July 10, 2025

Developing a regional groundwater model for a mine project with MODFLOW6 and mf6Voronoi - Tutorial

July 10, 2025/ Saul Montoya

Sometimes regional models are required as an input for local models of flow and transport. This is an applied case of the groundwater modeling on the regional scale in the state of Guerrero, Mexico that will be the input for future local models of pit dewatering, and contaminant transport from the tailings dam and waste dump. The groundwater model is built with MODFLOW6 and mf6Voronoi on a series of Jupyter Notebooks and results are plotted with Paraview.

June 24, 2025

Implementation of Faults and Zone Budgets on a Open Pit MODFLOW 6 Voronoi Model - Tutorial

June 24, 2025/ Saul Montoya

The interaction of faults with the groundwater flow regimen on an open pit is a challenge on the conceptualization and simulation. Having smaller cells on the faults alignment with higher K can represent the general behaviour of faults and this is possible to simulate with MODFLOW 6 Voronoi models with Flopy and mf6Voronoi package. We have created a tutorial that implements faults on the area of influence from an open pit and defines zone budgets for the pit and drainage network.

June 11, 2025

Geospatial Crop Recognition from Drone Orthophotos with Python and HatariTools - Tutorial

June 11, 2025/ Saul Montoya

Spatial analysis and machine learning sometimes require massive coding in order to achieve decent results such as identifying plants from a drone orthophoto. We wanted to create a simple workflow for beginner and intermediate Python users to work with these libraries without much pain or frustration. This tutorial has the complete procedure to use a new Python package called hatariTools that recognizes plants from an orthophoto based on sample points and creates intermediate plots and identifies plants as point shapefiles.

May 23, 2025

Create 3D objects (Vtks) from a groundwater model in Model Muse with mf6Voronoi - Tutorial

May 23, 2025/ Saul Montoya

Model Muse is an awesome tool for groundwater model construction and output visualization, however its graphical capabilities are quite limited. Since we are always on the search of bringing groundwater model ‘close’ to the stakeholder, normal audience and coming generations, there is a special interest in providing complementary tools for the normal workflow with Model Muse and Modflow6 that allows the normal user to create awesome 3D objects representing:

May 16, 2025

Simulation of open pit inflows using MODFLOW 6 and mv6Voronoi - Tutorial

May 16, 2025/ Saul Montoya

This applied case presents a step-by-step methodology to simulate groundwater inflow into an open pit using MODFLOW 6—the groundwater flow modeling engine developed by the USGS—in combination with mv6Voronoi, a tool that generates Voronoi meshes.

May 14, 2025

Paraview and mf6Voronoi for Modflow 6 model 3D visualization - Tutorial

May 14, 2025/ Saul Montoya

Because an image is worth a thousand words, and 3D visualization is key for explaining, sharing, and analyzing groundwater model parameters, boundaries and results. The Python package mf6Voronoi offers a structured workflow to generate 3D spatial files on VTK format for the representation of the model parameters, water table, head distribution and others that can be plotted on Paraview. This is an applied case of 3D representation for a andean basin groundwater flow model where we are going to explore the relevant tools and options of mf6Voronoi and Paraview.

April 30, 2025

How to install Rust in Windows under WSL - Tutorial

April 30, 2025/ Saul Montoya

In this tutorial, we'll walk you through step-by-step how to install Rust inside your WSL environment. Whether you're completely new to WSL, or just want a clean Rust setup, this guide will have you up and running in no time. We'll cover installing WSL, setting up your Linux (Ubuntu) distribution, and installing Rust.

April 24, 2025

MODFLOW 6 Syntax plugin for Visual Studio Code - Tutorial

April 24, 2025/ Saul Montoya

There is a plugin for Visual Studio Code that improves MODFLOW 6 model readability. The installation process is quite easy and works for any model without any additional setting or command. This is an applied case of the plugin installation and exploration of a MODFLOW 6 model for a andean basin.

April 21, 2025

Underground mine inflow modeling with MODFLOW6, Flopy and Mf6Voronoi - Tutorial

April 21, 2025/ Saul Montoya

An applied example of modeling the development of underground mine works with time based on a Voronoi mesh MOFLOW 6 model. The case consists of 5 mine levels developed over 5 years that cross the underground water body at determined lengths. The numerical model is developed with Python, Flopy and Mf6Voronoi for spatial discretization, implementation of the boundary conditions based on geospatial data, model build/simulation and 3d representation on Paraview.

March 20, 2025

Accelerate MF6 Disv model creation using mf6Voronoi templates - Tutorial

March 20, 2025/ Saul Montoya

You can work faster and have more time to analyze model results if the process of model creation takes less time. The design of the mf6Voronoi package is oriented to create an improved user experience by optimizing the options of mesh creation and by the implementation of Python script templates for meshing, model construction, and others. This is an applied case of groundwater modeling on a regional scale with Voronoi mesh built on MF6 Disv. The template can be easily customizable to other boundary conditions and will be the basis of coming tutorials and webinars.

