4. Running EF5

4.3. Setting up your own domain

For a detailed guide on setting up your own domain (generate files for your own study area), please refer to the EF5-builder-toolkit GitHub repository. The toolkit provides step by step instructions for generating:

  1. Basic files (DEM derived files)

  2. Prepare Precipitation Forcing Data

  3. Prepare Potential Evapotranspiration (PET) Data

  4. Preparing Grids for a Distributed Model

    1. Prepare Soil Data

    2. Prepare impervious area

  5. Automatically defining all outlets locations

  6. Calculate Basin-Integrated Variables (aggregate variables pixel by pixel for the tributary area)

  7. Generate CREST parameters

  8. Generate the Kinematic Wave (KW) Parameters

4.4. Control file structure

Before running EF5, ensure you have a properly configured control file. The control file specifies various parameters and paths needed for the simulation or tasks.

The control file is structured into blocks, each containing key-value pairs. Example:

[Basic]                                       # Basic block

The minimum required blocks are:

  1. Basic block: Specifies file locations for the digital elevation model (DEM), flow direction map (DDM), and flow accumulation map (FAM).

  2. Precipitation forcing block: Defines the properties of the precipitation forcing files.

  3. PET forcing block: Defines the PET forcing files details.

  4. Gauge block(s): Specifies the locations of gauges for output and parameter assignment. At least one gauge block is required.

  5. Basin block(s): Defines the basin(s) for the simulation, including associated gauges. At least one basin block is required.

  6. Parameter set block(s): For the chosen models.

  7. Task block(s): Defines the style to be executed, the routing model, the time period for the simulation, the time step, and the forcing data to be used. See task styles for more details.

    The Style parameter within the Task block defines the type of task EF5 will execute, e.g., SIMU for a standard simulation, CLIP_GAUGE for clipping model inputs to the entire domain, CALI_DREAM for calibration using the DREAM algorithm, etc. See task styles for the full list of supported Style types.

  8. Execute block: Specifies which task to run, one at a time per run. At least one Execute block is required.

The table below summarizes the grid requirements for each model:

Grids

Must Match Basic Files?

Free grid?

Precipitation

🟒

PET

🟒

CREST

🟒

Kinematic wave

🟠

Simple inundation

🟠

Legend: 🟒 = free grid, 🟠 = restricted to flow direction grid

The following mock-up illustrates the bare minimum structure for a control file required to run any of the available styles.

[Basic]                                       # Basic block
DEM=/EF5Demo/FF/basic/DEM.asc
...

[PrecipForcing Q2Precip]                      # Precipitation forcing block
TYPE=BIF
UNIT=mm/h
...

[PETForcing PET]                              # PET forcing block
TYPE=BIF
UNIT=mm/h
...

[Gauge 0]                                     # At least one gauge is required
LON=-97.01
LAT=35.68
...

[Basin FF]                                    # At least one basin is required
GAUGE=0                                       # containing at least one gauge

[CrestParamSet FF]                            # Parameter set for routing model
GAUGE=AR
...

[Task RunFF]                                  # Task block
STYLE=SIMU                                    # Style, refer to "4.2.3. Task block parameters"
MODEL=CREST
BASIN=0
PRECIP=Q2_PRECIP
PET=PET
OUTPUT=/EF5Demo/FF/output/
TIMESTEP=5u
TIME_BEGIN=201006010000
TIME_END=201006010030

[Execute]                                     # Execute block
TASK=RunFF

To set up your configuration, refer to the components listed below.

4.5. Run EF5 in the terminal

For the final step, to run EF5, execute the binary with the control file argument:

../bin/ef5 <your_controlfile_name.txt>

Warning

🚧 This documentation is currently under active development. Content may change frequently and some sections may be incomplete.