Input parameters

Different parameters for model input and output of SFINCS can be changed in sfincs.inp, see below.

Parameters for model input

mmax
description

Number of grid cells in x-direction

units
default

0

min

1

max

Inf (recommended is to limit the total number of active cells to max 3 million)

nmax
description

Number of grid cells in y-direction

units
default

0

min

1

max

Inf (recommended is to limit the total number of active cells to max 3 million)

dx
description

Grid size in x-direction

units

m

default

0

min

1.0e-3

max

Inf (recommended is a maximum grid size of 1000 meters)

dy
description

Grid size in y-direction

units

m

default

0

min

1.0e-3

max

Inf (recommended is a maximum grid size of 1000 meters)

x0
description

X-coordinate of first grid cell corner (1,1), thus not center of grid cell, in projected UTM zone.

units

m in projected UTM zone

default

0

min

0

max

Inf

y0
description

Y-coordinate of first grid cell corner (1,1), thus not center of grid cell, in projected UTM zone.

units

m in projected UTM zone

default

0

min

0

max

Inf

rotation
description

Rotation of the grid in degrees from the x-axis (east) in anti-clockwise direction

units

degrees

default

0

min

0

max

359.999

advection
description

Setting for advection. Releases after Cauberg: 0 for no advection scheme (SFINCS-LIE), 1 for advection scheme on (default, SFINCS-SSWE). This replaces the old obsolete differentation between 1D part of advection (advection=1) and 2D part (advection=2).

units
default

1

min

0

max

1

advection_scheme
description

Advection scheme selection, new scheme is ‘upw1’, default. Original implementation from Leijnse et al. (2021) can be selected as ‘advection_scheme = original’ for backwards compatability. NOTE - from SFINCS 2024.01 release onwards.

units
default

upw1

min

upw1

max

original

advlim
description

Advection term limiter. Possibility to limit the advection term in the momentum equation for increased stability, default is large number.

units
default

9999.9

min

1.0

max

9999.9

alpha
description

CFL-condition reduction. Decrease for additional numerical stability, minimum value is 0.1 and maximum is 0.75.

units
default

0.5

min

0.1 (recommended)

max

0.75 (recommended)

friction2d
description

Option to select to include 2D component for determining friction term as well: friction2d - true, default. Original implementation from Leijnse et al. (2021) can be selected as ‘friction2d = false’ for backwards compatability. NOTE - from SFINCS 2024.01 release onwards.

units
default

true

min

false

max

true

huthresh
description

Minimum flow depth limiter.

units

m

default

0.05

min

0.001 (recommended)

max

0.1 (recommended)

theta
description

Smoothing factor in momentum equation. Default of 1.0 means no smoothing.

units
default

1.0

min

0.8

max

1.0

hmin_cfl
description

Minimum water depth to determine maximum timestep using CFL-conditions. Possibility to lower the maximum timestep for increased stability by putting a larger values than the deafult of 0.1 m (as was default before became user option).

units

m

default

0.1

min

0.0001

max

9999.9

baro
description

Turns on the atmospheric pressure term in the momentum equation (baro = 1, default). If set to 0, all pressure input from either ampfile, netampfile, spwfile or netspwfile is ignored.

units
default

1

min

0

max

1

viscosity
description

Turns on the viscosity term in the momentum equation (viscosity = 1), advised to combine with theta = 1.0.

units
default

1

min

0

max

1

nuviscdim
description

Depricated after Cauberg release of SFINCS.

units
nuvisc
description

Viscosity coefficient ‘per meter of grid cell length’, used if ‘viscosity=1’ and multiplied internally with the grid cell size (per quadtree level in quadtree mesh mode).

units
default

0.01

min

0.0

max

Inf

zsini
description

Initial water level.

units

m above reference level

default

0

min

-Inf

max

Inf

qinf
description

Infiltration rate, specify in +mm/hr.

units

mm/hr

default

0

min

0

max

100

qinf_zmin
description

Minimum elevation level above for what cells the spatially uniform, constant in time infiltration rate ‘qinf’ is added.

