Understanding river channel sensitivity to geomorphological changes
This project identified ways to assess and predict where river channels are affected by geomorphological change across England and Wales.
Documents
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email: enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.
Details
We have tested ways to create mapped information on potential river channel change (erosion and deposition) across England and Wales under current and future climates. If we better understand how rivers function and react, we can use this to inform how we manage flood risk, and to better plan for and work with river channel change.
The project reviewed and tested modelling methods and created two new ones. Using one of these, we created a national spatial dataset as a pilot to provide mapped information on shear stresses and likely sediment movement on a national scale.
The research found that a dominant influencing factor of channel change in extreme flooding is channel confinement (by bedrock or infrastructure). We created a mapping tool to demonstrate the potential for geomorphic change due to confinement and tested it with data from Cumbria.
This research can be used to inform resilient and sustainable channel maintenance, channel and environment management that works with natural processes, and re-naturalising rivers. It can be used to target more complex modelling for site-specific investigations.
Last updated 8 June 2021 + show all updates
-
Welsh research summary added to the documents section
-
First published.