RMA3D San Francisco Estuary Model

Criterion

Explanation

General Description

RMA's 3D hydrodynamic and water quality model of the San Francisco estuary predicts water surface elevations, flows, 3D velocity structure, salinities, particle transport, and water quality throughout the San Francisco Bay and Delta. Specific model grids have been developed to simulate the present-day Delta as well as the historical (pre-development) Delta.

Model Domain

The model spans the entire estuary from the Pacific Ocean through the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River.

Developer

Resource Management Associates (RMA)

Hardware computing requirements

Not available

Code language

FORTRAN - Computational engine; PYTHON - post-processing and visualization routines

Original application

San Francisco Bay-Delta

Public/proprietary and cost

The model is proprietary and not available for public use.

Physically or empirically based

Physically based

Mathematical methods used

Uses the UnTRIM computational engine

Input data requirements

Boundary inflows, meteorological data (evaporation, precipitation, wind), grid/bathymetry parameters, water surface elevation and salinity initial conditions, flow diversions, gate operations.

Outputs

Model output is written to text files and netCDF files. Model output includes flows, velocities, water surface elevations, and salinity.

Pre-processing and post-processing tools

Pre-processing: Janet grid editor; Post-processing: Python routines

Representation of uncertainty

Uncertainty is not integrated into the modeling framework.

Prevalence

This model was built for the specific application to the San Francisco Bay-Delta.

Ease of use for public entities

Because the model is proprietary and not available to the public, it can only be used by the model developer.

Ease of obtaining information and availability of technical support

The model is not publicly available.

Source code availability

The model is proprietary.

Status of model development

No information available.

Because the model is proprietary and not available to the public, it can only be used by the model developer.