Unit bar architecture in a highly-variable fluvial discharge regime: Examples from the Burdekin River,Australia

Unit bars are relatively large bedforms that develop in rivers over a wide range of climatic regimes. Unit bars formed within the highly-variable discharge Burdekin River in Queensland, Australia, were examined over three field campaigns between 2015 and 2017. These bars had complex internal structures, dominated by co-sets of cross-stratified and planar-stratified sets. The cross-stratified sets tended to down-climb. The development of complex internal structures was primarily a result of three processes: (i) superimposed bedforms reworking the unit bar avalanche face; (ii) variable discharge triggering reactivation surfaces; and (iii) changes in bar growth direction induced by stage change. Internal structures varied along the length and across the width of unit bars. For the former, down-climbing cross-stratified sets tended to pass into single planar cross-stratified deposits at the downstream end of emergent bars; such variation related to changes in fluvial conditions whilst bars were active. A hierarchy of six categories of fluvial unsteadiness is proposed, with these discussed in relation to their effects on unit bar (and dune) internal structure. Across-deposit variation was caused by changes in superimposed bedform and bar character along bar crests; such changes related to the three-dimensionality of the channel and bar geometry when bars were active. Variation in internal structure is likely to be more pronounced in unit bar deposits than in smaller bedform (for example, dune) deposits formed in the same river. This is because smaller bedforms are more easily washed out or modified by changing discharge conditions and their smaller dimensions restrict the variation in flow conditions that occur over their width. In regimes where unit bar deposits are well-preserved, their architectural variability is a potential aid to their identification. This complex architecture also allows greater resolution in interpreting the conditions before and during bar initiation and development.     

Performance of Landsat TM in ship detection in turbid waters

The visible and near infrared bands of Landsat have limitations for detecting ships in turbid water. The potential of TM middle infrared bands for ship detection has so far not been investigated. This study analyzed the performance of the six Landsat TM visible and infrared bands for detecting dredging ships in the turbid waters of the Poyang Lake, China. A colour composite of principal components analysis (PCA) components 3, 2 and 1 of a TM image was used to randomly select 81 dredging ships. The reflectance contrast between ships and adjacent water was calculated for each ship. A z-score and related p-value were used to assess the ship detection performance of the six Landsat TM bands. The reflectance contrast was related to water turbidity to analyze how water turbidity affected the capability of ship identification. The results revealed that the TM middle infrared bands 5 and 7 better discriminated vessels from surrounding waters than the visible and near infrared bands 1–4. A significant relation between reflectance contrast and water turbidity in bands 1–4 could explain the limitations of bands 1–4; while water turbidity has no a significant relation to the reflectance contrast of bands 5 and 7. This explains why bands 5 and 7 detect ships better than bands 1–4.