CSDMS 2026: Modeling Landscapes in Motion

Registration

Registration & abstract submission will open early 2026

Introduction

The CSDMS 2026 Annual Meeting will be broad in scope, bringing together CSDMS members to present new scientific insights in the modeling of surface dynamics and the impact of time and process scales, new advances in cyber-infrastructure, examples on coupling models, how social and ecological models can inform management, and more. Also, this is the 4^th year that you can submit Electronic Publications (Epubs); Jupyter notebooks that contain e.g. a scientific hypotheses description, a numerical solution, and some findings that are investigated by numerical algorithms or model, see also: Form:Annualmeeting2026#Electronic_publications_(Epubs). We reserved time during one of the plenary sessions for presentations of Epubs, so don't hold back and submit your Epubs! The meeting will further include:

State-of-the art keynote presentations in earth-surface dynamics
Hands-on clinics related to community models, tools and approaches
Transformative software products and approaches designed to be accessible, easy to use, and relevant
Breakout sessions
Poster and Epubs Sessions

Agenda

A draft agenda will be posted closer to date.

Keynote presentations

David Litwin
Temple University

Landscape Evolution as a Surface-Subsurface Problem: From Headwaters to Orogens Decades of research have shown that storm runoff in many settings is primarily composed of pre-event groundwater. This groundwater is actively flowing, sometimes against topographic gradients, and in quantities substantial enough to alter the catchment water balance. Such effects have been observed across diverse lithologies and topographic settings, including mountainous environments that fluvial landscape evolution models often intend to capture. Yet to this day, most landscape evolution models represent runoff as a simple overland flow process. To explore the effects of groundwater flow on landscape evolution, we have developed coupled models in Landlab that represent both geomorphic change and surface-subsurface flow processes, in which runoff generated by a distributed hydrological model drives stream power fluvial erosion. We examine (1) hydrological function and topography in headwaters at geomorphic steady-state, and (2) transient dynamics at orogen-scale drainage divides, grounding our work in case studies and large-sample analyses. The results suggest that interactions between the surface and subsurface are often critical to understanding landscape evolution, and that long-term coevolution of hydrological and geomorphic processes may explain certain emergent hydrological traits of watersheds today.

Clinics

Jin-Si Over
U.S. Geological Survey

Introduction to Structure-from-Motion Photogrammetry for Mapping Landscapes This clinic will be a hands-on exercise in making quantitative 3D digital models and orthomosaics from a collection of photographs, focusing on small to medium landscape scenes (think beach ripples to a small dune system). We will provide some background theory and work through the steps of constructing and assessing the accuracy of the model using commercial software (Agisoft Metashape). Pitfalls and best practices will be explained. Students are invited to bring their own imagery (check with us for guidance on best practices for image collection) or we will provide some, and we might collect some prior to the classroom portion. Any laptop will work, but those with NVIDIA graphics cards will be faster.

David Vetsch
ETH Zurich

River morphodynamic modelling across scales using BASEMENT software River morphodynamic processes shape the landscape and are relevant for their characteristics. The modelling of such processes allows for analyzing and predicting trajectories in landscape evolution. The BASEMENT software is a versatile tool for the numerical modelling of various river morphodynamic processes from catchment to reach scale. The available 1D and 2D models are based on the Saint-Venant-Exner equations for transient flow including bed and suspended load, i.e. transport of coarse and fine sediments. Implemented numerical schemes for solving the governing equations are best choice for alpine conditions and efficiency is employed by parallelization for multi-core CPU and GPU. The software has an intuitive user interface that simplifies the setting up of models and comes along with comprehensive documentation. BASEMENT is available for free and is in transition to open source software. </br>The clinic includes a short introduction to the theoretical background of the models and demonstrates how to setup hydro and morphodynamic simulations that can be run straight away. For the case of the 1D model, a local river widening is considered where all states of gradually varied flow including flow transition may occur during bed level evolution until the situation reaches its dynamic equilibrium state. The case study follows a conceptual approach following best practice in application to ensure robust model setup and to avoid pitfalls.

