Ten steps applied to development and evaluation of process-based biogeochemical models of estuaries

The procedures involved in model development may be set out as a ten step process, beginning with defining the purpose of the model and ending with evaluation of the appropriateness and utility of the completed model. This process, recently outlined by Jakeman et al. [Jakeman, A.J., Letcher, R.A., Norton, J.P., 2006. Ten iterative steps in development and evaluation of environmental models. Environmental Modelling and Software 21, 602–614], is often iterative as model development is a continuous process that refines and improves the intended capacity of the model. Here, the ten steps of model development are critiqued and applied using a process-based biogeochemical model of aquatic systems, with examples from two case studies: a model of phytoplankton succession and nutrient concentrations in the Swan-Canning Estuary (Western Australia) and a model of sediment and nutrient transport and transformation in the Fitzroy Estuary and Keppel Bay (Queensland).