Confluence satellite image classification

Abstract

A confluence is defined as a meeting point where two or more rivers merge to become the source for a new river. This river merge adjusts its geometric parameters depending of the characteristics of its confluent rivers, particularly wide and intersection angle. Based on this idea and supported by the availability of satellite images, in this paper we classificated 43 confluences located in Tabasco, Mexico. We considered the geometry (plan view) and the intersection angle as a key elements, and applied multivariate statistical analysys to did the clasification. Results shown three groups: I. Similarity between the width of the three rivers and intersection angle less than 80°; II. Similarity between the width of the three rivers and intersection angle between 80° and 160°; and group III. Similarity between the width of the main river (the largest confluence river) and the river merge, intersection angle less than 100°. Once this classification was done, next step is to do both hydraulic and sedimentological studies, to understand the integral behavior of the confluences and verify that the proposed classification, not only have geometrical similarities, but its hydraulic and sedimentological operation are also similar. Due to difficulty to study many confluences, the best way is to chosee the representative and analyze it. Here we proposed an alternative to do it, that can be useful for scientist, enginnerings and students interested in to study confluences.

Keywords

• rivers geometry
• multivariate statistical analysis
• rivers juntion