What does sinuosity measure in a stream?

Sinuosity measures the degree of curviness or meandering of a stream or river. It is often defined as the ratio of the river's actual path length to the straight-line distance between two points along that path. A highly sinuous stream will have more bends and curves, resulting in a greater length compared to the straightforward distance between the same two points. This characteristic can tell us a lot about the stream's behavior, sediment transport, and the ecological dynamics within the waterway.

The other options, while related to physical characteristics of a stream, do not pertain to sinuosity specifically. The depth of the channel deals with how deep the water is at various points. The total discharge of water refers to the volume of water flowing through a specific point over time, and the slope of the riverbed concerns the incline of the streambed itself. Each of these factors is important for understanding stream dynamics, but they do not measure the curviness that sinuosity specifically addresses.