Insights and tips for maintainability, robustness, usability, and reproducibility of geo-scientific models

The complexity of geoscientific models, from pre-processing, model execution, and post-processing, poses major challenges to maintainability, reproducibility, and accessibility, even when FAIR data principles are followed.

Based on a survey of the 20 dynamic global vegetation models participating in the Global Carbon Project, we present the current state of, and potential improvements in, practices of software engineering and reproducibility within the community.
We also share notable successful practices from the community that could be helpful for all geo-scientists, including
- version control
- workflow management systems
- containerization
- automated documentation
- continuous integration
- automated visualizations

These approaches enable reproducible, portable, and automated workflows, improve code reliability, and enhance access to scientific results.

We conclude with a showcase of a fully reproducible and portable workflow implemented for one model, illustrating how these practices can be implemented by other modeling communities. This example can serve as a practical resource for improving reproducibility, accessibility, and software engineering standards across the geosciences.