sinu

Channel sinuosity

Channel sinuosity is a measure of how much a river or stream channel deviates from a straight line between two points. It is calculated by dividing the length of the channel by the straight-line distance between its endpoints.

For rivers, the conventional classes of sinuosity are:

• sinu <1.05: almost straight

• 1.05 ≤ sinu <1.25: winding

• 1.25 ≤ sinu <1.50: twisty

• 1.50 ≤ sinu: meandering