Previous users manuals provided for MS-DOS version of SOIL are only valid to some minor extent and consequently they are not recommended to be used in connection with the windows version of the model.
A number of tutorials are available at the help menu as separate html-based files. These files can also be found on the CoupModel home page as printable versions. The different tutorials are of different user levels. Therefore it is recommended that you do them in the following order:
• Simple run
using limited of input data
Starting with this one will give you a thorough
introduction in how to make an easy simulation and how you analyse your
results.
•
Infiltration and soil hydraulic properties
tutorial
This simulation is a simulation of a one-meter deep soil profile
without vegetation. The tutorial will teach you the general structure of the
soil water processes and how you can use the soil database. It also gives a
thorough description on how you can interpret and plot results.
• Energy
balance tutorial
Continuing with this simulation will now introduce to you
the concepts of surface energy balance and the connection to soil evaporation.
Again the simulated system is a bare sandy soil. The “Ebal” tutorial also
includes instructions on how to make validations with existing data.
•
Evapotranspiration tutorial
This tutorial is a simulation of several systems
with different types of vegetation. The aim with this tutorial is to show how
different vegetation types affect the water balance.
• Snow piste
tutorial
The aim of the snow tutorial is to give the user a glimpse of the
processes concerning snow and frost. If your simulation will not include cold
regions with frost and snow you can safely skip this tutorial and continue to
the next one.
• Nitrogen and
Carbon tutorial
This tutorial gives you an introduction to the biotic part of
the CoupModel, i.e. the fluxes of carbon and nitrogen. The tutorial shows you
for example plant development and nitrogen leaching from the soil. This section
is perhaps not so interesting if the biomass and the fluxes of carbon and
nitrogen will not be studied in your own simulations.
•
Growth
Coupling the biotic and the abiotic parts of the CoupModel enables
simulation of growth. This tutorial introduces the concepts of growth and the
link between the plant and its physical environment.
See the CoupModel home page for more news on documentation; http://www.lwr.kth.se/vara%20datorprogram/CoupModel/index.htm