Introduction to TRITON

The Two-dimensional Runoff Inundation Toolkit for Operational Needs (TRITON) is an open-source, flood simulation tool designed for modern high-performance computing (HPC). It is a computationally efficient, physics-based hydraulic model that operates on a structured grid and solves the full 2D shallow-water equations.

Key Features

  • Cross-platform and HPC ready – Performance-portable via Kokkos. Runs on single or multiple CPUs (OpenMP + MPI) and supports GPU acceleration with Kokkos and MPI.

  • Flexible Forcing & Inputs – Uses topographical data (e.g., DEM, LIDAR) on a uniform Cartesian grid and supports streamflow hydrographs, gridded runoff, or both as hydrological forcing.

  • Rich Output Options – Produces water depth maps, 2D velocity maps, and unit discharge data, plus time series outputs at user-defined points and intervals.

  • Linux/Unix Native – Built for Linux/Unix systems with input/output in ASCII, binary, and GeoTIFF format.

  • SI Units Standard – Operates using the International System of Units (SI).

Example Output

Example TRITON output

What You Need

To set up and run TRITON, you will need:

  • DEM – topographic grid of the domain (projected, e.g., UTM).

  • Hydrologic Forcing – inflow hydrographs, gridded runoff, or both.

  • Manning’s n – constant roughness or a spatially varying map.

  • Boundary Conditions – optional, applied at the edges of the domain.

  • Configuration File (.cfg) – defines paths, timing, and solver parameters.

  • System – Linux or container environment with CPU or GPU resources.

See TRITON Setup for details on supported file types, formats, and directory layout.

Input Overview

TRITON input overview