INCA review project

The EA is setting up a decision support system to assist with the making of environmental impact decisions as well as helping with the Water Framework Directive. As part of the process a review of available models was commissioned with a thorough review of the INCA model, in the first instance. This model is being developed for flow, nitrate, ammonia, organic and inorganic phosphorus, sediments, carbon and ecology (macrophytes, epiphytes and phytoplankton).

The INCA suite of programmes have been developed over the past 5 years to simulate both terrestrial and aquatic systems and to model a wide range of catchments. The basic structure of INCA has been tested on 8 UK catchments and 10 catchments across Europe. The model is process based and therefore designed to cope with environmental change such as changes in land use, pollution levels and climate. The model seeks to incorporate the dominant mechanisms and processes operating and therefore does not include over complicated structures. However, because the model is process based, it does require user skill in applying the model and in interpreting model results. The software is written in C++ and utilises a menu driven interface as well as an output graphics and statistics package.

In the review the model components are described and their utility evaluated for answering Environment Agency type policy questions. The issue of integrating the model into the Environment Agency Decision Support Tool (DST) is considered and a model range of options evaluated. Details of model calibration, validation, uncertainty analysis and model application are discussed and reviewed in the report. A large number of application results are presented to demonstrate the utility of the model.

Back to research home page