Running an EPIC Experiment

1. Create new workspace

geo_epic workspace new -n Test
cd Test

This creates a workspace directory with the packaged template structure, including model, management, site, soil, weather, and configuration locations.

2. Edit config file as needed

GeoEPIC is mainly designed for study regions in the USA. In config.yml, update the experiment name, region code, input directories, and run information paths for your area of interest.

EXPName: Nitrogen Assessment
Region: Maryland
code: MD
Fields_of_Interest: ./CropRotations/MDRotFilt.shp
run_info: ./info.csv

soil:
  ssurgo_gdb: ./soil/gSSURGO_MD.gdb
  soil_map: /path/to/SSURGO.tif
  files_dir: ./soil/files

site:
  dir: ./sites
  elevation: /path/to/SRTM_1km_US_project.tif
  slope: /path/to/slope_us.tif
  slope_length: ./soil/MD_slopelen.csv

Known limitation: the packaged template currently uses Area_of_Interest, while workspace prepare expects Fields_of_Interest. If you use workspace prepare, add or rename the key to Fields_of_Interest until the package code is updated.

3. Prepare OPC File

OPC files contain agricultural management operations. Place management files in the workspace OPC directory configured by opc_dir.

4. Prepare the workspace

geo_epic workspace prepare -c config.yml

This command prepares input files before simulation.

Validate the workspace before running a large batch:

geo_epic workspace validate -c config.yml

5. Execute simulations

geo_epic workspace run -c config.yml

The command runs EPIC for configured sites and writes enabled output files to output_dir.

Example Visualization

6. Post-process the output visualization

Post-processing and visualization depend on functions referenced in config.yml.

For post-processing

geo_epic workspace post_process -c config.yml

For visualization

geo_epic workspace visualize -c config.yml

Your plot will look like this: