Practice Note: Using Recorder Sets

This practice note is one of a set developed to provide consistency and transparency of river system models being used within the Murray–Darling Basin. The notes cover modelling practices, such as naming conventions for folder structures, to model methods, such as for flow routing and residual inflow estimation, and have been developed through a collaboration between the MDBA and Basin States.

Produced in collaboration with:

This practice note, "Using Recorder Sets in Source", describes the general principles that should be applied when setting up a minimum recorder set for any Source Scenario.

Background

Creating a recorder set to use with each Source Scenario is considered good practice when developing Source Models. The Source User Guide details developing recorder sets - Configuring Scenarios. This practice note does not aim to replicate the material in the Source User Guide but provides some guidance as to recorders that are useful to have turned on via a recorder set to allow you to determine the water balance between different gauges in your system.

Due to the impact on run time, it is not recommended that all recorders are turned on in a Source Scenario. The modeller must decide which recorders are important for understanding the model performance and reporting, and it is recommended that recorder sets are used to ensure the same outputs are recorded each time a Model Scearnio is run.

General Principles

The modeller should decide which recorders are important for understanding the model performance and reporting.
The modeller may decide to use recorder sets to ensure the same model outputs are recorded for each model run.
The modeller should consider developing a recorder set to allow a reach-based mass balance to be calculated.
The modeller should consider setting up recorders for other metrics that are important for understanding the performance of the model or for reporting (e.g. do the allocations look sensible, are the total diversions in the expected range)
These standard recorder sets can be saved as text files and included in the Model repository (see Model Management)

Example recorder set for determining a reach-based water balance

This recorder set aims to capture all the fluxes within the river system.

Node/Link Type	Items recorded	Recorder set example	Comments
Gauge Node	Upstream Flow Recorded Gauging Station Flow Downstream flow	Gauge>>Upstream Flow>Upstream Flow Gauge>>Recorded Gauging Station Flow>Recorded Gauging Station Flow Gauge>*>Downstream Flow>DownstreamFlow	Recording upstream and downstream flow is important. The upstream and downstream flows will differ if the "Set Flow" tick box is checked at the gauge node.
Inflow Nodes	Inflow	Inflow>*>Inflow
Storages and Weir	Storage Volume Evaporation Volume Rainfall Volume Seepage Volume (if Seepage is modelled)	Storage>>Storage Volume>Storage Volume Storage>>Rainfall Volume>Rainfall Volume Storage>>Evaporation Volume>Evaporation Volume Storage>>Seepage Volume>Seepage Volume	For the water balance you need to know the change in storage over the reporting period.
Supply Points	Extracted Volume	Supply Point>*>Extracted Volume>Extracted Volume
Loss Node	Loss Volume	Loss>*>Loss Volume>Loss Volume
Storage Routing Links	Net Evaporation Storage Volume If these are used on the storage routing links, that should also be recorded Timeseries flux groundwater loss/gain	Storage Routing>>Net Evaporation>Net Evaporation Storage Routing>>Storage Volume>Storage Volume Storage Routing>>Time Series Flux>Time Series Flux Storage Routing>>Groundwater Flux>Groundwater Flux Storage Routing>*>Loss / Gain Flux>Loss / Gain Flux
Lag Links	Storage Volume	Lagged Flow Routing>*>Storage Volume>Storage Volume
Flow into links leaving a river section via a splitter (Breakout links)	Downstream Flow	Straight-Through Routing>xxxx>Downstream Flow>Downstream Flow	xxxx is the name of the breakout link
Flow entering a river section via a link at a confluence (return links)	Downstream Flow	Straight-Through Routing>xxxx>Downstream Flow>Downstream Flow	xxxx is the name of the return link

Example recorder set for other model outputs that might be useful for understanding model performance and reporting

Model Component	Items recorded	Recorder set example	Comments
Minimum Flow Requirement	Required Flow Orders Arriving Current Timestep	Minimum Flow Requirement>>Required Flow>Required Flow Minimum Flow Requirement>>Rules Based Orders>Rules Based Orders>Orders>Arriving Current Timestep (expected)	It is useful if a function is being used to determine the requirement, as you can check if the expected value is being returned.
Maximum Order Constraint	Maximum River Constraint Orders Arriving Current Timestep	Maximum Order Constraint>>Maximum River Constraint>Maximum River Constraint Maximum Order Constraint>>Rules Based Orders>Rules Based Orders>Orders>Arriving Current Timestep (expected)
Resource Assessment	Available Water Account Adjustment Account Balance Carryover Allocated Truncated Carryover Order/Use Debit	Resource Assessment>>Annual Accounting Recorder>Recorder>Account Types>>Available Water Resource Assessment>>Annual Accounting Recorder>Recorder>Account Types>>Account Adjustment Resource Assessment>>Annual Accounting Recorder>Recorder>Account Types>>Account Balance Resource Assessment>>Annual Accounting Recorder>Recorder>Account Hosts>>Carryover Allocated Resource Assessment>>Annual Accounting Recorder>Recorder>Account Hosts>>Truncated Carryover Resource Assessment>>Annual Accounting Recorder>Recorder>Account Hosts>>Order / Use Debit	These recorders would allow you to look at the water usage by different account holders.
Functions		Functions>Functions>Functions>Functions>XXXX>YYYY>YYYY	XXXX - Folder the function sits in YYYY - The name of the function For example, total consumptive use across the model may be determined as a function by summing the extraction at all the supply points. Recording this function would provide a useful reporting metric.
Environmental Flow	Volume Ordered Full Requirement (Managed Spells)	Environmental Flow>>Actions>Actions>>Volume Ordered Environmental Flow>>Actions>Actions>>Full Requirement (Managed Spells)
Transfer Ownership	Upstream Flow Orders Arriving Current Timestep	Transfer Ownership>>Upstream Flow>Upstream Flow Transfer Ownership>>Rules Based Orders>Rules Based Orders>Orders>Arriving Current Timestep (expected)
Supply Points	Planned Extractions Volume Ordered	Supply Point>>Planned Extractions>Planned Extractions Supply Point>>Volume Ordered>Volume Ordered
Storages/Weirs	Storage inflow and outflow Storage level Spill Volume	Storage>>Total Inflow Volume>Total Inflow Volume Storage>>Total Outflow Volume>Total Outflow Volume Storage>>Storage Level>Storage Level Storage>xxxx>Spill Volume>	xxxx is the name of the Storage or Weir
Water Users	Total Water Supplied Planned Extraction Requirement	Water User>>Demand & Storage Interface>Demand & Storage Interface>Demand Model>Total Water Supplied Water User>>Planned Extraction>Planned Extraction Water User>*>Demand Model>Demand Model>Requirement