Landlab

From CSDMS

Version 2.7.0

Landlab (http://landlab.github.io) is an open-source Python library of code that enables users to easily build unique earth surface processes models to address specific hypotheses. The Landlab library contains gridding engines for building regular and irregular grids, process components that act on grid variables, tools for storing and sharing data among the grid and components, and plotting and analysis tools. Process components represent individual processes occurring at the earth’s surface (e.g. growth and death of vegetation, surface water infiltration, linear diffusion of sediment), or drivers of these processes (e.g. rainfall, solar radiation). Users can build models by combining existing process components, or build new components if a required process component does not exist. Landlab was developed by members of the CSDMS community with support from CSDMS and the National Science Foundation (two ACI - SI2 grants).

Why build another modeling tool?

Landlab has the rare distinction of being built to make modeling accessible to a wide variety of earth scientists, including those who do not traditionally use computational models. In contrast, most other models are designed to answer a specific hypothesis posed by the developers.

What does this mean for new users?

  • Landlab is extensively documented.
  • Users can contact developers with issues.
  • There are tutorials to teach users how to use Landlab.
  • There are classroom tutorials to teach students about different surface processes.
  • Many Landlab tutorials are accessible through Hydroshare, an online collaborative environment for sharing data and models, which allows users to test-out Landlab without installing it locally.
  • Landlab has integrated testing to ensure that new code contributions will not break existing code.
  • There is documentation to make contributing code a bit easier.

Landlab Components and Models

Numerous people have contributed components and models to landlab. Of these, 53 are described in the CSDMS repository and are listed below. Would you like to add a Landlab component to the below list? Start here:

