River Tree

A recursive tree whose main branches are sized by the live discharge of four gauges in the Colorado River basin. Fatter limbs are carrying more water right now.

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Chapter 8 (Fractals). River networks are nature's recursion. Each top-level branch's thickness is set by a real gauge's cubic-feet-per-second reading, so the tree is a living hydrograph.

Data: USGS Water Services instantaneous values, discharge at four basin gauges (public, no key). Click to redraw.