iRONS (interactive Reservoir Operation Notebooks and Software) is a python package that enables the simulation, forecasting and optimisation of reservoir systems. The package includes a set of interactive notebooks that demonstrate key functionalities through practical examples, and that can be run in the Jupyter environment either locally or remotely via a web browser.

The core functions (you can find them in the Functions folder)

The iRONS package provides a set of Python functions implementing typical reservoir modelling tasks, such as: estimating inflows to a reservoir, simulating operator decisions, closing the reservoir mass balance equation – in the context of both short-term forecasting and long-term predictions.

The notebooks (you can find them in the Notebooks folder)

iRONS is based on the use of interactive Jupyter Notebooks (http://jupyter.org/). Jupyter Notebooks is a literate programming environment that combines executable code, rich media, computational output and explanatory text in a single document. The notebooks included in iRONS are divided in two sections:

A. Knowledge transfer: A set of simple examples to demonstrate the value of simulation and optimisation tools for water resources management – i.e. why one should use these tools in the first place.

B. Implementation: A set of workflow examples showing how to apply the iRONS functions to more complex problems such as: generating inflow forecasts through a rainfall-runoff model (including bias correcting weather forecasts); optimising release scheduling against an inflow scenario or a forecast ensemble; optimising an operating policy against time series of historical or synthetic inflows.

Click on the button below to open iRONS on MyBinder.org so you can run, modify and interact with the Notebooks online.

In the section A - Knowledge transfer you can start with the Notebook iRONS/Notebooks/A - Knowledge transfer/1.a. Simple example of how to use Jupyter Notebooks.ipynb

In the section B - Implementation you can start with the Notebook iRONS/Notebooks/B - Implementation/1.b. Bias correction of weather forecasts.ipynb

🚨 Note in the section B - Implementation the Notebook iRONS/Notebooks/B - Implementation/1.a. Downloading ensemble weather forecasts.ipynb can only be run locally after installing iRONS.

Our recommendation is that you use the Anaconda distribution to install both Python and the Jupyter Notebook locally.

Use this link https://www.anaconda.com/download/ to install the Anaconda distribution. It includes a number of useful packages and is much easier than managing packages individually. Choose the Python 3.6 version or above depending on your operating system.

Open the Anaconda Prompt from the Windows menu (or a OS Terminal in Mac and Linux), and then run:

conda update conda

To download iRONS you can either click on Clone button that you will find in the iRONS Github repository or you can run this on the Anaconda Prompt:

git clone https://github.com/AndresPenuela/iRONS.git

Once the download is finished, in the Anaconda Prompt get into the local iRONS folder:

cd iRONS

Now create an environment and install all dependencies (necessary libraries to run iRONS):

conda env create -f environment.yml --prefix irons_env

Then you need activate the environment:

conda activate ./irons_env

Now you need to run Jupyter Notebooks to use iRONS locally:

jupyter notebook

If you need to remove the environment beacuse you are not going to use iRONS locally anymore, first you need to deactivate the environment:

conda deactivate ./irons_env

And then remove the environment:

conda remove --all --prefix "./irons_env"

🚨 If you use JupyterLab instead of Jupyter Notebook you will need to install the following extensions:

jupyter labextension install @jupyter-widgets/jupyterlab-manager # install the plotly extension
jupyter labextension install bqplot@0.4.6 # install the bqplot extension
jupyter labextension install @jupyterlab/plotly-extension # install the Jupyter widgets extension

The easiest way to test if the current version of iRONS is working is to check that the icon below shows "Build Passing"

If you have downloaded iRONS and you are using it locally you can run the test functions. First you need to install pytest. For that purpose open the Anaconda Prompt and then run:

pip install -U pytest

now, from the local iRONS folder, invoke pytest through the Python interpreter from the command line:

python -m pytest