Microservices Architecture in Environmental Modelling : Potential and Feasibility

Lin, Qianhui and Harrison, Sam and Samreen, Faiza and Elhabbash, Abdessalam and Blair, Gordon S (2025) Microservices Architecture in Environmental Modelling : Potential and Feasibility. In: Advances in Transdisciplinary Engineering :. Advances in Transdisciplinary Engineering . IOS Press, FRA. (In Press)

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Abstract

Environmental models are crucial for understanding and predicting the behaviour of natural systems and can aid decision-making. However, many environmental models have traditionally been built as large monolithic systems, which makes them difficult to maintain, scale, and collaboratively develop. At the same time, there is growing recognition within the environmental modelling community of the value of adopting modern software architecture practices. Here, we investigate how such practices can support the development of environmental models, with a particular focus on microservices architecture (MSA). We first identified key challenges in environmental modelling and then reviewd existing efforts within the community, focusing on both their limitations and alignment with MSA principles. To demonstrate the potential benefits of applying microservices to environmental modelling, we refactored an existing monolithic model, which simulates the dispersion of contaminants in soil due to bioturbation by earthworms, into a microservice-based model. Our results show that adopting a MSA can improve system performance in terms of response time and throughput, while also enhancing scalability and resource efficiency. We also observed qualitative benefits, including better maintainability and support for collaboration when developing environmental models across teams. Overall, our study suggests that the MSA holds significant promise for environmental modelling and points to new directions for the development of future environmental models.