EUROPE – FOCUS: Issues with the New SPIN Version and with PELMO

Published by Nellys Nassar-Sainsily at 31 March 2025

SPIN v.4.4

A new version of SPIN (v.4.4), a common database to store substance properties used in several FOCUS models, was released in January 2025.

The European Soil Data Center (ESDAC), hosting the FOCUS model releases, recently indicated an issue with this new version: when SPIN v.4.4 is opened from FOCUS PEARL v.5.5.5, the parameter “coefficient for uptake by plant (TSCF)” cannot be modified.

To get around this problem, SPIN can be opened independently to change this substance parameter. The issue will be solved in the next version.

The ESDAC also indicated that an error message “Runtime error 216” may be shown when the TOXSWA shell is closed. The error message does not affect the calculations and can simply be ignored.

PELMO v.6.6.4

The ESDAC announced that the last version of PELMO (v.6.6.4) released in 2021 has an issue with the injection application method.

PELMO v.6.6.4 allows users to simulate soil injection application methods by specifying a depth range for the distribution of the application mass. However, incorrect predictions can be obtained when the upper and lower application depths (as entered by the user) do not match the internal spatial resolution of 5 cm in the model

For example, for having the injection band and the model spatial resolution to match, the ESDAC recommends:

Instead of entering 10 cm to 10 cm, 10 cm to 11 cm, 11 cm to 11 cm or 13 cm to 13 cm, the user should enter 10 cm to 15 cm.
For a substance injected at 18 cm, the user should enter 15 to 20 cm..

This issue concerns only groundwater calculations with this version of PELMO. Previous versions are not concerned.

To download:

FOCUS SPIN v.4.4

See also our previous articles:

EUROPE: New PELMO and PEARL Versions Released

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