units

m above reference level

default

0

min

-100

max

100

manning
description

Uniform manning roughness, specify in s/m^(1/3).

units

s/m^(1/3)

default

0.04

min

0

max

0.1 (advised)

rgh_level_land
description

Elevation level to distinguish land and sea roughness (when using ‘manning_land’ and ‘manning_sea’).

units

m above reference level

default

0

min

-Inf

max

Inf

manning_land
description

Varying manning roughness based on elevation (above ‘rgh_level_land’, overules uniform ‘manning’, specify in s/m^(1/3).

units

s/m^(1/3)

default

-999 (=not used)

min

0

max

0.1 (advised)

manning_sea
description

Varying manning roughness based on elevation (below ‘rgh_level_land’, overules uniform ‘manning’, specify in s/m^(1/3).

units

s/m^(1/3)

default

-999 (=not used)

min

0

max

0.1 (advised)

More parameters for model input (only for advanced users)

bndtype
description

Boundary type for interpretation of ‘sfincs.bzs’ time-series. bndtype=1 is for water levels, old types 2&3 have been removed from SFINCS v2.0.2 onwards.

units
default

1

min

1

max

1

rhoa
description

Density of the air

units

kg/m3

default

1.25

min
max
rhow
description

Density of the water

units

kg/m3

default

1024

min
max
stopdepth
description

Water depth anywhere in the domain after which the simulation is classified as unstable and stopped

units

m

default

100

min

0

max

Inf

advlim
description

Advection limiter when advection>0 to limit the magnitude of the advection term when calculating fluxes between cells.

units
default

9999

min

0

max

9999

dtmax
description

Maximum internal time step to be used

units

s

default

60

min

1.0e-3

max

Inf

dtmin
description

Minimum internal time step to be used

units

s

default

1.0e-3

min

1.0e-3

max

Inf

tspinup
description

Duration of internal spinup period before tstart

units

s

default

60

min

0

max

Inf

Drag coefficients:

cdnrb
description

Number of specified break points

units
default

3

min

2

max
cdwnd
description

Wind speed break points (including 0)

units
default

0 28 50

min

2 values

max
cdval
description

Drag coefficient break points

units
default

0.001 0.0025 0.0015

min

2 values

max

Different parameters influencing the given output by SFINCS can be changed, see below.

Parameters for model output

tref
description

Reference date in ‘yyyymmdd HHMMSS’

units
default

20000101 000000

tstart
description

Start date in ‘yyyymmdd HHMMSS’

units
default

20000101 000000

tstop
description

Stop date in ‘yyyymmdd HHMMSS’

units

m

default

20000101 000000

trstout
description

Specific time in seconds since ‘tref’ for binary restart file output being written away, turned of by default.

units

s

default

-999.0

dtout
description

Time-step global map output.

units

s

default

0

dthisout
description

Time-step observation points output.

units

s

default

600

dtmaxout
description

Time-step interval of global map output of maximum water level. If not specified, the maximum over the entire simulation is calculated. If no output is wanted, specify ‘dtmaxout = 0’.

units

s

default

9999999

min

0

max

‘tstop - start in seconds’

dtrstout
description

Time-step for binary restart file output being written away, turned of by default.

units

s

default

0

dtwnd
description

Time-interval wind update (only for spiderweb)

units

s

default

1800

outputformat
description

Choice whether the SFINCS model output is given in binary ‘bin’, ascii ‘asc’ or netcdf files ‘net’ (default). In case of netcdf output, global output is given in ‘sfincs_map.nc’, point output in ‘sfincs_his.nc’ in case observation points are specified.

