The lsdtt3 command-line tools

lsdtt3 ships 45 command-line programs. This page lists all of them, grouped by what they are for, so you can find the one you need without reading 45 reference pages.

Every tool is driven by a parameter file rather than command-line flags — if you have not met one yet, start with Your first analysis. Every tool also documents itself: <tool> --help prints its full parameter list, and the same content is on this site under Command line reference.

If you only read one line of this page

Run lsdtt-raster-preprocessing on your DEM before anything else. It enforces the projection, fills or breaches pits, and gives you a hillshade to check the data loaded the way you expected.

Getting and preparing data

Tool	What it does
`lsdtt-fetch-raster`	Fetch a DEM for a bounding box and write it as a raster. Keyless COP30 and Planetary Computer sources; OpenTopography needs a key.
`lsdtt-fetch-lithology`	Fetch geological map units from Macrostrat (keyless, CC BY 4.0) for a bounding box, as a polygon layer in the box's UTM zone, with an attribution file.
`lsdtt-fetch-erosion-rates`	Fetch basin-averaged cosmogenic erosion rates from OCTOPUS (keyless) for a bounding box: an erosion-rate sample CSV, the basin polygons, a suggested DEM box and the CC BY 4.0 attribution.
`lsdtt-fetch-river-lines`	Fetch (OS Open Rivers for Great Britain, keyless) or read river centrelines for an area, and prepare them for stream burning: clipped, noded, oriented downstream, with a topology table and attribution.
`lsdtt-raster-preprocessing`	The preparation pipeline: projection enforcement and reprojection, masking, nodata filling, breaching, pit filling, hillshade.
`lsdtt-raster-calculator`	Two-raster algebra.
`lsdtt-stream-burning`	Conditions a DEM using a supplied vector channel network (Burning mapped rivers into a DEM).

Surfaces, slopes and curvature

Tool	What it does
`lsdtt-surface-metrics`	Slope, aspect, curvature and related derived rasters from polynomial surface fitting, plus the SMAP shape classification.
`lsdtt-spectral-analysis`	Perron-style spectral analysis of a DEM. Requires FFTW3.
`lsdtt-feature-finder`	Experimental terrain-feature detection for LiDAR-derived DEMs.
`lsdtt-mountain-front`	Identifies mountain masses via adaptive relief thresholding.
`lsdtt-linear-stats`	Statistics of a raster sampled along linear vector features.
`lsdtt-slope-area`	Slope–area statistics for one or more polynomial-fit smoothing lengths, binned by logarithmic drainage area.
`lsdtt-swath-profile`	Swath profile along an ordered polyline baseline.
`lsdtt-cross-sections`	Channel network from supplied source points, with extracted cross sections.
`lsdtt-bankfull-width`	Bankfull channel width and depth per cross section from Manning's equation, on a high-resolution DEM. Needs source points and a reach table of Manning's n and target discharge.

Flow routing and drainage

Tool	What it does
`lsdtt-drainage-analysis`	Static topographic indices: drainage area, TWI, STI, and the Cavalli connectivity index. No time dimension.
`lsdtt-channel-extraction`	Extract a channel network from a DEM; snap field points to it with drainage area and channel slope (Field points).
`lsdtt-channel-network-analysis`	Build a channel and junction network, then run one or more network analyses on it.
`lsdtt-internal-drainage`	Detect, review, route, tag and analyse internally drained basins — moulins, playas, quarries.
`lsdtt-outlet-matching`	Match reference-DEM outlets to target-DEM cells by comparing D8 contributing areas.

Basins

Tool	What it does
`lsdtt-basin-extraction`	Extract a channel network and select basins from it.
`lsdtt-basin-stats`	Basins from a CSV of outlet points, with per-basin statistics.
`lsdtt-basin-surface-metrics`	Basins from outlet coordinates, with multiscale surface metrics per basin.

Channel profiles and chi

Tool	What it does
`lsdtt-chi-analysis`	End-to-end chi workflow. Requires Eigen3.
`lsdtt-sediment-routing`	1-D reach-scale bedload sediment routing on a D8 channel network. Also where the GIUH lives.

Hillslopes and divides

Tool	What it does
`lsdtt-ridgeline-analysis`	Drainage divides and their elevation profiles.
`lsdtt-divide-migration`	Divide-migration metrics from supplied outlets.
`lsdtt-hillslope-channel-coupling`	Hilltop curvature, hillslope length and relief, and the non-dimensional E/R pair, traced from ridgeline to channel.

Floodplains, terraces and valleys

Tool	What it does
`lsdtt-flat-surface-finder`	Identifies broadly flat surfaces — floodplains, alluvial fans, fluvial and marine terraces.
`lsdtt-fluvial-surfaces`	Stratifies flat ground into fluvial levels: floodplain, terrace treads, fan surfaces.
`lsdtt-valley-centreline`	Per-channel valley identification and a medial-axis valley centreline.
`lsdtt-water-centreline`	Centreline from each water-area polygon, for wide river reaches.
`lsdtt-water-line-repair`	Reconnects stream polylines truncated where roads cross.

Hydrology and hydraulics

Tool	What it does
`lsdtt-distributed-hydrology`	Two hydrologic models, one driven by TOPMODEL equations and the other driven by S-HYPE: time-evolving, rainfall-driven runoff simulation with distributed stores.
`lsdtt-graphflood`	Stationary graph-based hydraulic routing. Solves for steady-state flow depths given a rainfall-rate field.

See Hydrological modelling for which of these answers which question — they are complementary, not alternatives, and neither is a flood-timing model.

Coastal and tidal

Tool	What it does
`lsdtt-marsh-topography`	Marsh and tidal-channel analysis workflow.

Cosmogenic nuclides

Tool	What it does
`lsdtt-cosmo-tool`	Erosion-rate inversion from measured nuclide concentrations at sample points.
`lsdtt-cosmo-prediction`	Predicts nuclide concentrations across a DEM: steady state, step change, or accumulated downstream.
`lsdtt-cosmo-column-tool`	1-D column simulation. No DEM required.
`lsdtt-cosmo-landslides`	Triggered landslides with an imposed size distribution, excavated and written out for the cosmogenic and sediment-routing tools.

The physics, the scaling schemes and the CRONUS/OCTOPUS comparisons are in Cosmogenic nuclides.

Landscape evolution and synthetic landscapes

Tool	What it does
`lsdtt-lem`	Landscape evolution model descended from MuddPILE and DONKmodel. Fluvial incision plus a choice of hillslope solvers.
`lsdtt-advection-diffusion`	A deliberately small transient model (D8 or D-infinity fluvial incision, linear hillslope diffusion, uniform uplift) for controlled numerical experiments.
`lsdtt-lithology-erodibility`	Turns a lithology map and a lithology → erodibility table into an erodibility (K) raster for `lsdtt-lem`.
`lsdtt-synthetic-surfaces`	Synthetic rasters for testing analysis routines.
`lsdtt-synthetic-networks`	Synthetic Optimal Channel Networks with tunable branching.

Choosing a synthetic landscape tool explains which of the three to reach for.

Other ways to drive lsdtt3

The command-line tools are not the only interface:

Python bindings expose much of the library directly, which is often easier for exploratory work and for stitching steps together.
The QGIS plugin runs a subset of the tools from inside QGIS.
Snakemake workflows chain tools into reproducible multi-step pipelines.