The San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) hydrodynamic model of San Francisco Bay has been under development since 2017. The model is built on the open source software package D-Flow FM (DFM), part of the Delf3D-FM suite of models from Deltares. The model extends from the lower reaches of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers in the east to the Lower South Bay in the south and the coastal ocean to the west. The grid is unstructured, and horizontal resolution varies from approximately 20 m in some of the sloughs in Lower South Bay to 2 km in the coastal ocean. Ten sigma layers resolve the vertical structure of velocity, salinity, and temperature, allowing for baroclinic circulation. In recent years we have made improvements to the model grid, added a heat/temperature module, applied the model to an 11-year time period, and made the model setup scripts publicly available via the SFEI github page and Google Drive. In this report we present the model in its current state and evaluate model performance for water level, velocity, salinity, and temperature, comparing performance to other models of the Bay.
King, A. T., Holleman, R., Nuss, E., Moscoso J. E., Karimpour, F., Mugunthan, P., Allen, R., and Senn, D. B. (2026). The SFEI San Francisco Bay Hydrodynamic Model: Performance for Water Level, Velocity, Salinity, and Temperature Over Eleven Years. SFEI Contribution No. 1283. San Francisco Estuary Institute, Richmond, CA.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| SFEI San Francisco Bay Hydrodynamic Model Report | 9.09 MB |