units
default

net

twet_threshold
description

Threshold value of water depth to count cell as flooded for keeping track of wet cells with storetwet = 1

units

m

default

0.01

storetwet
description

Flag to turn on writing away duration that a cell was wet during simulation (storetwet = 1)

units
default

0

storevel
description

Flag to turn on writing away velocities on ‘dtout’ interval during simulation (storevel = 1)

units
default

0

storevelmax
description

Flag to turn on writing away maximum velocities on ‘dtmaxout’ interval during simulation (storevelmax = 1)

units
default

0

storefluxmax
description

Flag to turn on writing away maximum flux on ‘dtmaxout’ interval during simulation (storefluxmax = 1)

units
default

0

storecumprcp
description

Flag to turn on writing away cumulative precipitation on ‘dtmaxout’ interval during simulation (storecumprcp = 1)

units
default

0

storehsubgrid
description

Flag to turn on writing away unaccurate water depth estimate for subgrid mode on ‘dtmaxout’ interval during simulation (storehsubgrid = 1)

units
default

0

storeqdrain
description

Flag to turn on writing away drainage discharge during simulation (storeqdrain = 1)

units
default

0

storezvolume
description

Flag to turn on writing away water volumes for the subgrid mode during simulation (storezvolume = 1)

units
default

0

storemeteo
description

Flag to turn on writing away meteo input data during simulation (storemeteo = 1)

units
default

0

storemaxwind
description

Flag to turn on writing away maximum wind speed during simulation (storemaxwind = 1)

units
default

0

debug
description

Flag to turn on writing away every timestep to output as debug mode (debug = 1)

units
default

0

Input files

SFINCS consists of many different input files, this overview gives a description, whether they are required or not, unit and format (bin = binary, asc = ascii and net = netcdf).

_images/SFINCS_documentation_figure1.png

Fig. 22 Overview of input file of SFINCS with indication whther they are required or not

Domain

sfincs.inp
description

General input file of SFINCS describing all model settings, the domain, forcing and structures.

required

yes

format

asc

depfile = sfincs.dep
description

Elevation (bathymetry and topography) at grid cell centres above a reference level.

units

m above reference level

required

yes in case of regular mode, no in case of subgrid mode

format

bin or asc

mskfile = sfincs.msk
description

This mask indicates for every cell whether it is an inactive cell (msk=0), active cell (msk=1), boundary cell (msk=2) or outflow boundary cell msk=3).

units
required

yes

format

bin or asc

indexfile = sfincs.ind
description

File describing the indices of active grid cells within the overall grid. Not used by SFINCS with ascii input.

units
required

Only if ‘inputformat = bin’

format

bin

mskfile = sfincs.msk
description

This mask indicates for every cell whether it is an inactive cell (msk=0), active cell (msk=1), water level boundary cell (msk=2) or outflow boundary cell msk=3).

units
required

yes

format

bin or asc

manningfile = sfincs.man
description

For spatially varying friction values per cell use the manningfile option, with the same grid based input as the depfile using a binary file. Not used by SFINCS in subgrid mode.

units

s/m^(1/3)

required

no in case of regular mode, ignored in case of subgrid mode

format

bin

qinffile = sfincs.qinf
description

For spatially varying constant in time infiltration values per cell use the qinffile option, with the same grid based input as the depfile using a binary file.

units

mm/hr

required

no

format

bin

scsfile = sfincs.scs
description

For spatially varying infiltration values per cell using the Curve Number method A (without recovery) use the scsfile option, with the same grid based input as the depfile using a binary file.

units
required

no

format

bin

smaxfile = sfincs.smax
description

For spatially varying infiltration values per cell using the Curve Number method B (with recovery) provide the smaxfile (as well as the sefffile and ksfile) as maximum soil moisture storage capacity in m, with the same grid based input as the depfile using a binary file.

units

m

required

no

format

bin

sefffile = sfincs.seff
description

For spatially varying infiltration values per cell using the Curve Number method B (with recovery) provide the sefffile (as well as the smaxfile and ksfile) as soil moisture storage capacity at the start in m, with the same grid based input as the depfile using a binary file.