March 12, 2025

Watershed and River Network Delineation from ESA GLO-30 elevations and Hatari Utils - Tutorial

March 12, 2025/ Saul Montoya

There is a new dataset from the European Space Agency (ESA) called Copernicous DEM (GLO-30) that has global coverage with raster resolution of 30m available to download from the Copernicous Dataspace. We have prepared an applied case to access this dataset, download and clip for an area of study and process it into Hatari Utils that provides the watershed and river network delineation on spatial format. The example also covers the options to determine the accumulation area and explore other outputs from the platform.

February 13, 2025

Regional groundwater flow modeling with Voronoi mesh on MODFLOW6 DISV and Flopy - Tutorial

February 13, 2025/ Saul Montoya

This example develops a groundwater model in MODFLOW6 DISV that implements a Voronoi mesh generated from the basin boundary and river network with the mf6Voronoi packages that allow high performance meshing fully coupled with geospatial data. On the Voronoi mesh, the refinement levels are defined by a minimum cell size, maximum cell size and a multiplier. The applied case covers all steps on model discretization, construction, simulation and 2D visualization.

February 04, 2025

Basic example of groundwater modeling with MODFLOW6 and Flopy in Google Colab - Tutorial

February 04, 2025/ Saul Montoya

Basic example of MODFLOW 6 groundwater flow modeling with Flopy. The model is multilayered and runs on transient conditions with the recharge, well and river boundary conditions implemented. The example also load model results and create head distributions with flow direction plots with Matplotlib.

The example runs entirely on the Google Colab platform with the use of a Github repository with the MODFLOW 6 executables. This workflow is intended to give a complete online experience of groundwater modeling without any particular computer/software requirement.

January 24, 2025

Topobathymetric elevation generation for flood modeling with geospatial Python

January 24, 2025/ Saul Montoya

Elevation maps that represent surface and river bathymetry are an essential input for flood modeling in software like HEC-RAS. Even with the latest version of high profile open source GIS software as QGIS the combination of a surface elevation map and a river bottom elevation map is a challenge that requires many turnaround, conversion and manual labour. We have developed a useful script that works with surface and river bottom elevation in a "smart" way and creates a geospatial raster with the topobathymetric elevation by the use of geospatial Python libraries as Shapely and Rasterio. The script also includes some key steps to identify the river body and treat the missing values on the bathymetry map.

January 15, 2025

Introducing mf6Voronoi: A Python package for generating MODFLOW6 DISV Voronoi meshes

January 15, 2025/ Saul Montoya

Groundwater modeling with several boundary conditions and complex hydrogeological setups require advanced tools for mesh discretizacion that ensures adequate refinement in the zone of interest while preserving a minimal cell account. Type of mesh has to be engineered in a way to preserve computational resources and represent adequately the groundwater flow regime.

December 03, 2024

Modeling Hydrogeological Units from Raster Data with Aquifer App and Gempy - Tutorial

December 03, 2024/ Saul Montoya

Construction of complex and high performance groundwater modes requires an appropriate distribution of the hydrogeological units with depth. We have developed an applied case of 3D modeling of hydrogeological units from data provided as raster (*.tiff) files. The webinar all steps from orientation and elevation sampling from raster data, the conceptualization and setup of the Gempy model in Aquifer App and finally the postprocessing of the 3D lithology based on the surface elevation. The input data comes from the USGS research on the aquifer Systems in the Williston and Powder River Structural Basins, United States and Canada.

November 28, 2024

How to create a MODFLOW 6 model from geospatial data with Python and Flopy - Tutorial

November 28, 2024/ Saul Montoya

We have developed an applied case of groundwater model discretized from ESRI Shapefiles with refinement areas. Boundary conditions are also set up from spatial data with the intersect functionality of Flopy. Model surface and layer bottom are imported / processed from xyz point data. The simulation is run for one steady and ten transient stress periods and results are plotted for head on aerial view and cross section.

November 04, 2024

Modeling Variable Viscosity Groundwater Flow with MODFLOW 6 and Model Muse - Tutorial

November 04, 2024/ Saul Montoya

In order to improve the accuracy of a groundwater flow simulation we need a strong conceptual model, a high quality observation dataset and a numerical code that can handle specific characteristics of the groundwater flow we want to evaluate. MODFLOW 6 can deal with variable density flow with the BUY package and also with variable viscosity with the VSC package that is implemented on the latest versions of Model Muse. This tutorial covers an applied case of variable viscosity modeling due to the injection of salinity and heat to a model with regional groundwater flow. The main features for the implementation of the VSC package are explained and the resulting concentrations on two observation points are evaluated with Flopy codes.

October 09, 2024

Tutorial in Groundwater Modeling of Faults and Fractures with Modflow6 - Disv on Model Muse

October 09, 2024/ Saul Montoya

With Model Muse and MODFLOW6 DISV you can model faults and fractures having small cells close to the fracture alignment. In order to achieve small cell sizes close to the fracture aligment the normal MODFLO6 discretization schema (columns and rows) creates a series of unused/unwanted cells, but MODFLOW6 came with two new discretization options that allow us to have local refinements close to areas of interest decreasing the total amount of cells and thus the decreasing computational time.

