Meander Mechanisms in Changing Subarctic Climate

In Subarctic regions, warming is projected to surpass the global average, potentially leading to a reduction in spring snowmelt discharges, an earlier occurrence of spring floods, and an increase in the magnitude and frequency of autumn/early winter discharges due to heightened rain and zero-crossing events. Flow peaks during summertime are becoming more prevalent due to increased heavy summer rains. Thus, it is unlikely that climate change would have no impact on the behavior of rivers. Meandering rivers, with their unique geomorphology and evolution, their dependence on external and internal forces, and their ultimately distinctive and unpredictable development, have been the focus of researchers for decades. Despite numerous attempts, a clear theory on how environmental conditions affect their morphology has not been identified. Recent technological advancements, the availability of earth observation data time series, and increased computing capacity have revealed intriguing new aspects of meandering river evolution and its possible controls in various environments. Climate change has been claimed to impact, for instance, meandering rivers in the Arctic by slowing down their evolution. This study specifically focuses on meandering rivers in the Subarctic in the context of climate change. The aim is to integrate detailed field-based measurements of meandering processes, earth-observation-based large-scale investigations of Subarctic meander evolution, and hydro-climatological observations to gain new insight into the hydro-climatological controls of Subarctic meandering rivers. The goal is to increase the understanding of Subarctic meandering river systems and their responses to climate change.