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Getting Started with WEPPcloud

This guide walks you through creating your first WEPPcloud project and introduces the key features you will use along the way.

Hardware and Browser Requirements

WEPPcloud is optimized for a desktop user experience.

• Use a modern browser: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Microsoft Edge
• Recommended bandwidth: 100 Mbps download / 20 Mbps upload (aligned with the FCC fixed broadband definition)
• Minimum display resolution: 1280 x 720
• Recommended display resolution: 1920 x 1080

User Accounts

You can use WEPPcloud with or without an account, but creating one is recommended. Use Register to create an account and Login to sign in.

Anonymous Access

You can start a project without logging in. Anonymous runs require completing a CAPTCHA before launching an interface. Anonymous runs are not tied to a user profile, which means you cannot manage them from a central dashboard or generate API tokens for programmatic access.

Benefits of Having an Account

• Private projects by default — anonymous projects are publicly visible to anyone with the link, while projects owned by a registered account are private. You can share individual projects with a group or make them public when you choose to.
• Bypass CAPTCHAs when launching interfaces
• View and manage all your runs from a central dashboard
• Generate API tokens for programmatic access (Python, R)
• Access role-based features when granted by administrators

Creating an Account

You can register for a WEPPcloud account using an email address and password. Registration requires your first and last name and email confirmation.

OAuth Sign-In (Recommended)

The easiest way to use WEPPcloud is to sign in through an existing account with one of the supported providers:

• Google — sign in with your Google account
• GitHub — sign in with your GitHub account

When you use OAuth, you authenticate directly with the provider (Google or GitHub). WEPPcloud receives only your name and email address to create or link your account. Your password is never shared with WEPPcloud. You can connect multiple OAuth providers to the same WEPPcloud account and disconnect them at any time from your profile page.

Interfaces

What is an Interface?

An interface is a preconfigured bundle of data sources, models, and settings that defines how a WEPPcloud project is set up and run. Each interface targets a specific geographic region and use case, determining which soils databases, land cover datasets, climate sources, and model options are available. When you start a new project, you choose an interface from the interfaces page, and WEPPcloud configures everything accordingly.

All interfaces let you choose between SI (metric) and English (imperial) units when launching a project by right-clicking on a Start link.

Active Interfaces

WEPPcloud-(Un)Disturbed (United States)

The primary interface for the continental United States, with experimental support for Hawaii and Alaska. It uses SSURGO-derived soils and NLCD land cover to parameterize runs. Users can optionally upload a burn severity map to predict post-fire erosion, or skip it to analyze unburned conditions. Fire and treatment scenarios procedurally generate soils and management files from the disturbed database using soil texture and land use class. This interface also integrates the Wildfire Ash Transport And Risk estimation tool (WATAR) for post-fire water quality assessment.

Available configurations: CONUS, Hawaii (experimental), Alaska (experimental)

WEPPcloud-(Un)Disturbed-WBT

The successor to the original TOPAZ-based delineation workflow. It uses WEPPcloud-WBT (a WhiteboxTools fork) for watershed preprocessing and hillslope delineation. In addition to improved performance, the WBT backend produces GeoTIFF raster products and supports advanced workflows such as Omni scenario contrasts and stream-order pruning.

Available configurations: CONUS

WEPPcloud-Revegetation

Supports burn severity uploads and leverages historical vegetative cover data from the Rangeland Analysis Platform (RAP) to model post-fire hydrology and erosion. Users can simulate stochastic wildfires, recovery trajectories, and cover transformations across perennial, annual, shrub, and tree components following a fire event.

Available configurations: CONUS, Multiple OFE (CONUS), 10m Multiple OFE (CONUS), Alaska (experimental)

WEPPcloud-EU (Europe)

Designed for European watersheds. Uses ESDAC land use classifications, EU-SoilHydroGrids for soil properties, and E-OBS climate data to match U.S. climate stations by monthly precipitation and temperature patterns. The PeP (Post-fire Erosion and Prevention) extension adds post-fire erosion modeling and WATAR ash transport for European landscapes.

WEPPcloud-AU (Australia)

Experimental interface for Australian watersheds. Assigns land management from the Land Use of Australia 2010-11 dataset and constructs soils from ASRIS data. Climate stations are selected using AGDC monthly precipitation and temperature patterns.

WEPPcloud-(Un)Disturbed-Earth

The global Earth interface extends the disturbed workflow to watersheds outside the dedicated United States, Europe, and Australia configurations. It uses the WBT delineation backend together with Copernicus DEM terrain, C3S land cover, ISRIC soils, and GHCN-backed CLIGEN climate selection to support first-pass watershed modeling, including optional post-fire ash transport and debris-flow screening.