units

m

required

no

format

bin

ksfile = sfincs.ks
description

For spatially varying infiltration values per cell using the Curve Number method B (with recovery) provide the ksfile (as well as the smaxfile and sefffile) as saturated hydraulic conductivity in mm/hr, with the same grid based input as the depfile using a binary file.

description

For spatially varying infiltration values per cell using the Green & Ampt method (with recovery) provide the ksfile (as well as the sigmafile and psifile) as saturated hydraulic conductivity in mm/hr, with the same grid based input as the depfile using a binary file.

units

mm/hr

required

no

format

bin

sigmafile = sfincs.sigma
description

For spatially varying infiltration values per cell using the Green & Ampt method (with recovery) provide the sigmafile (as well as the psifile and ksfile) as suction head at the wetting front in mm, with the same grid based input as the depfile using a binary file.

units

mm

required

no

format

bin

psifile = sfincs.psi
description

For spatially varying infiltration values per cell using the Green & Ampt method (with recovery) provide the psifile (as well as the sigmafile and ksfile) as soil moisture deficit in [-], with the same grid based input as the depfile using a binary file.

units
required

no

format

bin

f0file = sfincs.f0
description

For spatially varying infiltration values per cell using the Horton method (with recovery) provide the f0file (as well as the fcfile and kdfile) as maximum (Initial) Infiltration Capacity in mm/hr, with the same grid based input as the depfile using a binary file.

units

mm/hr

required

no

format

bin

fcfile = sfincs.fc
description

For spatially varying infiltration values per cell using the Horton method (with recovery) provide the fcfile (as well as the f0file and kdfile) as Minimum (Asymptotic) Infiltration Rate in mm/hr, with the same grid based input as the depfile using a binary file.

units

mm/hr

required

no

format

bin

kdfile = sfincs.kd
description

For spatially varying infiltration values per cell using the Horton method (with recovery) provide the kdfile (as well as the f0file and fcfile) as empirical constant (hr-1) of decay, with the same grid based input as the depfile using a binary file.

units

hr-1

required

no

format

bin

sbgfile = sfincs.sbg
description

File containing subgrid tables, only needed by SFINCS if you want to run your model in the subgrid mode. Recommended netcdf file input option available from SFINCS 2024.01 release onwards as in Van Ormondt et al. 2024, binary file option still possible for backwards compatability.

units
required

Only for running SFINCS in subgrid mode

format

new is netcdf, old is binary

obsfile = sfincs.obs
description

To get output time-series at individual point locations, observations points have to be specified.

units

m in projected UTM zone

required

no (only if point output is wanted)

format

asc

crsfile = sfincs.crs
description

To get output time-series of discharge through a cross-section, cross_sections have to be specified.

units

m in projected UTM zone

required

no (only if cross-section output is wanted)

format

tekal

inifile = sfincs.ini
description

For spatially varying initial water level per cell, with the same grid based input as the depfile using a binary file. In older version this was an ascii file still, not from official release v2.0.0 onwards!

units

m above reference level

required

no

format

bin

rstfile = sfincs.rst
description

More advanced restartfile that can also contain fluxes and velocities. As produced by SFINCS if dtrstout > 0 OR trstout > 0. Type of restart - 1: zs, qx, qy, umean and vmean - 2: zs, qx, qy - 3: zs

units
required

no

format

bin

Forcing - Water levels and waves

bndfile = sfincs.bnd
description

To specify water-level time-series to the boundary cells (msk=2), first the input locations have to be specified in ‘sfincs.bnd’.

units

m in projected UTM zone

required

Only when specifying water levels and waves.

format

asc

bzsfile = sfincs.bzs
description

In the file ‘sfincs.bzs’ the (slowly varying) water level time-series are specified per input location.

units

m above reference level

required

Only when specifying water levels.

format

asc

bzifile = sfincs.bzi
description

Tn the file ‘sfincs.bzi’ the quickly varying water level time-series due to incoming waves are specified per input location. Do note that the input timestep should be the same in both the bzs and bzi files!

units

m around mean water level of bzsfile

required

Only when specifying waves.

