Problems with the shoreline development index — A widely used metric of lake shape

Seekell, D.; Cael, B.B. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1317-5718; Byström, P.. 2022 Problems with the shoreline development index — A widely used metric of lake shape. Geophysical Research Letters, 49 (10). https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098499

Before downloading, please read NORA policies.

Preview

Text
Geophysical Research Letters - 2022 - Seekell - Problems With the Shoreline Development Index A Widely Used Metric of Lake.pdf
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 4.0.
Download (676kB) | Preview

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098499

Abstract/Summary

The shoreline development index—The ratio of a lake’s shore length to the circumference of a circle with the lake’s area—Is a core metric of lake morphometry used in Earth and planetary sciences. In this paper, we demonstrate that the shoreline development index is scale-dependent and cannot be used to compare lakes with different areas. We show that large lakes will have higher shoreline development index measurements than smaller lakes of the same characteristic shape, even when mapped at the same scale. Specifically, the shoreline development index increases by about 14% for each doubling of lake area. These results call into question previously reported patterns of lake shape. We provide several suggestions to improve the application of this index, including a bias-corrected formulation for comparing lakes with different surface areas.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098499
ISSN:	0094-8276
Date made live:	08 Sep 2022 13:35 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/533173

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098499

ISSN:

0094-8276

Date made live:

08 Sep 2022 13:35 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/533173