Analysis of the catalyst effect of river dynamics on carbon sequestration

In recent years, particular attention has been given to the topic of carbon sequestration, which is a process that captures and stores carbon in the form of atmospheric carbon dioxide or other forms of carbon, with the goal to mitigate and defer global warming. Carbon sinks play a fundamental role because they store carbon for long periods of time and at the same time they can be a source of carbon. For instance, soil and vegetation are the main terrestrial carbon sinks, that through certain processes can store and release carbon dioxide. Soil and vegetation are not the only carbon sinks: atmosphere, biosphere, geosphere and hydrosphere are carbon sinks, too. The aim of this thesis is to estimate how much carbon can a river characterised by alternate bars store. A mathematic way that describes the quantity of stored carbon by a river is the Catalyst Index. In other words, this research wants to estimate the Catalyst Index, which is the ratio of stochastic stored biomass to deterministic stored biomass, or more specifically the ratio of the cumulative biomass stored for uprooting over a period equal to the biomass' time life to the biomass stored in the absence of uprooting. In order to reach the aim of this research, a Matlab code based on the stochastic modeling of carbon sequestration written by C. Camporeale, P. Perona and S. Zen (but not yet published) has been written. This model allows to calculate the Catalyst Index of a river, once a certain morphology and a specific hydrology are assigned.