[GRASS-dev] New version of the r.landscape.evol.py Landscape Evolution module uploaded to the GRASS Addons repository.

[Isaac Ullah]

Dear GRASS users/developers,

    I'm happy to announce that the Mediterranean Landscapes Dynamics Project
has released a brand new version of our landscape evolution script "
r.landscape.evol.py". It can be downloaded from the GRASS ADDONS SVN
Repository in the LandDyn directory (
http://trac.osgeo.org/grass/browser/grass-addons/LandDyn).

  "r.landscape.evol.py" calculates erosion and deposition values for a
region (DEM) given climactic (rainfall) and environmental (vegetation and
soils) conditions. It can iteratively calculate these values over multiple
time-steps, and will produce new surface DEM's for each time step (using the
previous DEM as input in the next time step). "r.landscape.evol.py" uses
process-based transport equations to calculate erosion/deposition
differently for different parts of the landscape (ie. flat areas,
hillslopes, mass movement, small channels, streams).

  The latest release fixes several small programing issues, and implements a
new algorithm for calculating erosion/deposition in stream channels. It
takes advantage of the advanced MFD flow routing capabilities of the newly
updated r.watershed module, which produced more accurate stream networks,
and flow accumulation values. "r.landscape.evol.py" uses process equations
that capitalize on the strengths of the MFD algorithm. Additionally, "
r.landscape.evol.py" has been completely rewritten in Python, with improved
speed and in keeping with the direction of GRASS programing. We have also
uploaded a very detailed help file, which explains the program, the
equations, and their variables in great detail.

   We encourage everyone to download and use the module, but if you do so,
we request that 1) please let us know how it works, and provide us with any
errors or anomalies you may discover, and 2) that if you publish research
that uses "r.landscape.evol.py", you credit the Mediterranean Landscape
Dynamics (MEDLAND) Project of Arizona Sate University, and developers Isaac
I. Ullah, C. Michael Barton, and Helena Mitasova, and mention that the
module development was funded by NSF Grant BCS-0410269.

  Please also note that there are many other scripts in the LandDyn addons
directory. These are related to the Mediterranean Landscape Dynamics
Projects modeling laboratory, where we are simulating early agropastoral
landuse (farming and herding), and tracking their effects on landscapes
(erosion/deposition rates and vegetation) through time. You may also find
these other scripts of use, and we encourage you to try them as well (with
the same requests for error reports and credits is used in publications).
Most of these scripts are quite stable, but have not yet been documented to
the extent that r.landscape.evol.py has been (ie., I have yet to write html
manual pages for them). However, I have done my best to internally document
them by creating abundant comments in the source code.


Cheers,
-- 
Isaac I Ullah, M.A.

Archaeology PhD Candidate,
ASU School of Evolution and Social Change

Research Assistant,
Mediterranean Landscape Dynamics Project
***************************************************
isaac.ullah at asu.edu
ullah at archaeologist.com

http://www.public.asu.edu/~iullah
***************************************************
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