Riverscapes Consortium Models

Apply or contribute RC-Compliant Models to contextualize, analyze, interpret and make predictions in your riverscapes.

We are committed to advancing the science of riverscape health and the practices of riverscape management, conservation and restoration to be more effective in reporting and promoting riverscape health.

Guided by principles of findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reuse (FAIR) of digital assets, we have developed innovative models that make it easier for researchers, professionals, practitioners and students to apply those concepts to studying or managing riverscapes in their community.

A model in this context is defined as some technology that transforms input data into another form that is more useful or relevant for the riverscapes community. A transformation could be as simple as formatting data from a proprietary format to a more accessible open standard. At the other end of the spectrum, a model could be a sophisticated computer simulation modeling involving advanced mathematics. Typically models involve some kind of computer code. The Riverscapes Consortium has defined a simple set of standards for this code (i.e. it must be documented, open source and published) as well as the data standards for the outputs that the model produces.

By supporting model developers and consumers of model outputs, riverscape researchers can increase their impact and reach broader audiences. As a result, our community of model contributors helps to make riverscape science scalable and accessible.

Riverscapes Model Standards and Compliance

If we’re going to have vibrant, healthy riverscapes that can support co-existing ecosystems and societies into the future, we need to avoid silos and proprietary formats.

Everyone should have access to the data they need and the tools to analyze it. By developing data, metadata, documentation and model standards, we have made it quicker to obtain the right information to make robustly informed decisions about riverscape health.

We’ve organized common river datasets, automated the collection of disparate public data, and brought it together into a rigorous, transparent, and comprehensive set of technical specifications and standards. When these standards are met, a Riverscapes-Compliant badge is issued, communicating that a tool has met the standards. Complying with these standards increases interoperability, supports multi-disciplinary analysis, and answers unforeseen questions.

TODO: Link to the list of existing compliant riverscapes models!!!!!!!!.

Learn more about RC standards and compliance. (link) Contribute to the RC Data Exchange. (link)