ProgramDescriptionDeveloperDownloadPyMT
ChannelProfiler The ChannelProfiler extracts and plots channel networks from a landlab grid. Barnhart, Katy
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ChiFinder Calculate Chi Indices Hobley, Daniel
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DepressionFinderAndRouter Find depressions on a topographic surface. Hobley, Dan
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DepthDependentDiffuser
A.k.a. Landlab Depth Dependent Linear Diffuser
Soil depth-dependent linear hillslope diffuser Glade, Rachel
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DepthDependentTaylorDiffuser This component implements a depth-dependent Taylor series diffusion rule, combining concepts of Ganti et al. (2012) and Johnstone and Hilley (2014). Glade, Rachel
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DetachmentLtdErosion Simulate detachment limited sediment transport. Adams, Jordan
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Drainage Density
A.k.a. Landlab Drainage Density tool
Component for calculating drainage density in Landlab given a channel network Shobe, Charles
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ErosionDeposition
A.k.a. Landlab ErosionDeposition component
Landlab component for fluvial erosion/deposition. Shobe, Charles
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ExponentialWeatherer Exponential soil production function in the style of Ahnert (1976) Glade, Rachel
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FastscapeEroder Compute fluvial erosion using stream power theory (“fastscape” algorithm) Hobley, Daniel
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FireGenerator This component generates a random fire event or fire time series from the Weibull statistical distribution. Adams, Jordan
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Flexure Deform the lithosphere with 1D or 2D flexure. Hutton, Eric
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FlowAccumulator Component to accumulate flow and calculate drainage area. Barnhart, Katy
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FlowDirectorD8 Single-path (steepest direction) flow direction with diagonals on rasters. Barnhart, Katy
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FlowDirectorDinf Flow direction on a raster grid by the D infinity method. Barnhart, Katy
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FlowDirectorMFD Multiple-path flow direction with or without out diagonals. Barnhart, Katy
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FlowDirectorSteepest Single-path (steepest direction) flow direction without diagonals. Barnhart, Katy
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FractureGridGenerator Create a 2D grid with randomly generated fractures. Tucker, Greg
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GrainHill
A.k.a. Grain Hill
Cellular automaton model of hillslope evolution Tucker, Gregory
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GroundwaterDupuitPercolator The GroundwaterDupuitPercolator solves the Boussinesq equation for flow in an unconfined aquifer over an impermeable aquifer base and calculates groundwater return flow to the surface. Litwin, David
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HackCalculator Calculate Hack parameters. Barnhart, Katy
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HyLands
A.k.a. Hybrid Landscape Evolution Model
The HyLands model simulates the impact of bedrock landslides on topographic evolution and sediment dynamics. Campforts, Benjamin
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LakeMapperBarnes Temporarily fills depressions and reroutes flow across them Hobley, Daniel
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Landlab Python software framework for writing, assembling, and running 2D numerical models Tucker, Greg
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Landslides Landlab component that simulates landslide probability of failure as well as mean relative wetness and probability of saturation. Strauch, Ronda
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LateralEroder Laterally erode neighbor node through fluvial erosion. Langston, Abigail
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LinearDiffuser Landlab component that models soil creep as a linear diffusion process Tucker, Greg
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Lithology Create a Lithology object with different properties Barnhart, Katy
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LossyFlowAccumulator Component to calculate drainage area and accumulate flow, while permitting dynamic loss or gain of flow downstream. Hobley, Dan
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NormalFault NormalFault implements relative rock motion due to a normal fault. Barnhart, Katy
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OverlandFlow
A.k.a. Landlab OverlandFlow component
Component simulating overland flow using a 2-D numerical approximation of the shallow-water equations following the de Almeida et al., 2012 algorithm for storage-cell inundation modeling. Adams, Jordan
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OverlandFlowBates This component simulates overland flow using the 2-D numerical model of shallow-water flow over topography using the Bates et al. (2010) algorithm for storage-cell inundation modeling. Adams, Jordan
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PerronNLDiffuse Nonlinear diffusion, following Perron (2011). Hobley, Daniel
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PotentialEvapotranspiration Calculates potential evapotranspiration Nudurupati, Sai
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PotentialityFlowRouter Multidirectional flow routing using a novel method. Hobley, Daniel
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PrecipitationDistribution Generate random sequence of precipitation events Adams, Jordan
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Radiation Compute 1D and 2D total incident shortwave radiation. Nudurupati, Sai
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SPACE
A.k.a. Landlab Stream Power with Alluvium Conservation and Entrainment component
Landlab component for 2-D calculation of fluvial sediment transport and bedrock erosion Shobe, Charles
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SedDepEroder Compute fluvial erosion using using “tools and cover” theory Hobley, Daniel
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SinkFiller Fill sinks in a landscape to the brim, following the Barnes et al. (2014) algorithms. Hobley, Daniel
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SoilInfiltrationGreenAmpt
A.k.a. The Landlab SoilInfiltrationGreenAmpt component
Landlab component that calculates soil infiltration based on the Green-Ampt solution. Rengers, Francis
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SoilMoisture Compute the decay of soil moisture saturation at storm-interstorm time period Nudurupati, Sai
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SpatialPrecipitationDistribution Generate random sequence of spatially-resolved precipitation events Hobley, Daniel
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SpeciesEvolver Evolve life in a landscape. Lyons, Nathan
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SteepnessFinder Calculate steepness and concavity indices from gridded topography Hobley, Daniel
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StreamPowerSmoothThresholdEroder Compute fluvial erosion using stream power theory with a numerically smoothed threshold Tucker, Greg
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TaylorNonLinearDiffuser Model non-linear soil creep after Ganti et al. (2012) Glade, Rachel
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Terrainbento
A.k.a. terrainbento
A Python package for multi-model analysis in long-term drainage basin evolution Barnhart, Katy
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TransportLengthHillslopeDiffuser Transport length hillslope diffusion. Mouchene, Margaux
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VegCA Landlab component that simulates inter-species plant competition using a 2D cellular automata model. Nudurupati, Sai
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Vegetation Model plant dynamics using multiple representative plant species Nudurupati, Sai
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ZoneController Controls zones and populates them with taxa. Lyons, Nathan
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ZoneTaxon A zone-based taxon Lyons, Nathan
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Landlab is an element of the CSDMS Workbench, an integrated system of software tools, technologies, and standards for building and coupling models.