J. Angus Webb Claire Ruffing Matthew Heaton Lenka Kuglerová Daniel C. Allen Lillian McGill Jay P. Zarnetske Matt R. Whiles Jeremy B. Jones Jr. Benjamin W. Abbott |
| author_facet | Brian C. Brown Aimee H. Fullerton Darin Kopp Flavia Tromboni Arial J. Shogren J. Angus Webb Claire Ruffing Matthew Heaton Lenka Kuglerová Daniel C. Allen Lillian McGill Jay P. Zarnetske Matt R. Whiles Jeremy B. Jones Jr. Benjamin W. Abbott |
| author_sort | Brian C. Brown |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract River flows change on timescales ranging from minutes to millennia. These vibrations in flow are tuned by diverse factors globally, for example, by dams suppressing multi‐day variability or vegetation attenuating flood peaks in some ecosystems. The relative importance of the physical, biological, and human factors influencing flow is an active area of research, as is the related question of finding a common language for describing overall flow regime. Here, we addressed both topics using a daily river discharge data set for over 3,000 stations across the globe from 1988 to 2016. We first studied similarities between common flow regime quantification methods, including traditional flow metrics, wavelets, and Fourier analysis. Across all these methods, the flow data showed low‐dimensional structure (i.e., simple and consistent patterns), suggesting that fundamental mechanisms are constraining flow regime. One such pattern was that day‐to‐day variability was negatively correlated with year‐to‐year variability. Additionally, the low‐dimensional structure in river flow data correlated closely with only a small number of catchment characteristics, including catchment area, precipitation, and temperature—but notably not biome, dam surface area, or number of dams. We discuss these findings in a framework intended to be accessible to the many communities engaged in river research and management, while stressing the importance of letting structure in data guide both mechanistic inference and interdisciplinary discussion. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-adda1d0272db438fb463a00cfd2530d1 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 0043-1397 1944-7973 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Water Resources Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-adda1d0272db438fb463a00cfd2530d12025-08-20T03:16:07ZengWileyWater Resources Research0043-13971944-79732023-07-01597n/an/a10.1029/2023WR034484The Music of Rivers: The Mathematics of Waves Reveals Global Structure and Drivers of Streamflow RegimeBrian C. Brown0Aimee H. Fullerton1Darin Kopp2Flavia Tromboni3Arial J. Shogren4J. Angus Webb5Claire Ruffing6Matthew Heaton7Lenka Kuglerová8Daniel C. Allen9Lillian McGill10Jay P. Zarnetske11Matt R. Whiles12Jeremy B. Jones Jr.13Benjamin W. Abbott14Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences Brigham Young University Provo UT USAFish Ecology Division Northwest Fisheries Science Center National Marine Fisheries Service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Seattle WA USAOak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Corvallis OR USARheinland‐PfälzischeTechnische Universität Kaiserslautern Landau Landau GermanyEarth and Environmental Sciences Department Michigan State University East Lansing MI USAWater, Environment and Agriculture Program Department of Infrastructure Engineering The University of Melbourne Parkville VIC AustraliaThe Nature Conservancy in Oregon Portland OR USADepartment of Statistics Brigham Young University Provo UT USADepartment of Forest Ecology and Management Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Umeå SwedenDepartment of Ecosystem Science and Management Penn State University Park PA USACenter for Quantitative Science University of Washington Seattle WA USADepartment of Earth and Environmental Sciences Michigan State University East Lansing MI USASoil and Water Sciences Department University of Florida Gainesville FL USAInstitute for Arctic Biology University of Alaska Fairbanks Fairbanks AK USADepartment of Plant and Wildlife Sciences Brigham Young University Provo UT USAAbstract River flows change on timescales ranging from minutes to millennia. These vibrations in flow are tuned by diverse factors globally, for example, by dams suppressing multi‐day variability or vegetation attenuating flood peaks in some ecosystems. The relative importance of the physical, biological, and human factors influencing flow is an active area of research, as is the related question of finding a common language for describing overall flow regime. Here, we addressed both topics using a daily river discharge data set for over 3,000 stations across the globe from 1988 to 2016. We first studied similarities between common flow regime quantification methods, including traditional flow metrics, wavelets, and Fourier analysis. Across all these methods, the flow data showed low‐dimensional structure (i.e., simple and consistent patterns), suggesting that fundamental mechanisms are constraining flow regime. One such pattern was that day‐to‐day variability was negatively correlated with year‐to‐year variability. Additionally, the low‐dimensional structure in river flow data correlated closely with only a small number of catchment characteristics, including catchment area, precipitation, and temperature—but notably not biome, dam surface area, or number of dams. We discuss these findings in a framework intended to be accessible to the many communities engaged in river research and management, while stressing the importance of letting structure in data guide both mechanistic inference and interdisciplinary discussion.https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR034484ecohydrologystreamflow regimewaveletmachine learningtimeseries |
| spellingShingle | Brian C. Brown Aimee H. Fullerton Darin Kopp Flavia Tromboni Arial J. Shogren J. Angus Webb Claire Ruffing Matthew Heaton Lenka Kuglerová Daniel C. Allen Lillian McGill Jay P. Zarnetske Matt R. Whiles Jeremy B. Jones Jr. Benjamin W. Abbott The Music of Rivers: The Mathematics of Waves Reveals Global Structure and Drivers of Streamflow Regime Water Resources Research ecohydrology streamflow regime wavelet machine learning timeseries |
| title | The Music of Rivers: The Mathematics of Waves Reveals Global Structure and Drivers of Streamflow Regime |
| title_full | The Music of Rivers: The Mathematics of Waves Reveals Global Structure and Drivers of Streamflow Regime |
| title_fullStr | The Music of Rivers: The Mathematics of Waves Reveals Global Structure and Drivers of Streamflow Regime |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Music of Rivers: The Mathematics of Waves Reveals Global Structure and Drivers of Streamflow Regime |
| title_short | The Music of Rivers: The Mathematics of Waves Reveals Global Structure and Drivers of Streamflow Regime |
| title_sort | music of rivers the mathematics of waves reveals global structure and drivers of streamflow regime |
| topic | ecohydrology streamflow regime wavelet machine learning timeseries |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR034484 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT briancbrown themusicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT aimeehfullerton themusicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT darinkopp themusicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT flaviatromboni themusicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT arialjshogren themusicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT janguswebb themusicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT claireruffing themusicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT matthewheaton themusicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT lenkakuglerova themusicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT danielcallen themusicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT lillianmcgill themusicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT jaypzarnetske themusicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT mattrwhiles themusicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT jeremybjonesjr themusicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT benjaminwabbott themusicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT briancbrown musicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT aimeehfullerton musicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT darinkopp musicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT flaviatromboni musicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT arialjshogren musicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT janguswebb musicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT claireruffing musicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT matthewheaton musicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT lenkakuglerova musicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT danielcallen musicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT lillianmcgill musicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT jaypzarnetske musicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT mattrwhiles musicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT jeremybjonesjr musicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime AT benjaminwabbott musicofriversthemathematicsofwavesrevealsglobalstructureanddriversofstreamflowregime |