Being able to replicate research results is the hallmark of science. Replication of research findings using computational models should, in principle, be possible. In this manuscript, we assess code sharing and model documentation practices of 7500 publications about individual-based and agent-based models. The code availability increased over the years, up to 18% in 2018. Model documentation does

Computer programs have taken an important role in the prediction of future ecological trajectories. This study reviewed the existing computer programs that aim to predict future trajectories of ecosystems, biological populations, or ecological systems. Overall, 106 programs were examined. A rich set of programs exist and most of them are free. A substantial proportion (43%) are distributed open source

Households are responsible for a significant share of global greenhouse emissions. Hence, academic and policy discourses highlight behavioral changes among households as an essential strategy for combating climate change. However, formal models used to assess economic impacts of energy policies face limitations in tracing cumulative impacts of adaptive behavior of diverse households. The past decade

This paper describes a methodology for constructing and simulating from models of daily weather time series at multiple locations, incorporating potential nonstationarities and suitable for use in those studies of climate impacts and adaptation where a detailed representation of local weather is required. The approach is based on generalised linear models (GLMs) and aims to allow for realistic representations

Agroecosystem modelling has increasingly focused on the integration of soil biogeochemical processes and crop growth. However, few models are available that offer high computing efficiencies for region-scale simulations, integrated decision support tools, and a structure that allows for easy extension. This paper introduces a new modelling tool to fill this gap: the GDNDC (Gridded DNDC) system for

We present a new strategy for performing global sensitivity analysis capable to estimate main and interaction effects from a generic sampling design. The new strategy is based on a meaningful combination of variance- and distribution-based approaches. The strategy is tested on four analytic functions and on a hydrological model. Results show that the analysis is consistent with the state-of-the-art

Serious games are increasingly used as tools to facilitate stakeholder participation and stimulate social learning in environmental management. We present the Virtual River Game that aims to support stakeholders in collaboratively exploring the complexity of a changed river management paradigm in the Netherlands. The game uses a novel, hybrid interface design that features a bidirectional coupling

As a meshfree method, the random-walk method is inherently simple and numerically stable. However, when used in hydro-environmental analyses, most of the existing random-walk methods ignore the influence of the non-uniform water depth and only consider the transport of inert materials, hence the inability of modelling biochemical reactions. In addition, they mainly examine the instantaneous-release

Sensitivity analysis (SA) has been used to evaluate the behavior and quality of environmental models by estimating the contributions of potential uncertainty sources to quantities of interest (QoI) in the model output. Although there is an increasing literature on applying SA in environmental modeling, a pragmatic and specific framework for spatially distributed environmental models (SD-EMs) is lacking

In this manuscript, we describe a computational model to delineate watershed boundaries for simple geometries (points, lines or polygons) where maximum water flow distance can be constrained by a user-defined variable. This method generalizes earlier research to delineate watershed boundaries using a marching algorithm. Our proposed method allows users to delineate watersheds for a number of use-cases

Due to the growing amount of data from in-situ sensors in environmental monitoring, it becomes necessary to automatically detect anomalous data points. Nowadays, this is mainly performed using supervised machine learning models, which need a fully labelled data set for their training process. However, the process of labelling data is typically cumbersome and, as a result, a hindrance to the adoption

The urban water-energy nexus sits at the intersection of the global phenomena of water scarcity, energy transitions and urbanisation. Research found that end use dominates the water-energy nexus and that this component plays an important role in urban dynamics, but focussed on the Global North. We investigate the nexus of Mumbai and its long-term resource demand. Our tool is a novel system dynamics

Geospatial referenced environmental data are extensively used in environmental assessment, prediction, and management. Data are commonly obtained by nonrandom surveys or monitoring networks, whereas spatial sampling and inference affect the accuracy of subsequent applications. Design-based and model-based procedures (DB and MB for short) both allow one to address the gap between statistical inference

