SCHISM

Criterion

Explanation

General Description

The SELFE model (from which SCHISM was derived) was originally developed to meet specific modeling challenges for the Columbia River; it has been extensively tested against standard ocean/coastal benchmarks and applied to a number of bays/estuaries around the world, in the context of general circulation, tsunami and storm-surge inundation, water quality, oil spill, sediment transport, coastal ecology, and wave-current interaction. SCHISM includes many improvements of the original SELFE.  The model website is at:  http://ccrm.vims.edu/schismweb/

Model Domain

The model domain is flexible and can be specified by the user, and can include coastal, estuarine, lakes and river areas.

Developer

SCHISM is a derivative work from the original SELFE model. SCHISM has been implemented by Dr. Joseph Zhang (Virginia Institute of Marine Science at College of William & Mary) and other developers around the world. SELFE was developed at the Oregon Health Sciences University.

Hardware computing requirements

Window or Linux operating system

Code language

FORTRAN, C, Python, Perl scripts

Original application

The SELFE model (from which SCHISM was derived) was originally developed to meet specific modeling challenges for the Columbia River.

Public/proprietary and cost

The model is open source and available at no cost.

Physically or empirically based

Physically based

Mathematical methods used

The model uses a semi-implicit finite-element/finite-volume method with an Eulerian-Lagrangian method to solve the Navier-Stokes equations

Input data requirements

Input data for the Delta is well-parameterized and readily available. Model developers recommend SMS (commercial product from Aquaveo) for grid generation. Input data includes:

• Domain (grid parameters, bathymetry)
• Initial conditions (water level, salinity, water temperature, pollutant and sediment concentrations)
• Boundary conditions (inflows, outflows, water level, salinity, water temperature, pollutant and sediment concentrations)
• Physical parameters (describing constants, viscosity, heat flux, sediment, tidal forces)
• Environmental parameters (precipitation, evaporation, wind speed and direction)

Outputs

Model developers recommend using VisIT (LLNL downloadable, open source product) for visualizing SCHISM output. Model outputs include: Water level, flow volume and direction, salinity, water temperature, water quality (pollutant, sediment) concentrations; Model output is written to binary files, however "station" points can be specified for ASCII time series files to be written for post-processing.

Pre-processing and post-processing tools

There is no graphical user interface (GUI) integrated with the model. Model developers recommend SMS (commercial product from Aquaveo) for grid generation. Model developers recommend using VisIT (LLNL downloadable, open source product) for visualizing SCHISM output.

Representation of uncertainty

Uncertainty is not represented.

Prevalence

The model has been applied to a number of bays/estuaries around the world for general circulation, tsunami and storm-surge inundation, water quality, oil spill, sediment transport, coastal ecology, and wave-current interaction studies. Project locations include the Delta, Great Lakes, Baltic Sea, Chesapeake Bay, Taiwan, and Tagus estuary (Portugal).

Ease of use for public entities

Bay-Delta version of the model is well documented. Building a new model from scratch would be difficult for the average user due to lack of integrated graphical user interface (GUI).

Ease of obtaining information and availability of technical support

Online forum; active academic community; international training

Source code availability

The source code is open source.

Status of model development

The model is available for immediate use; the model development team is active with new modules (tidal marsh, oil spill) currently in development.

Because the model is open source, well documented, and has an active user and development community, challenges to integration are few.