Available configurations: Global (earth.cfg)

WEPPcloud-RHEM

Runs the Rangeland Hydrology and Erosion Model (RHEM) across the United States. Where available, foliar and ground covers are estimated from NLCD Shrubland 2016 data, and SSURGO/STATSGO identifies soil textures.

Legacy Interfaces

The original WEPPcloud and WEPPcloud-PEP interfaces are still available but have been deprecated. For new projects, use the (Un)Disturbed interface instead. The legacy WEPPcloud-PEP interface is limited to four general soils based on texture, whereas (Un)Disturbed incorporates spatial soil variability from SSURGO/STATSGO databases.

Creating a Project

To start a new project, go to the WEPPcloud landing page and select an interface (such as WEPPcloud-(Un)Disturbed-WBT for U.S. watersheds). Choose your unit system (SI or English) and click Launch. If you are not signed in, you will complete a brief verification before proceeding.

WEPPcloud creates a new project workspace and opens the run page — the main screen where all of your work happens.

Your Run ID

Every project is assigned a run ID — a memorable, hyphenated phrase like walk-in-obsessive-compulsive or bright-golden-retriever. Run IDs are generated automatically and serve as the unique identifier for your project. You will see your run ID in the page header and in the URL.

Run IDs make it easy to reference a project in conversation, in reports, or when sharing a link with a colleague. You do not choose your run ID, but you can set a descriptive project name and scenario name (described below) to give your work a human-friendly label.

How Projects Work

A WEPPcloud project is directory-based. See WEPPcloud Runs Directory Structure for a file-level reference. When you create a project, WEPPcloud sets up a folder on the server that stores everything related to your run: elevation data, soils, land cover, climate files, model inputs, simulation outputs, and any files you upload.

As you work through each section of the run page — delineating a watershed, building landuse, configuring soils, selecting climate data, and running the WEPP model — you are acquiring, processing, and saving resources into your project directory. Each step builds on the previous one, gradually assembling a complete watershed model.

You can browse the contents of your project directory at any time from the More → Browse menu (described below).

The Run Page Walkthrough

The run page is organized as a single scrollable page with a sidebar navigation on the left and controller sections stacked vertically on the right.

Sidebar Navigation

The sidebar lists every step in the modeling workflow. Click any item to jump to that section. The sidebar items are:

1. Map & Analysis — the interactive map where you view your watershed
2. Soil Burn Severity — upload a burn severity map (for fire-related projects)
3. Channel Delineation — define the area of interest and build the stream network
4. Outlet — set the watershed outlet point
5. Subcatchments Delineation — divide the watershed into subcatchments and hillslopes
6. Landuse — assign land cover types to each hillslope
7. Soils — assign soil properties to each hillslope
8. Climate — select a climate data source and time period
9. WEPP — run the erosion model

Additional sections appear in the sidebar when optional modules are enabled (see Modules below).

Working Through the Controllers

You work through the sections roughly from top to bottom. Each section has a Build or Run button that processes that step. When a step completes, WEPPcloud saves the results to your project directory and you can move on to the next section.

A typical workflow looks like this:

1. Zoom the map to your area of interest.
2. Build Channels to acquire elevation data and delineate the stream network.
3. Set the Outlet by clicking a point on the map or entering coordinates.
4. Build Subcatchments to divide the watershed into modeling units.
5. Build Landuse to classify land cover on each hillslope.
6. Build Soils to assign soil properties.
7. Build Climate to select and prepare weather data.
8. Run WEPP (hillslopes + watershed) to simulate erosion on each hillslope then watershed.
9. Run WEPP (watershed) to route water and sediment just through the channel network (useful for calibration purposes).

After the model runs, results appear on the interactive map and are available for export.

Setting Project Name and Scenario

In the header bar at the top of the page, you will see two editable text fields next to your run ID:

• Project Name — a descriptive title for your project (e.g., "Cedar Creek Post-Fire Assessment")
• Scenario — a label for the specific scenario you are modeling (e.g., "High Severity Burn" or "Mulch Treatment")

Click either field, type your label, and it saves automatically. These labels help you organize and identify your work, especially when you have multiple projects or are comparing scenarios.

Project README

Every project has a README — a place to save notes, observations, and context about your run. Click the README button in the header to open the editor.

The README editor has a split-pane layout: you write in the left panel using Markdown formatting, and a live preview appears on the right. Your notes are saved to the project directory and can be viewed by anyone with access to the project. Use the README to document your assumptions, record field observations, or leave notes for collaborators.

