EcoSIM Soil Management

Overview

Use this skill to build, inspect, validate, or edit EcoSIM soil_mgmt_in files. Soil management files use yearly selectors (fertf, tillf, irrigf) that point to event-table variables inside the same NetCDF file. Existing NetCDF files can be exported to Excel for editing, then converted back to JSON or NetCDF.

Read references/soil_mgmt_contract.md when you need exact NetCDF dimensions, Excel sheet columns, field order, units, or Fortran reader behavior.

Workflow

1. Identify the EcoSIM branch/reader when possible. The canonical reader contract for this skill is f90src/IOutils/ReadManagementMod.F90.
2. For an existing .nc, inspect it first:

.venv-cmip6/bin/python .agents/skills/ecosim-soil-mgmt/scripts/soil_mgmt_excel_bridge.py inspect soil-mngt.nc

3. Choose the editing path:
   • Existing NetCDF: export to Excel, edit the workbook, then convert the edited workbook back to JSON or NetCDF.
   • New file: create JSON directly or an Excel workbook matching the contract schema.
4. In Excel, keep event-table names in the event_files sheet so empty but intentional variables are preserved during round trips.
5. Keep selector strings short: fertf, tillf, and irrigf entries are fixed 10-character names. Use NO for inactive management.
6. Fertilizer quantities are read as g m-2. Convert annual or field-rate values before writing: 1 g m-2 = 10 kg ha-1.
7. Use actual calendar years in DDMMYYYY for year-specific schedules. The Fortran reader uses the year embedded in the event string for leap-year day-of-year conversion.
8. After conversion, inspect the new file and check date-year mismatches, missing selector targets, nonzero nutrient totals, and whether expected tillage/irrigation events are present.

Conversion Commands

Use the bundled bridge for NetCDF, Excel, and JSON conversions:

.venv-cmip6/bin/python .agents/skills/ecosim-soil-mgmt/scripts/soil_mgmt_excel_bridge.py nc-to-xlsx soil-mngt.nc soil-mngt.xlsx
.venv-cmip6/bin/python .agents/skills/ecosim-soil-mgmt/scripts/soil_mgmt_excel_bridge.py xlsx-to-json soil-mngt.xlsx soil-mngt.json
.venv-cmip6/bin/python .agents/skills/ecosim-soil-mgmt/scripts/soil_mgmt_excel_bridge.py xlsx-to-nc soil-mngt.xlsx soil-mngt-edited.nc --json-output soil-mngt-edited.json

JSON remains supported:

.venv-cmip6/bin/python .agents/skills/ecosim-soil-mgmt/scripts/soil_mgmt_excel_bridge.py nc-to-json soil-mngt.nc soil-mngt.json
.venv-cmip6/bin/python .agents/skills/ecosim-soil-mgmt/scripts/soil_mgmt_excel_bridge.py json-to-nc soil-mngt.json soil-mngt.nc

Validation

For fertilizer-only files, verify that:

• fertf selectors point to existing fertilizer variables for every active year.
• tillf and irrigf are NO if there are no tillage or irrigation events.
• Each fertilizer row has 27 fields.
• Fertilizer dates are valid DDMMYYYY and match the selector year unless deliberately yearless.
• Annual N and P totals are plausible for the site and management intensity.

For tillage and irrigation files, also verify row counts do not exceed reader limits: fertilizer <=12, scheduled irrigation <=24, and tillage <=367.