A decade of RAPID—Reflections on the development of an open source geoscience code

Abstract

Earth science increasingly relies on computer-based methods and many government agencies now require further sharing of the digital products they helped fund. Earth scientists, while often supportive of more transparency in the methods they develop, are concerned by this recent requirement and puzzled by its multiple implications. This paper therefore presents a reflection on the numerous aspects of sharing code and data in the general field of computer modeling of dynamic Earth processes. Our reflection is based on 10 years of development of an open source model called the Routing Application for Parallel Computation of Discharge (RAPID) that simulates the propagation of water flow waves in river networks. Three consecutive but distinct phases of the sharing process are highlighted here: opening, exposing, and consolidating. Each one of these phases is presented as an independent and tractable increment aligned with the various stages of code development and justified based on the size of the users community. Several aspects of digital scholarship are presented here including licenses, documentation, websites, citable code and data repositories, and testing. While the many existing services facilitate the sharing of digital research products, digital scholarship also raises community challenges related to technical training, self-perceived inadequacy, community contribution, acknowledgment and performance assessment, and sustainable sharing.

An introduction to the special issue on Geoscience Papers of the Future

“…Each of the aforementioned studies follows the GPF guidelines and discusses the benefits and challenges associated with the publication of a GPF. All papers consistently emphasize the added burden associated with openly sharing data, software, and methods [ David et al ., ; Essawy et al ., ; Fulweiler et al ., ; Pope , ; Yu et al ., ]. Documenting and sharing data is a particular challenge when files are large and diverse [ Essawy et al ., ] and/or unearthed from old studies [ Fulweiler et al ., ; Pope , ].…”

“…In a research article, David et al . [] reflect on their 10 year experience with open development (software and data) of a numerical river model. In a technical report, Pope [] extends one of his previous papers on supraglacial lakes into a GPF by fully exposing all digital products.…”

“…Documenting and sharing data is a particular challenge when files are large and diverse [Essawy et al, 2016] and/or unearthed from old studies [Fulweiler et al, 2016;Pope, 2016]. Challenges associated with documenting and sharing software and methods are especially acute for data-intensive analyses [Essawy et al, 2016], further stressed when performed a posteriori of paper publication [Pope, 2016], and sometimes rise from the self-perceived inferiority of geoscientists' computer skills [David et al, 2016]. Additionally, openly sharing digital products highlights that the issue of licensing is complex and has to be addressed early and openly with coauthors [David et al, 2016;Pope, 2016].…”

“…Yet all papers unanimously highlight the benefits of transparency for reproducibility. The open availability of digital products and the automation of the methods enable the verification and/or update of researchers' own results [David et al, 2016;Fulweiler et al, 2016] and also allow for reproducibility by others during peer review or for research purposes [David et al, 2016;Yu et al, 2016]. Additionally, open data sharing motivates detailed data curation and guarantees safer data storage [David et al, 2016;Fulweiler et al, 2016;Yu et al, 2016].…”

Using Free/Libre and Open Source Software in the Geological Sciences

“…Barnes 2010;Lees 2012;Easterbrook 2014;David et al 2016;Gil et al, 2016). Nevertheless, an enormous amount of free software exist for geoscientific research or for geotechnical engineering offices.…”