format

asc

netbndbzsbzifile = sfincs_netbndbzsbzifile.nc
description

To specify all bnd, bzs (and bzi) input in 1 FEWS compatible netcdf input file. Specify either the netcdf version or ascii, not both.

units

m in projected UTM zone, m above reference level & m around mean water level of bzsfile

required

Only when specifying water levels and waves using netcdf input file.

format

net

Forcing - Discharges

srcfile = sfincs.src
description

To specify discharge points, first the input locations have to be specified in ‘sfincs.src’.

units

m in projected UTM zone

required

Only when specifying discharges.

format

asc

disfile = sfincs.dis
description

In the file ‘sfincs.dis’ the discharge time-series are specified per input location.

units

m^3/s

required

Only when specifying discharges.

format

asc

netsrcdisfile = sfincs_netsrcdisfile.nc
description

To specify all src & dis input in 1 FEWS compatible netcdf input file. Specify either the netcdf version or ascii, not both.

units

m in projected UTM zone, discharge in m3/s

required

Only when specifying discharges.

format

net

Forcing - Meteo

spwfile = sfincs.spw
description

Spiderweb file including wind speed, direction, pressure (and possibly rainfall).

units

coordinates: m in projected UTM zone, data: m/s, wind_from_direction in degrees, p_drop in Pa (and precipitation in mm/hr).

required

no

format

asc

netspwfile = spiderweb.nc
description

Spiderweb file including wind speed, direction, pressure (and possibly rainfall).

units

coordinates: m in projected UTM zone, data: m/s, wind_from_direction in degrees, p_drop in Pa (and precipitation in mm/hr).

required

no

format

netcdf

amufile = sfincs.amu
description

Delft3D-meteo ascii type input of wind speed in x-direction.

units

coordinates: m in projected UTM zone, data: m/s

required

no

format

asc

amvfile = sfincs.amv
description

Delft3D-meteo ascii type input of wind speed in y-direction.

units

coordinates: m in projected UTM zone, data: m/s

required

no

format

asc

ampfile = sfincs.amp
description

Delft3D-meteo ascii type input of atmospheric pressure.

units

coordinates: m in projected UTM zone, data: Pa

required

no

format

asc

amprfile = sfincs.ampr
description

Delft3D-meteo ascii type input of precipitation intensity.

units

coordinates: m in projected UTM zone, data: mm/hr

required

no

format

asc

wndfile = sfincs.wnd
description

Spatially uniform wind

units

wind speed in m/s, wind direction in nautical from where the wind is coming

required

no

format

asc

precipfile = sfincs.prcp
description

Spatially uniform precipitation

units

mm/hr

required

no

format

asc

netamuamvfile = sfincs_netamuamvfile.nc
description

FEWS type netcdf meteo input with wind speed in both x-&y-direction in m/s.

units

coordinates: m in projected UTM zone, data: m/s

required

no

format

net

netampfile = sfincs_netampfile.nc
description

FEWS type netcdf meteo input with atmospheric pressure in Pa.

units

coordinates: m in projected UTM zone, data: Pa

required

no

format

net

netamprfile = sfincs_netamprfile.nc
description

FEWS type netcdf meteo input with precipitation in mm/hr.

units

coordinates: m in projected UTM zone, data: mm/hr

required

no

format

net

Structures

thdfile = sfincs.thd
description

With a thin dam flow through certain grid cells is completely blocked (i.e. an infinitely high wall).

units

coordinates: m in projected UTM zone.

required

no

format

asc

weirfile = sfincs.weir
description

Weirs are in principle the same as a thin dam, but then with a certain height (levee).

units

coordinates: m in projected UTM zone, elevation in m above reference level, weir formula coefficient in [-]

required

no

format

asc

drnfile = sfincs.drn
description

Drainage pumps and culverts are both specified using the same format file, put with a different indication of the type (type=1 is drainage pump, type=2 is culvert).

units

coordinates: m in projected UTM zone, discharges in m^3/s.

required

no

format

asc