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DATA FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MODELING (D4EM)
Citation:
WOLFE, K. L., R. S. PARMAR, G. F. LANIAK, D. P. AMES, M. H. GRAY, A. PARKS, AND L. WILSON. DATA FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MODELING (D4EM). Presented at International Symposium on Environmental Software Systems, Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC, May 22 - 25, 2007.
Impact/Purpose:
General objectives of this task include the development and enhancement of science-based
components (models, databases, data analysis tools) and the conduct of applied research, specifically : prototyping new applications and model analyses (e.g., model comparisons). Specific objectives for this task are formulated based on client needs (development) and peer review feedback (science/research). Two specific objectives that will be pursued during the full three years of this Task are 1) with respect to 3MRA development, the addition of a fully automated capability to populate the 3MRA multi-media modeling data needs via direct access to GIS data sources, 2) with respect to research, the continuation of a detailed model comparison between 3MRA and TRIM, and 3) the application of 3MRA to new regulatory programs at OSW (in particular, preparing the 3MRA to investigate the potential risks from various contaminated media "re-use" scenarios). Other, shorter term objectives (i.e., to be executed in FY2005), based directly on recommendations from the SAB, include 1) the science - based enhancements to the Generalized Soil Column Model (GSCM) and 2) the investigation and application of probabilistic data for health effects in the context of 3MRA risk assessments. As resources and client needs for FY2006 and FY2007 become clear it is anticipated that additional short term objectives will be established and pursued.
Description:
Data is a basic requirement for most modeling applications. Collecting data is expensive and time consuming. High speed internet connections and growing databases of online environmental data go a long way to overcoming issues of data scarcity. Among the obstacles still remaining are: locating sources of data, querying the data sources, understanding various access protocols, and converting data from native to model specific formats. This project demonstrates the development of a comprehensive set of open source software tools that bridge these obstacles by allowing a model developer to programmatically populate model input datasets with environmental data available from distributed data sources. Data management and geoprocessing components allow for complex data transformations. Geoprocessing operations are implemented through linkages with open source GIS software. The components also handle metadata and data caching. While this project was initially undertaken to meet the data requirements for two US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) modeling systems, i.e. 3MRA (Multimedia, Multi-pathway, Multi-receptor Risk Assessment) and the BASINS (Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Non-point Sources), its component-based architecture allows it to be integrated into other modeling applications. The components are written in Microsoft .Net languages ¿ C# and Visual Basic .Net. Current data sources include: EPA¿s STORET data, US Geological Survey (USGS) Terraserver maps and photos, USGS National Water Information System (NWIS) data and the multi agency National Land Cover Dataset.