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Abstract

Rivers play a fundamental role in shaping the Earth's surface and sustaining ecosystems. Accurate modeling and simulation of stream power are essential for understanding fluvial processes. As a measure of the energy exerted by overland flow, stream power possesses both magnitude and directional attributes. However, conventional simulation approaches based on scalar operations often neglect the directional component. In this study, a mathematical vector-based method is proposed to simulate stream power. This approach involves the vectorized representation of flow direction and the computation of the Stream Power Index (SPI) using vector operation rules. The method is validated in typical fluvial landscapes of the Chinese Loess Plateau and compared with conventional scalar-based approaches. Results indicate that the vector-based method effectively reduces the overestimation of stream power by accounting for its directional properties. For example, in Strahler-ordered stream networks, the average overestimation by scalar methods reaches 58.9% in first-order streams and up to 1091.1% in sixth-order streams. These findings demonstrate that the proposed vector-based approach aligns more closely with the actual dynamics of geographical processes. Furthermore, since directional power interactions are widespread in Earth surface processes, adopting a vector perspective in related simulations may significantly enhance the realism and accuracy of geographical modeling.

Keywords

Stream power; flow accumulation; vector operation; geographical process simulation

Published in

International Journal of Geographical Information Science
2026
Publisher: TAYLOR AND FRANCIS LTD

SLU Authors

UKÄ Subject classification

Oceanography, Hydrology, Water Resources
Other Earth Sciences

Publication identifier

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13658816.2026.2641742

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/146622