Software tools for landscape evolution modeling
Software tools for landscape evolution modeling
Welcome! This website contains general information about Fastscape. Let's get in touch via GitHub (technical issues and suggestions), Gitter chat (short questions or random conversation) and Twitter (news).
Fastscape is a set of open-source software components aimed at making landscape evolution models and topographic analysis algorithms readily accessible to a wide range of users, from experts in landscape evolution modelling to scientists, researchers and teachers in the broader Earth science community.
Fastscape is a flexible and modular landscape evolution model that is highly connected to the Python scientific ecosystem, thanks to the Xarray-simlab modeling framework (see below).
It provides +30 components that can be combined together in order to create custom models. Users can also plug in their own components.
Its high-level, user-friendly interface enables interactive landscape evolution modeling, e.g., within Jupyter notebooks.
Try it online! Documentation Source repository
Fastscapelib-Fortran implements efficient algorithms for landscape evolution modeling.
It provides a basic Fortran interface with model setup, runtime and I/O routines that can be used in standalone programs or for coupling landscape evolution models with other Fortran codes (e.g., tectonic or climate models).
It may also be built as a Python extension with a NumPy-compatible, low-level API. It is currently used as a core backend library in "Fastscape".
Documentation Source repositoryFastscapelib (C++) is the successor of Fastscapelib-Fortran.
It aims to provide a very flexible, yet optimized system for implementing various core algorithms (e.g., flow routing and enforcement, solvers for erosion processes) on multiple grids.
It exposes a C++ API that is compatible with the Xtensor library (i.e., a multi-dimensional array library heavily inspired by NumPy). Thanks to Xtensor, it also exposes a Python/NumPy API and may have language bindings for R and Julia.
Documentation Source repository
Xarray-simlab is a modeling framework used by "Fastscape" to build, setup and run custom models.
It is very well integrated with tools of the Python Scientific / PyData / Pangeo ecosystems such as Xarray, Dask, Zarr and the Holoviz projects.
It is a generic framework that can be used to build models in a wide range of domains.
Documentation Source repositoryA gallery of extensions and applications built on top of Fastscape.
Ipyfastscape provides interactive widgets for topographic data analysis and modelling in Jupyter notebooks.
The AdaScape package contains a simple adaptive speciation (life evolution) model written in Python that can be easily coupled with Fastscape.
A variant of the Galton Board built with Fastscape, Ipycanvas, and Ipywidgets. It shows how to control Fastscape's model execution in real-time using widgets.
A Python package that implements the Linear Theory of Orographic Precipitation following Smith & Barstad (2004) and that provides a Fastscape extension.
Feeding fastscape with a 3D bloc of lithology with differential erodibility, diffusion and other.
Variable Discharge Stream Power Incision Model.
For a complete list of publications, please check the Fastscape entry on the Helmholtz Research Software Directory.
A few other, publicly available tools for topographic analysis and landscape evolution modeling: