The Rhine River system has been shaped by human interventions for centuries, making it one of the most engineered river networks in Europe. Issues such as ongoing channel bed incision and changes in hydrograph due to climate change (Arbos et al., 2023) are anticipated to significantly affect future river functions, including flood safety, freshwater supply, and inland shipping. In recent decades, large-scale projects such as “Room for the River,” the installation of longitudinal training walls, and sediment nourishments have helped preserve the Rhine’s functionality. At the Pannerdense Kop bifurcation, where the Dutch upper Rhine divides flow and sediment between the Waal and the Pannerden Canal, a gradual change in flow division between the branches is observed (Chowdhury et al., 2023). This change appears to be linked to a series of peak flow events in the 1990s, which resulted in sediment deposition in one bifurcate, setting off a slow shift in flow partitioning ever since. More recently, Blom et al. (2024) proposed that the extreme flows in the 1990s might have pushed the system toward a tipping point and an emerging alternative equilibrium state. Ensuring the anticipated flow partitioning is crucial not only for maintaining water supply and navigability during low-flow periods but also for controlling flood risk during peak events.