Gridded Surface Subsurface Hydrologic Analysis

Welcome to the GSSHA™ Wiki!

The GSSHA™ Wiki is the best source for up to date information on the GSSHA™ model. In the last few years many new features have been added to the GSSHA™ model. Many of these features were developed or released after the publication of the primer and manual. One of the main purposes of the GSSHA™ Wiki is to keep the documentation up to date with the model development.

If you are an experienced GSSHA™ user you may still find some model features missing from the site. Currently we are on release version 7.15. Earlier versions of the model are also no longer supported and are thus not recommended. Version 7.15 is fully supported by WMS 11.2. WMS versions 10.1 and higher are recommended for use with this version.

As many users may be aware, support of features in WMS typically lags behind development of GSSHA™. This is necessary in that we must settle on final GSSHA™ inputs and outputs before we ask them to be added to WMS. While we strongly encourage GSSHA™ users to use WMS for pre and post processing, users should be aware that many GSSHA™ models, especially GSSHA™ models with advanced features, must be at least partially developed outside of WMS. In addition to WMS, we have developed several utilities to assist in the development of GSSHA™ inputs. These utilities are linked to this site as well. The documents provided here describe the actual inputs to the GSSHA™ model and should be consulted when there are questions about inputs, whether developed from WMS or by other means. When in doubt, refer to Users Manual section on this wiki, which contains the most up to date information on model inputs.

GSSHA™ is developed and maintained by the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Hydrologic Systems Branch, in the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, see:

http://chl.erdc.usace.army.mil/gssha

If you are not familiar with GSSHA™ see the overview tab on the top left hand side of your screen to get a feel for what GSSHA™ is and what applications it might be appropriate for.

A one page information sheet is available here * GSSHA™ Information Sheet.

The GSSHA storyboard can be found here: * GSSHA storyboard

For more information about the GSSHA™ model, it's formulation, and it's applicability, contact me at charles.w.downer@usace.army.mil.

For more information about WMS and using WMS to construct a GSSHA™ model and visualize results, contact Aquaveo at:*http://www.aquaveo.com/wms-learning.

As of the year 2013, GSSHA has been approved by FEMA for hydrologic modeling, and has been added to the list of approved models on the FEMA site *http://www.fema.gov/national-flood-insurance-program-flood-hazard-mapping/hydrologic-models-meeting-minimum-requirement#1.

GSSHA DLL and BMI Support

News on GSSHA version 8.0: We are finalizing the verification of the new code before we publish the new release version. One of the exciting new features of version 8.0 is that the code has been refactored into a library that allows programmatic access to the gssha simulation processes. Further, we have worked to include Basic Model Interface (BMI) support so that it can be a part of BMI-based modeling frameworks, such as NOAA's NextGen system. If you are interested in helping us test these new features, please contact me at Aaron.R.Byrd2@usace.army.mil. These new simulation interaction features will be experimentally released in 8.0 while we test and document them.

-Aaron

1 Welcome to the GSSHA™ Wiki!
2 GSSHA DLL and BMI Support
3 GSSHA™ FEMA Certification
4 GSSHA™ Training Course Information
5 GSSHA™ Software Primer
6 GSSHA™ User's Manual
7 GSSHA™ Tutorials
8 GSSHA™ Video Tutorials
9 Utility Programs
10 Obtaining Data
11 GSSHA™ Bibliography
12 Test Cases
13 Wiki Editing Guidelines
14 GSSHA™ Download
15 Disclaimer

GSSHA™ FEMA Certification

GSSHA™ is now FEMA certified for National Flood Insurance Program studies! For more information see the FEMA NFIP Currently Accepted National Hydrologic Models

GSSHA™ Training Course Information

GSSHA™ Training courses are occasionally offered through the USACE and through Aquaveo. These courses are very interesting and fun and are normally offered once a year. Course attendees leave these courses with the information they need to build any type of GSSHA™ model that fits their needs and with a comprehensive understanding of the GSSHA™ model. The next training course will be offered in September 2024. It will cover how to use GSSHA to model cold regions hydrology. Click here for updated information about the next GSSHA™ training course.

GSSHA™ Software Primer

This document is a primer for use of the Watershed Modeling System (WMS) interface with the physically based, distributed-parameter hydrologic model Gridded Surface Subsurface Hydrologic Analysis (GSSHA™). The primary purpose of this primer is to describe how the WMS interface is used to develop inputs and analyze output from the GSSHA™ model. This primer also provides a brief description of the GSSHA™ model, including the overall model formulation, processes that can be simulated, and input formats for files not supported by WMS.

GSSHA™ User's Manual

This document is the detailed user manual for GSSHA™. The last printed version is available here: *GSSHA Manual. Be aware the the printed version has not been updated since 2006 and that many features in the model have changed. Updates to the Manual are done on the wiki, which has the latest information on GSSHA™ features and file formats.

GSSHA™ Tutorials

Note: GSSHA currently supports file names (including path and file name) with lengths less than or equal to 128 characters. If GSSHA tutorial files are placed in a directory with a path that causes the combined path and file name to exceed 128 characters, then GSSHA will not run.

Download the latest GSSHA™ tutorials and data files here

GSSHA™ Park City June 2008 training tutorials and data files (ZIP file, 65.4 MB)

Download the latest version of WMS, the Time Series Editor (for use with GSSHA), and related files here (this includes the GSSHA installation)

Download tutorials and videos describing how to use WMS here