Understanding lake dynamics is crucial to provide scientifically credible information for ecosystem management. In this context, three-dimensional hydrodynamic models are a key information source to assess critical but often subtle changes in lake dynamics occurring at all spatio-temporal scales. However, those models require time-consuming calibrations, often carried out by trial-and-error. Through

The authors developed a non-proprietary web-browser based open-source software that allows users to visualize and evaluate hydrologic space-time data in an interactive environment. Hydrovise is client-side browser-based software that interprets a configuration file to construct control elements in the Graphical User Interface for visualizations of space-time data and model simulation evaluations. It

As the world becomes more urbanized and heavy precipitation events increase in frequency and intensity, urban (pluvial) flooding is an emerging concern. Recent advances in hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, high-resolution quantitative precipitation forecasting, and ensemble forecasting have improved the ability to evaluate flash flooding potential in urban areas. The Probabilistic Urban Flash Flood

This paper presents a hybrid automatic calibration method for transition potential based Cellular Automata land-use models by integrating two calibration methods, process-specific and optimisation-based, into a single hybrid approach, combining the advantages of these two methods. The hybrid approach features the detailed exploration of a large population of possible model parameterisations achieved

Computational models for natural hazards usually require a large number of input parameters that affect the model outcome in a complex manner. The sensitivity of the input parameters to the output variables can be quantified using sensitivity analysis, which provides insight into the key factors driving the model and can guide modeling optimization. However, performing a sensitivity analysis typically

A new software application, called URUNME, was developed in C#.NET for integrated environmental modeling. URUNME provides functionality for model coupling, data storage, analysis, visualization, scenario management, and decision support systems. A graphical user interface (GUI) based on drag-and-drop flowchart type diagrams allow modelers to set-up a model application once and then focus on running

The scarcity of long time-series of water temperature for tropical reservoirs, usually available at a low frequency of measurements, represents a serious constraint for the understanding of their thermal behavior. Hydrodynamic models become a powerful tool for that understanding through a qualitative approach. In this study, the one-dimensional General Lake Model (GLM) was applied to hindcast multiannual

A major challenge in landscape modeling is to effectively visualize and analyze a massive amount of simulation outputs, which usually are in various raster and vector geospatial data formats. Because the task is often time-consuming and costly, available handy data viewers are limited. Yet, it is a useful tool for land managers to prepare and deploy their management plan in a landscape scale. Here

Large-scale computational investigations of groundwater levels are proposed to accelerate science delivery through a workflow spanning database assembly, statistics, and information synthesis and packaging. A water-availability study of the Mississippi River alluvial plain, and particularly the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer (MRVA), is ongoing. Software (visGWDBmrva) has been released as

Projections of landscape dynamics are uncertain, partly due to uncertainties in model formulations. However, quantitative comparative analyses of forest landscape models are lacking. We conducted a systematic comparison of all forest landscape models currently applied in temperate European forests (LandClim, TreeMig, LANDIS-II, iLand). We examined the uncertainty of model projections under several

Integrated water system modeling is increasingly used to study the complex relationships between ecohydrological processes and the water-related social-economic systems. However, most of the traditional hydrological models are programmed in monolithic approach, which makes the model improvements or couplings for integrated simulation inconvenient for the inexperienced modelers. In this paper, we develop

With the rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data infrastructure, crowdsourcing techniques have emerged to facilitate data processing and problem solving particularly for flood emergences purposes. A Flood Analytics Information System (FAIS) has been developed as a Python Web application to gather Big Data from multiple servers and analyze flooding impacts during historical and

The management of water resources among competing uses presents a complex technical and policy challenge. Integrated hydro-economic models capable of simulating the hydrologic system in irrigated and non-irrigated regions including the response of farmers to hydrologic constraints and economic and policy incentives, provide a framework to understand biophysical and socioeconomic implications of changing

