ScienceNostalgia101 Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at5+shtml/115127.shtml?cone#contents So at this moment Hurricane Dorian is forecast to make a direct hit on Lake Okeechobee. If the floodwaters extend from the lake to the ocean, they'll essentially be the same body of water. But then I remembered, lakes are connected to rivers, which are connected to the ocean. This got me thinking; where does one body of water end and the next begin? Where does a river end and the ocean begin? Is there some threshold of salinity? If so, does that mean the boundary between a river and the ocean shifts as that threshold shifts? How do we distinguish rivers from lakes/ponds? Is there some metric of the velocity of the water? Does increasing/decreasing flowrate therefore shift this boundary? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roamer Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 umm, rivers flow, they start in mountains and flow to lakes, seas & oceans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharonY Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 I am not a hydrologists, but they have a specific classification system for different types of boundaries where different water sources mix. Much of the classification seems to rely on water composition and source tracking, but I do not know about the specifics. It is not entirely arbitrary, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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