IPA (v1): a framework for agent-based modelling of soil water movement

Authored by Benjamin Mewes, Andreas H Schumann

Date Published: 2018

DOI: 10.5194/gmd-11-2175-2018

Sponsors: German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG)

Platforms: GAMA

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Mathematical description

Model Code URLs: https://github.com/HydroMewes/IPA

Abstract

In the last decade, agent-based modelling (ABM) became a popular modelling technique in social sciences, medicine, biology, and ecology. ABM was designed to simulate systems that are highly dynamic and sensitive to small variations in their composition and their state. As hydrological systems, and natural systems in general, often show dynamic and non-linear behaviour, ABM can be an appropriate way to model these systems. Nevertheless, only a few studies have utilized the ABM method for process-based modelling in hydrology. The percolation of water through the unsaturated soil is highly responsive to the current state of the soil system; small variations in composition lead to major changes in the transport system. Hence, we present a new approach for modelling the movement of water through a soil column: autonomous water agents that transport water through the soil while interacting with their environment as well as with other agents under physical laws.
Tags
Simulation Hydrology runoff Cellular-automata model Flow