In this study, an open-source Google Earth Engine-based (GEE) system is proposed, surnamed SEBALIGEE, based on the Surface Energy Balance for Land – Improved (SEBALI) model. SEBALIGEE has the ability to produce monthly EvapoTranspiration (ET) assessments with an automatic fetching of the required inputs, based on satellite datasets already hosted within the GEE platform. Calibrations followed by validations

The impact of climate change on water resources is one of the major challenges of our society. Synthesis work is essential to tackle these challenges in a scientifically sound way. Synthesis assessments can benefit from interactive web applications that allow easy access, managing, and updating of its database. We developed a web-based tool for the synthesis assessment of the impacts of climate change

The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill likely affected ecosystem services in the Gulf of Mexico. To test this hypothesis, we configured a “Ecopath with Ecosim” model and quantified the effects of commercial fisheries and particulate organic carbon (POC) sequestration from 2004 to 2014, encompassing DWH. The yield of five functional groups were used to calculate changes in fishery catch and detritus

Environmental decision-support tools often fail to be effectively applied in society because tools are “use-inspired” rather than “user-ready.” Stakeholder engagement by researchers is frequently the missing, critical component. Here, university researchers collaborated with the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) in developing a cloud-based, satellite remote sensing tool for monitoring suspended

Hurricanes in the southeast United States are infrequent disturbances that affect large areas and have a large effect on forest succession. In order to understand and quantify this effect, we added a new module to the LANDIS-II landscape change model. Focusing on the southeast coast of the United States, we simulated stochastic hurricanes for 50 years. For each simulated storm, the new model extension

A Graphical User Interface (GUI) is regularly used to support model applications in catchment hydrological modelling software. A GUI is generally user-friendly for novice users but opens sources of irreproducible research. We illustrate that none of the 10 Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) models over the Upper Blue Nile can easily be reproduced. Scripted workflows provide the ability to reproduce

Equifinality—a situation where multiple plausible explanations exist for a single outcome—presents a challenge for socio-environmental systems modeling. When equifinality is ignored in model calibration, subsequent policy analyses may mis-estimate the range of potential policy effects. In this paper, we present and demonstrate an approach—entitled DMC-RPA—for generating a set of diverse model calibrations

Freshwater ecosystems, particularly those in agricultural areas, remain at risk of eutrophication due to anthropogenic inputs of nutrients. While community-based monitoring has helped improve awareness and spur action to mitigate nutrient loads, monitoring is challenging due to the reliance on expensive laboratory technology, poor data management, time lags between measurement and availability of results

Numerical lake models are useful tools to study hydrodynamics in lakes, and are increasingly applied to extreme weather events. However, little is known about the accuracy of such models during these short-term events. We used high-frequency data from three lakes to test the performance of three one-dimensional (1D) hydrodynamic models (Simstrat, GOTM, GLM) during storms and heatwaves. Models reproduced

Many relevant applications in the environmental and socioeconomic sciences use areal data, such as biodiversity checklists, agricultural statistics, or socioeconomic surveys. For applications that surpass the spatial, temporal or thematic scope of any single data source, data must be integrated from several heterogeneous sources. Inconsistent concepts, definitions, or messy data tables make this a

In ecological and other transactional energy–matter flow networks, accurate quantification of flows between compartments can be difficult and costly. For models at steady state or undergoing linear change, energy–matter conservation together with the steady-state condition can be exploited to estimate unknown flows from known ones. In compartmental network models, some flows are more important than

LCA results are typically reported as deterministic, while reality is uncertain and variable. Through a systematic review, we studied which methodologies and associated visualizations have already been used to assess both uncertainty and variability, as separate concepts, in the same LCA study. We aim to select the most appropriate one(s) that allow to decide whether uncertainty or variability is dominating

A multi-reservoir simulation-optimization model GRAPS, Generalized Multi-Reservoir Analyses using Probabilistic Streamflow Forecasts, is developed in which reservoirs and users across the basin are represented using a node-link representation. Unlike existing reservoir modeling software, GRAPS can handle probabilistic streamflow forecasts represented as ensembles for performing multi-reservoir prognostic

