ogs5py: A Python-API for the OpenGeoSys 5 Scientific Modeling Package

High-performance numerical codes are an indispensable tool for hydrogeologists when modeling subsurface flow and transport systems. But as they are written in compiled languages, like C/C++ or Fortran, established software packages are rarely user-friendly, limiting a wider adoption of such tools. OpenGeoSys (OGS), an open-source, finite-element solver for thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical processes in porous and fractured media, is no exception. Graphical user interfaces may increase usability, but do so at a dramatic reduction of flexibility and are difficult or impossible to integrate into a larger workflow. Python offers an optimal trade-off between these goals by providing a highly flexible, yet comparatively user-friendly environment for software applications. Hence, we introduce ogs5py, a Python-API for the OpenGeoSys 5 scientific modeling package. It provides a fully Python-based representation of an OGS project, a large array of convenience functions for users to interact with OGS and connects OGS to the scientific and computational environment of Python.