Fork (Duplicate a Project)

The Fork button in the header creates a complete copy of your project under a new run ID. Forking is useful when you want to:

• Try an alternative scenario without modifying your original work
• Create a baseline copy before making changes
• Share a starting point with a colleague

When forking, you also have the option to Undisturbify — this creates the copy, removes fire-related disturbance data (burn severity maps and fire-modified soils/landuse), resets the project to undisturbed baseline conditions, and reruns WEPP. This lets you quickly set up a "before fire" comparison scenario from an existing post-fire project.

Archive (Snapshot and Download)

The Archive button in the header opens the archive dashboard, where you can:

• Create a snapshot — save a point-in-time ZIP of your entire project. You can add a short comment (up to 40 characters) to label the snapshot.
• Download — download any snapshot as a ZIP file to your computer.
• Restore — roll your project back to a previous snapshot, replacing the current state with the archived version.
• Delete — remove snapshots you no longer need.

Archives are stored inside your project directory. Use them to preserve milestones before making major changes, or to create a portable copy of your work.

Theme Selector

WEPPcloud includes a theme selector in the header bar that lets you change the visual appearance of the interface. Choose from over a dozen light and dark themes, including:

• Default (Light) — the standard light appearance and part of the AA-checked theme set
• Light High Contrast — optimized for accessibility and part of the AA-checked theme set
• OneDark — a popular dark theme inspired by Atom
• Ayu Dark / Ayu Mirage — modern dark themes with flat styling (Ayu Mirage is AA-checked)
• Cursor Dark — dark themes with multiple contrast levels (Cursor Dark (Midnight) is AA-checked)

Your theme choice is saved in your browser and applies across all your WEPPcloud sessions. Themes marked AA checked are part of the validated accessibility set. Themes marked Sensory preference remain available for users who prefer lower-stimulation palettes, but they are not part of the AA conformance set.

Modules (Mods)

WEPPcloud has an extensible module system that adds specialized modeling capabilities, data sources, and analysis tools to your project. Modules are activated from the Mods dropdown in the header bar.

What Modules Do

Each module extends what your project can do. When you enable a module, a new section appears in the sidebar navigation, and additional data and modeling options become available. Modules may add new map layers, new export formats, or entirely new models that run alongside WEPP.

Available Modules

Module availability depends on your run configuration, backend, and user role. For the current canonical list of mods, dependencies, and outputs, see Mods Overview.

Enabling a Module

Click the Mods dropdown in the header and toggle a module on. A new section appears in the sidebar. Some modules have dependencies (for example, Ash Transport requires burn severity data), and WEPPcloud will guide you if prerequisites are needed.

The "More" Menu

The More dropdown in the header provides access to project settings, utilities, and navigation. Here is what you will find:

Browse

Opens a file browser where you can explore everything in your project directory — input files, model outputs, logs, rasters, and data tables. You can view text files with syntax highlighting, preview data tables, and download individual files. This is useful for inspecting raw model inputs and outputs.

Change Units

Opens the unit settings panel where you can switch between SI (metric) and English (imperial) units, or customize units for individual measurement categories.

Manage Team

Invite collaborators to your project by email address. Shared team members can view and work on the same project.

Readonly Toggle

Lock your project to prevent accidental modifications. When Readonly is enabled, all Build and Run buttons are disabled.

Public Toggle

Control whether your project is visible to anyone with the link. By default, projects owned by registered accounts are private. Toggle Public to share your project openly.

Open Links in New Tabs

A convenience toggle that controls whether navigation links open in the current tab or a new tab.

PowerUser Panel

An advanced panel that provides direct access to all project resources, detailed parameters, and diagnostic tools. Most users will not need this, but it is available for researchers who want to inspect or fine-tune model inputs at a granular level.

For administrators, the Actions column also includes Mint Run Token, which issues a 24-hour run-scoped JWT for operational workflows such as credentialed syncing and API debugging. Treat minted tokens as secrets and rotate them after use.

Profile and Runs

Quick links to your user profile (account settings, API tokens) and your runs dashboard (a list of all your projects).

Tips for New Users

• Use the README to document your assumptions and decisions — your future self will thank you.
• Browse your project files to understand what WEPPcloud is producing at each step. The file browser is a great learning tool.
• Start Simple and small. Learn WEPPcloud with smaller projects before moving to larger watersheds or more advanced modules like Ash Transport or Omni Scenarios.
• Reach out for help. If you need help, guidance, or want to discuss collaboration, contact the WEPPcloud team through Help and Feedback.