The concept of leadership is introduced into the context of participatory modelling. Different leadership paradigms are described. The role of the modeller and the question who should be assigned the leadership role is analyzed. The leadership and management perspectives are compared. The leadership function assumes seeing the big picture and setting the right goals. Leadership is essential in guaranteeing

In model studies, a careful consideration of uncertainty is needed. Parameter and data uncertainty can be explored by sampling, but model structure uncertainty is more challenging to capture since the underlying hypotheses of many models are not directly clear. This study explores whether model structure can be inferred from model output. We created a dendrogram (family tree) based on model structure

Serious games and gamification are useful tools for learning and sustaining long-term engagement in the activities that are not meant to be entertaining. However, the application of game design in the participatory modeling context remains fragmented and mostly limited to user-friendly interfaces, storytelling, and visualization for better representation of the simulation models. This paper suggests

With the advancement of Web technologies, the service-oriented approach has become increasingly popular to share and couple environmental models. Interoperability is critical to the access and integration of Web services. The OGC Web Processing Service (WPS) defines an interoperable protocol for process execution on the Web. However, it has limitations in supporting time-step calculations that are

For sudden water pollution incidents in rivers and lakes, the ability to quickly identify the pollution source is of great importance for providing early accident warning and implementing emergency control measures. Based on Bayesian reasoning, a variable-fidelity surrogate-differential evolution adaptive metropolis optimization(DREAM) optimization model for coupled inversion process is established

The prediction of wildfire rate of spread and growth under high wind speeds and dry fuel moisture conditions is key to taking proactive actions to warn and in turn protect communities. We used two datasets of wildfires spreading under critical fire weather conditions to evaluate an existing rule of thumb that equates the forward rate of fire spread to 10% of the average open wind speed. The rule predicted

This study describes an automated system that generates a statewide real-time quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) product for flood forecasting in Iowa. The QPE system comprises, real-time data acquisition, processing, and product visualization subsystems. Combined with information retrieved from numerical weather prediction, the system processes data from multiple radars using various algorithms

The NASA-Unified Weather Research and Forecasting model has been coupled with the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach biogeochemical model/Global Fire Emissions Database and the Parameterized Chemistry Transport Model (NU-WRF-CASA) to simulate CO2 transport and variability at fine spatial resolutions, which is anticipated to assist in better understanding the mechanisms and processes controlling carbon

Successful data integration requires careful examination of data semantics, a task that has often been approached with the use of ontologies. However, there are some barriers to build ontologies for data integration in complex domains such as the environmental one. A relevant problem is the development of new ontologies disregarding previous knowledge resources such as reference models and vocabularies

Environmental modelling practitioners are now seeking to move forwards together and build standards and technologies with more universal applicability and integration. With so many overlapping environmental modelling technologies and infrastructures being offered and with so many relevant supporting technologies contributing on the periphery, there is considerable scope to articulate and utilise underlying

Flood loss estimation models are developed using synthetic or empirical approaches. The synthetic approach consists of what-if scenarios developed by experts. The empirical models are based on statistical analysis of empirical loss data. In this study, we propose a novel Bayesian Data-Driven approach to enhance established synthetic models using available empirical data from recorded events. For five

We present an algorithm that is well suited to find the linear layout of the multiple flow-direction network (directed acyclic graph) for an efficient implicit computation of the erosion term in landscape evolution models. The time complexity of the algorithm varies linearly with the number of nodes in the domain, making it very efficient. The resulting numerical scheme allows us to achieve accurate

Environmental decision support systems (EDSS) have drawn an increasing attention among scientists to tackle with the growing complexity of environmental problems and to support policy makers. Yet, many EDSS reported in literature are case specific, fragmented in development strategies and under-reporting server setup, thus impeding EDSS development and knowledge sharing among the scientific community