GEOtop 2.0 (http://abouthydrology.blogspot.it/search/label/GEOtop%202.0) is a successful process-based model of the hydrological cycle. It integrates both the water and energy budget and it is supplied by the MeteoIO library for meteo data interpolations. GEOtop has a development history of more than fifteen years (http://abouthydrology.blogspot.it/2015/02/geotop-essentials.html). It can be used, and has been used, for soil moisture forecasting, eco-hydrology simulations, snow pack evolution forecasting, permafrost modelling, landslide triggering assessment. Its code is a mature C++ implementation of solid algorithms and physics. However it is conceived as a monolithic structure, in which improvements can be made with difficulty and after overcoming a huge learning curve. At the same time, the user experience is far by being optimal, and must be structurally improved.
Therefore, during the same evolution of the model, it was envisioned to migrate it towards a more flexible informatics where improvements, maintenance and documentation could be pursued more easily. This refactoring of the code, is not a trivial operation, and would require to understand the present structure of GEOtop, and advanced concepts of software engineering. The first step would be obtaining a temporary implementation according to the guideline sketched in: http://abouthydrology.blogspot.it/2014/09/improve-geotop-informatics.html.
Subsequently a tied integration of the main modules/classes should be pursued inside the Object Modeling System Infrastructure (http://abouthydrology.blogspot.it/2013/10/the-summer-school-on-object-modelling.html), as suggested in http://abouthydrology.blogspot.it/2011/03/going-beyond-present-stato-of-art-in.html. This would immediately open the road to use the intrinsic parallelism of OMS components, with a better treatment of river basins genmetry and topology, and the integration of the various tools developed within the JGrass-NewAGE system with GEOtop own capabilities: but it will be a byproduct of the work, not the main objective of this Ph.D.
The main work in fact will be in implementing classes for the use of unstructured meshes, for the implementation of algorithms for solving partial differential equations in a matrix free formalism, and for a parallelisation of internal algorithms of GEOtop, by using standard matrix packages or enhancing them, either in Java or C++. The focus will be in the efficiency of the implementations inside standard-main stream techniques, in supporting literate programming, and discovering appropriate design patterns in programming this science, more than on hydrology itself.
Integration of some of the OpenDA (http://www.openda.org/joomla/index.php) classes in OMS and their prototypical use could also part of the Ph.D. work.
Obviously, the candidate must have programming skills in Java and C++, or the willing to pursue them having outstanding knowledge of hydrological physical processes. All the code developed is intended to be free software, and must be produced with appropriate documentation, being the reflection about research reproducibility and replicability and the productions of tools for it being effective, part itself of the main work.
Who is interested can write to me. Who would like to finance such a research or know programs that can support it are also welcomed.
Who is interested can write to me. Who would like to finance such a research or know programs that can support it are also welcomed.