Landlab: A modular Earth Surface Dynamics modeling library

Landlab is an open-source Python-language package for numerical modeling of Earth surface dynamics. It contains

• A gridding engine which represents the model domain. Regular and irregular grids are supported.

• A library of process components, each of which represents a physical process (e.g., generation of rain, erosion by flowing water). These components have a common interface and can be combined based on a user’s needs.

• Utilities that support general numerical methods, file input/output, and visualization.

In addition Landlab contains a set of Jupyter notebook tutorials providing an introduction to core concepts and examples of use.

Landlab was designed for disciplines that quantify Earth surface dynamics such as geomorphology, hydrology, glaciology, and stratigraphy. It can also be used in related fields. Scientists who use this type of model often build their own unique model from the ground up, re-coding the basic building blocks of their landscape model rather than taking advantage of codes that have already been written. Landlab saves practitioners from the need for this kind of re-invention by providing standardized components that they can re-use.

Watch the webinar Landlab Toolkit Overview at CSDMS to learn more.