Moira Zellner
Northeastern University

Fora.ai: Embedding earth systems modeling in a collaborative framework for innovative, impactful and resilient solution-building Fora.ai is an intuitive digital environment that enables groups with diverse expertise to collaboratively interact with embedded simulation models to understand real world socio-environmental problems and create novel and impactful solutions. Participants interact with this digital representation and with each other, iteratively creating, revising and testing solutions until diverse needs are addressed. Workshop participants will use Fora.ai’s interactive game-board to collectively build solutions to environmental hazards (e.g., flooding and wildfires). The virtual environment allows for participation in a facilitated process in which users: 1) input their individual priorities, 2) collaboratively run simulations to understand the complexity of the hazards, 3) co-design solutions to address these problems, 4) see how their solutions affect outputs of interest, and 5) deliberate on the tradeoffs that arise from each solution due to competing priorities. Participants will be introduced to the environmental hazard model and, with facilitator assistance, engage in multiple iterations of the process of prioritization, solution-building, and reflection on results. This process will allow them to refine their proposed solutions towards intervention strategies that they would jointly support for implementation, with an understanding of its benefits and drawbacks. The workshop will end with a focus group debrief. Laptops or tablets required.

Interested in providing a clinic during the next annual meeting? Contact CSDMS@Colorado.EDU.

Participants

Who is registered as of 12/29/2025?

Conference Venue

This year the conference will be held at XXX at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Address:
University of Minnesota
XXX Building
XXX Street
Minneapolis, MN XXXXX

Conference Lodging and Daily shuttles

For participants not receiving CSDMS travel support, CSDMS has secured a discounted lodging rate at the Residence Inn, Boulder Canyon. You will receive an emailed link for the discounted lodging upon completion of your meeting registration.

Daily shuttle service between the Boulder Marriott Canyon / Residence Inn Canyon and the meeting venue will depart the hotel each morning at 8:00 and 8:30AM and return to the hotel after the meeting each evening.

Poster guidelines

The poster boards are configured for up to 46" wide by 60" tall (portrait orientation) posters (116 cm wide by 152 cm tall). Anything larger than these dimensions will reduce the space of your colleagues so please be respectfull of these poster dimensions.

Electronic publications (Epubs)

We're excited to announce that we will also offer Epub submissions for this year's annual meeting. Epubs are Jupyter notebooks that contain a scientific problem description and some findings that are investigated by numerical algorithms or models, that walks the reader through the science by executing the algorithms or models. The Epubs will be reviewed and can be part of a poster or oral presentation or separately submitted. Guidelines on what the notebook should include can be found here.

Travel Scholarships

Applications due by February XXX, 2026
This year CSDMS is offering a limited number of travel scholarships to attend the CSDMS annual meeting, for graduate students, post-docs, early career faculty, and faculty to maximize the breath and depth of the scientific workforce. To be eligible, applicants need to meet the following requirements:

Attend the whole meeting (May 19-21, 2026) at the University of Minnesota, Minnesota
Submit an abstract for and provide a poster presentation at the meeting (this requirement may be waived under limited conditions, i.e. 1st year graduate student that has not started their research, etc.)
Submit a letter of motivation that states why you wish to participate in the meeting and explain how/if your participation would maximize the breath and depth of surface dynamics modeling.

The CSDMS travel scholarships will cover:

Registration costs (to be reimbursed after attending the meeting)
Travel (for US participants airfare and local transport up to $600, for international participants up to $1,200 of transportation costs will be reimbursed)
Per diem to help reimburse the cost of meals from 19-21 May 2026 not offered in the conference schedule
Shared lodging in the conference hotel for the evenings of May 18th, 19th and 20th.

Please submit your letter of motivation and contact information to csdms@colorado.edu by February XXX, 2026. Applicants will be notified of the decision by the end of February.

Transportation to and from Minneapolis

We encourage all who are able, to take advantage of public transportation or ride-share services between the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport and your hotel.

Metro Transit's light rail (Blue & Green Lines) for public transit: https://www.metrotransit.org/

Land Acknowledgement

We acknowledge that the land, on which we will hold our meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is on the traditional homelands of the Dakota people. It is important to acknowledge the peoples on whose land we live, learn, and work as we seek to improve and strengthen our relations with our tribal nations. For more information, see the Acknowledgement.

Code of Conduct

CSDMS is committed to fostering a professional, respectful, and inclusive environment at the annual meeting, such that all participants can participate to the fullest in a welcoming, respectful, inclusive, and collaborative environment that is free of harassment and discrimination. CSDMS expects all participants and staff to comply with this code of conduct, as outlined at CSDMS code of conduct.

Important dates

January 26: Application deadline Student Modeler Award 2026
February XXX: Application deadline travel scholarships
April 1: Abstract submission deadline
April 1: Meeting registration deadline
May 19-21: CSDMS annual meeting
May 22, 9AM to 11AM: CSDMS Executive committee meeting (by invitation only)
May 22, 12PM to 2PM: CSDMS Steering committee meeting (by invitation only)