Visual MODFLOW (VMOD) is a graphical interface (GUI) for the open source groundwater modeling engine MODFLOW. VMOD was developed by

Waterloo Hydrogeologic Waterloo Hydrogeologic is a company that specializes with groundwater modelling software, training, and consulting services. The company was started by Nilson Guiguer and Thomas Franz, who were developing software for their research at the Universi ...

and first released in 1994, the first commercially available GUI for MODFLOW. In May 2012 a .NET version of the software was rebranded as Visual MODFLOW Flex. The program includes proprietary extensions, such as MODFLOW-SURFACT, MT3DMS (mass-transport 3D multi-species) and a three-dimensional model explorer. Visual MODFLOW supports MODFLOW-2000, MODFLOW-2005, MODFLOW-NWT, MODFLOW-LGR, MODFLOW-SURFACT, and SEAWAT. The software is used primarily by

hydrogeologist Hydrogeology (''hydro-'' meaning water, and ''-geology'' meaning the study of the Earth) is the area of geology that deals with the distribution and movement of groundwater in the soil and rocks of the Earth's crust (commonly in aquif ...

s to simulate

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidat ...

flow and contaminant transport.

History

The original version of Visual MODFLOW, developed for DOS by Nilson Guiguer, Thomas Franz and Bob Cleary, was released in August 1994. It was based on the

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

MODFLOW-88 and MODPATH code, and resembled the FLOWPATH program developed by Waterloo Hydrogeologic Inc. The first

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

based version was released in 1997; the main programmers were Sergei Schmakov, Alexander Liftshits, and Sean Wilson. A .NET version that included non-grid-based, graphical conceptual modelling features was released in 2012. On January 10, 2005, Waterloo Hydrogeologic was acquired by

Schlumberger Schlumberger Limited (), doing business as SLB, is an oilfield services company. Schlumberger has four principal executive offices located in Paris, Houston, London, and The Hague. Schlumberger is the world's largest offshore drilling comp ...

's Water Services Technology Group. On May 1, 2012, Waterloo Hydrogeologic released Visual MODFLOW Flex. On March 13, 2015, Waterloo Hydrogeologic was acquired by Nova Metrix.

References

External links

* Scientific simulation software Hydrogeology software {{hydrology-stub