The Surface Water and Water Quality Models Information Clearinghouse (SMIC) is a database designed to be a comprehensive inventory of model descriptions and abstracts of projects using those models. Population of the database is not complete and is ongoing. It is accessed through this website, which also includes logic for searching the database and comparing models.
The user can enter the database by browsing the list of models or the list of project abstracts directly. The user can also choose to see each model categorized according to its dimensions, appropriate application domains, and capabilities, and compared to similar models.
The home page for each model in the SMIC has the following components:
From the home page for each model, there is direct access to (some of these are subject to availability):
The clearinghouse makes information that is currently available from a large number of different sources and in widely-varying formats available in one place and in a standardized format. It provides for user interaction through bulletin-board type discussion. A high priority has been placed on organizing the information so that making comparisons between models is easy and choosing the correct model (or models) for a given application is quick and efficient. The web pages include search capabilities and the ability to create customized tabular comparisons of summaries, WQ constituents, or data/parameter requirements, between a number of user-selected models.
It is hoped that SMIC will be an excellent resource for surface-water and water-quality modelers both within and outside of the USGS. The database will require continual updating and refinement beyond the initial population in order to keep it current.
The clearinghouse includes data on models from both inside and outside of the USGS, including models from other agencies and commercially-available models. It does not currently, but will eventually, include models that are still under development, ready to be used by experienced modelers but not for the faint of heart (models in the "beta" development stage). The clearinghouse is not limited to deterministic models. The idea is to make this database as comprehensive as possible within the defined scope. For now, that scope has been determined to be:
Within this defined scope, almost anything goes. Users are encouraged to submit abstracts for projects and ideas for models to include. Use the feedback form to contact the webmaster.
Population of the database is not finished and is ongoing. With user input, population of the database will never be completed. Expect the list of models and project abstracts included to continue to grow. In both the short and long term, ongoing support will be required to keep the database current and useful.
Short-term plans include improvements to the interface to the project abstracts database. The intention is to get rid of the long alphabetical listing, and replace it with a keyword search. A clickable map interface that would show the projects by geographic location is planned.
PLEASE... if you find an error in the database, or a link that's broken, or some piece of logic that doesn't work, use the feedback form to tell the webmaster. Every effort has been made to be accurate, but one person cannot be an expert on each and every model, and mistakes may appear. Typos happen. If some piece of logic didn't work, please include the details of what you tried to do when the error occurred.
SMIC is intended to enable communication between model users, and between model users and developers. The user-comments bulletin board is an open-ended forum for discussion of particular models, and these comments can become an important addition to the model description.
Users are encouraged to submit project abstracts and ideas for models to be included in the database. See the discussion of "SCOPE" above.
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Tamara Wood, Clearinghouse coordinator <tmwood@usgs.gov>