CSDMS Data Components: Data-model Integration for Earth Surface Processes Modeling

Researchers working with Earth surface processes modeling nearly always work with datasets. However, their productivity often suffers because these datasets are difficult to access and use. To help solve this problem, we developed Data Components to ease the burden of working with data and coupling datasets with numerical models. Data Components are designed to provide a consistent way to access and retrieve various types of datasets (e.g., time series, raster grid, and multidimensional space-time data). Each Data Component effectively "wraps" a dataset with Basic Model Interface (BMI). BMI is a set of standard query and control functions that can be added to a model or a dataset. Using the BMI interface for datasets makes them easier to integrate with BMI-enabled numerical models. In this presentation, we will introduce the basic concept and the general development steps for Data Components and will demonstrate their capabilities with an overland flow use case. We used several Data Components to download topography and precipitation datasets. Those Data Components were coupled with the Landlab model components for watershed delineation and overland flow simulation. We also created this use case as a Jupyter Notebook and shared it in WholeTale (https://wholetale.org/), which is a cloud-based platform enabling the creation, publication, and execution of Jupyter Notebooks to support reproducible research.