The SimSphere package, created by Penn State meteorology professor Toby N. Carlson and a team of developers and instructional designers, consists of an interactive model written in Java, a 13-chapter student workbook, and a users' guide. The package is designed for undergraduates, graduate students, and professionals in disciplines such as meteorology, geography, landscape architecture, and civil engineering. The soil/vegetation/atmosphere/transfer (SVAT) model simulates interactions among soil, plant, and atmospheric systems and the transfer of energy, momentum, and water through the systems. The [https://courseware.e-education.psu.edu/simsphere/workbook/ student workbook] introduces simple concepts and the software reinforces them.

Toby Carlson, Rob Gillies, David A. J. Ripley, Tim Summers, Jason Meyer, Sudhanshu Thanedar

1. Tools