Motivation

The current simulation models are difficult to maintain and integrate. New developments in technology and methodology, such as object-orientation, distributed processing, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), visualization techniques, graphical user interfaces (GUI), electronic information sharing through the Internet, and increases in storage and processing power, warrant the efforts to develop a comprehensive hydrologic regional simulation model. In so doing, integration of other District and external models will be investigated to eliminate duplication of effort, increase usability and usage, and make results more consistent and accurate.

Attainment of the above goals hinges on a good understanding of the model requirements and its potential impact on the District's work environment. This requires that the model developers have clear, precise and insightful organizations of major modeling concepts that can help them understand relationships, and identify commonalities and variations in the development and use of models across organizational units.

The domain being studied in this report is the hydrology and water management of South Florida. Domain analysis is an activity concerned with consolidating and organizing concepts in a domain of interest. The primary goal of domain analysis is to provide an organized source of domain-specific information that represents the best, currently available knowledge about the domain. Such knowledge can be used to gain an understanding of a domain in terms of relationships that hold among major concepts and in terms of concepts that vary and that are common in domain artifacts (e.g. the South Florida Water Management Model (SFWMM), the Natural System Model (NSM), the United States Geological Survey (USGS) MODFLOW Model, the Agricultural Scale Field Irrigation Requirements Simulation Model (AFSIRS)). Such insights provide information needed to plan for changes. In particular, commonalities and variations can be exploited in a manner that minimizes redundant effort and maximizes reuse of concepts across organizational units. The primary product of domain analysis is a domain model.

The purpose of this report is to provide a domain analysis model describing the processes, terminology, interactions in the current models that will be incorporated in the new South Florida Regional Simulation Model (SFRSM). The intended audience are both newcomers to the South Florida water management domain and the domain experts that will be examining the methodologies used in calculating the ecological processes. Many of the contractors are experts in water management but may not be familiar with the issues and ecosystems pertinent to South Florida. The programmers implementing the design may not be familiar with the domain. Experts from the District may find ways to improve the consistency and accuracy of the model by examining this new organization of the information. The information in this document was gathered from published guidelines, memorandums, oral presentations, informal handouts, and the programming code for some of the simulations. The large number of acronyms and the organization of the existing documentation by geographic areas made it difficult to see the "big picture" and the high-level interrelationships of the processes. This document contains a glossary of acronyms commonly used in the District and avoids using acronyms in the figures and descriptions. The document also defines the ecological processes simulated or used as input by the South Florida Water Management Model and the Natural System Model, and organizes the information by process instead of by area, so the different methods of determining evapotranspiration, for instance, are grouped together. It is important to recognize that this is an evolutionary document that will be updated and enhanced through the different phases of this project.

Section three briefly reviews the District's classification of the South Florida Region areas and their interrelationships. Section four summarizes the major District models of the South Florida Region. Section five is the detailed domain model. Section six contains a Data Dictionary of the major input and output parameters and process variables. Section seven gives a glossary of acronyms.

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