September 25, 2024

Geological Modeling of Sedimentary Layers from Geospatial Data with Python and Aquifer App - Tutorial

September 25, 2024/ Saul Montoya

A practical example for constructing a geological model using Python and Aquifer App, based on geospatial data in ESRI Shapefile format and raster data in Tiff format. The tutorial demonstrates the complete procedure of spatial data processing using libraries such as Geopandas, Rasterio, and Pyvista to create surface and orientation files, which are then input into Aquifer App. Finally, the project is run locally in Gempy, generating the geometry of lithology and contacts.

May 9, 2024

Diploma in Groundwater Modeling with Python and FloPy - Asynchronous

FloPy is the Python library that builds and executes MODFLOW models; this library has been enhanced to provide full support of MODFLOW 6 with most of its recent development is related to functionality for MODFLOW 6, tools to use vector and raster spatial data and common plotting and export functionality.

May 8, 2024

25% Off: Diploma in Applied Groundwater Modeling with MODFLOW and Model Muse - Asynchronous

We have designed a complete program on MODFLOW with Model Muse that ranges from the essential topics in flow and transport modeling to applied cases of regional modeling, infrastructure projects, and seawater intrusion. MODFLOW with Model Muse is a recent open-source software that provides various tools for simulating the groundwater flow regime in different environments.

30% Off: Program in Hydrological Modeling with SWAT+ and QGIS - Asynchronous

This program is designed to provide systematical learning from the most basic and general topics to intermediate and advanced topics, allowing the student to understand the various steps in developing hydrological models using the SWAT+ interface for QGIS. This program has a series of theoretical and practical concepts that allow the student to process spatial data, manage meteorological databases, build hydrological models, develop sensitivity analyses, and perform manual and automatic calibrations using versatile tools such as SWAT+ Toolbox, SQLite, and Python.

July 23, 2026

How to Interpolate Over 2 Million Points Quickly and Without Freezing - Tutorial

Interpolating large volumes of spatial data through the QGIS graphical interface is often a headache: the process takes too long or, even worse, the program freezes while consuming all system resources. In this tutorial, we will show you how to interpolate nearly 2 million points in less than two minutes using the OSGeo4W Shell and GDAL commands with the IDW method. By creating a virtual layer file (.vrt), you will learn a highly efficient, reliable, and lightweight workflow that enables you to work with millions of data points without being constrained by the limits of the GUI.

July 17, 2026

Plotting Water Surface Elevation from a 2D HEC-RAS Model using Python - Tutorial

This tutorial demonstrates how to accurately and efficiently extract the water surface elevation at a specific point from a HEC-RAS 2D unsteady flow model using Python in Jupyter Lab. Since water levels vary across the mesh and native software tools can limit automation, the author teaches how to open HDF5 output files (.hdf), load a point shapefile using GeoPandas, and apply a geospatial index K-d tree to locate the nearest computational cell. Finally, the time series data is processed to generate a water level hydrograph, which is essential for hydrogeological model calibration.

July 2, 2026

Advanced Crop Water Demand Modeling: Simulating ETo, ETc, and ETa with Python and pyfao56 - Tutorial

estimations of crop water requirements. This applied case offers a deep dive into modeling crop evapotranspiration using the standardized FAO-56 Dual Crop Coefficient methodology, implemented programmatically through Python.

Using a real-world case study of olive cultivation (Olea europaea) in the hyper-arid coastal desert of Bella Unión (Arequipa, Peru), we will demonstrate how to build an end-to-end hydrological data pipeline. Participants will learn how to integrate spatial data, process satellite-derived and weather station climate parameters, define soil-water-crop constraints, and simulate complex deficit drip-irrigation schedules.

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June 30, 2026

Unsteady / transient 2D river flow modeling with HECRAS - Tutorial

This applied example demonstrates the simulation of unsteady flow around a river island, guiding you through the complete numerical modeling workflow. It begins with pre-processing, covering spatial data import, boundary condition definition, and computational mesh generation. Next, the setup details importing hydraulic loading data from DSS files and optimizing the computational time step based on the Courant condition to ensure strict numerical stability and convergence. Finally, the example features a comprehensive post-processing review of the simulation results, analyzing velocity fields, water surface profiles (stages), particle tracking, and immersive 3D visualizations.

April 29, 2026

Automatic calibration of pumping test data with MODFLOW6, Model Muse and Pest - Tutorial

This tutorial walks hydrogeologists through the full workflow of automatic calibration of pumping test data using MODFLOW 6, ModelMuse, and PEST. A real pumping test scenario — comprising a 6-hour pumping phase and an 18-hour recovery phase — is set up in ModelMuse, where the well is conceptualized as a Multinode Aquifer Well (MAW) boundary condition to accurately represent multilayer aquifer interactions. PEST is then implemented to automatically estimate key hydraulic parameters including hydraulic conductivity, specific storage, and specific yield, eliminating tedious manual calibration and delivering reproducible, optimized results. Whether you're new to parameter estimation or looking to streamline your existing workflow, this tutorial offers a practical, hands-on guide to modern groundwater model calibration.

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