Research article
21 Dec 2015
Research article
| 21 Dec 2015
Do land surface models need to include differential plant species responses to drought? Examining model predictions across a mesic-xeric gradient in Europe
M. G. De Kauwe et al.
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Although vegetation responds to climate at a wide range of timescales, models of the land carbon sink often ignore responses that do not occur instantly. In this study, we explore the timescales at which Australian ecosystems respond to climate. We identified that carbon and water fluxes can be modelled more accurately if we include environmental drivers from up to a year in the past. The importance of antecedent conditions is related to ecosystem aridity but is also influenced by other factors.
Anna M. Ukkola, Gab Abramowitz, and Martin G. De Kauwe
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Flux towers provide measurements of water, energy, and carbon fluxes. Flux tower data are invaluable in improving and evaluating land models but are not suited to modelling applications as published. Here we present flux tower data tailored for land modelling, encompassing 170 sites globally. Our dataset resolves several key limitations hindering the use of flux tower data in land modelling, including incomplete forcing variable, data format, and low data quality.
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Australia's woody ecosystems have experienced widespread greening despite a warming climate and repeated record-breaking droughts and heat waves. Increasing atmospheric CO2 increases plant water use efficiency, yet quantifying the CO2 effect is complicated due to co-occurring effects of global change. Here we harmonized a 38-year satellite record to separate the effects of climate change, land use change, and disturbance to quantify the CO2 fertilization effect on the greening phenomenon.
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The Australian continent is included in global assessments of the carbon cycle such as the global carbon budget, yet the performance of dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) over Australia has rarely been evaluated. We assessed simulations by an ensemble of dynamic global vegetation models over Australia and highlighted a number of key areas that lead to model divergence on both short (inter-annual) and long (decadal) timescales.
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Groundwater can buffer the impacts of drought and heatwaves on ecosystems, which is often neglected in model studies. Using a land surface model with groundwater, we explained how groundwater sustains transpiration and eases heat pressure on plants in heatwaves during multi-year droughts. Our results showed the groundwater’s influences diminish as drought extends and are regulated by plant physiology. We suggest neglecting groundwater in models may overstate projected future heatwave intensity.
Anna B. Harper, Karina E. Williams, Patrick C. McGuire, Maria Carolina Duran Rojas, Debbie Hemming, Anne Verhoef, Chris Huntingford, Lucy Rowland, Toby Marthews, Cleiton Breder Eller, Camilla Mathison, Rodolfo L. B. Nobrega, Nicola Gedney, Pier Luigi Vidale, Fred Otu-Larbi, Divya Pandey, Sebastien Garrigues, Azin Wright, Darren Slevin, Martin G. De Kauwe, Eleanor Blyth, Jonas Ardö, Andrew Black, Damien Bonal, Nina Buchmann, Benoit Burban, Kathrin Fuchs, Agnès de Grandcourt, Ivan Mammarella, Lutz Merbold, Leonardo Montagnani, Yann Nouvellon, Natalia Restrepo-Coupe, and Georg Wohlfahrt
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Mengyuan Mu, Martin G. De Kauwe, Anna M. Ukkola, Andy J. Pitman, Teresa E. Gimeno, Belinda E. Medlyn, Dani Or, Jinyan Yang, and David S. Ellsworth
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Land surface model (LSM) is a critical tool to study land responses to droughts and heatwaves, but lacking comprehensive observations limited past model evaluations. Here we use a novel dataset at a water-limited site, evaluate a typical LSM with a range of competing model hypotheses widely used in LSMs and identify marked uncertainty due to the differing process assumptions. We show the extensive observations constrain model processes and allow better simulated land responses to these extremes.
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Kashif Mahmud, Belinda E. Medlyn, Remko A. Duursma, Courtney Campany, and Martin G. De Kauwe
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Martin G. De Kauwe, Belinda E. Medlyn, Jürgen Knauer, and Christopher A. Williams
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Anna M. Ukkola, Ned Haughton, Martin G. De Kauwe, Gab Abramowitz, and Andy J. Pitman
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Anna M. Ukkola, Andy J. Pitman, Mark Decker, Martin G. De Kauwe, Gab Abramowitz, Jatin Kala, and Ying-Ping Wang
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M. G. De Kauwe, J. Kala, Y.-S. Lin, A. J. Pitman, B. E. Medlyn, R. A. Duursma, G. Abramowitz, Y.-P. Wang, and D. G. Miralles
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 431–452, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-431-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-431-2015, 2015
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Stomatal conductance affects the fluxes of carbon, energy and water between the vegetated land surface and the atmosphere. We test an implementation of an optimal stomatal conductance model within the CABLE land surface model (LSM). The new implementation resulted in a large reduction in the annual fluxes of transpiration across evergreen needleleaf, tundra and C4 grass regions. We conclude that optimisation theory can yield a tractable approach to predicting stomatal conductance in LSMs.
Yuan Zhang, Devaraju Narayanappa, Philippe Ciais, Wei Li, Daniel Goll, Nicolas Vuichard, Martin G. De Kauwe, Laurent Li, and Fabienne Maignan
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 9111–9125, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-9111-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-9111-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
There are a few studies to examine if current models correctly represented the complex processes of transpiration. Here, we use a coefficient Ω, which indicates if transpiration is mainly controlled by vegetation processes or by turbulence, to evaluate the ORCHIDEE model. We found a good performance of ORCHIDEE, but due to compensation of biases in different processes, we also identified how different factors control Ω and where the model is wrong. Our method is generic to evaluate other models.
Jing M. Chen, Rong Wang, Yihong Liu, Liming He, Holly Croft, Xiangzhong Luo, Han Wang, Nicholas G. Smith, Trevor F. Keenan, I. Colin Prentice, Yongguang Zhang, Weimin Ju, and Ning Dong
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4077–4093, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4077-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4077-2022, 2022
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Lina Teckentrup, Martin Gerard De Kauwe, Gab Abramowitz, Andrew John Pitman, Anna Maria Ukkola, Sanaa Hobeichi, Bastien François, and Benjamin Smith
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We present a method to reconstruct burnt area using a relationship between pollen and charcoal abundances and the calibration of charcoal abundance using modern observations of burnt area. We use this method to reconstruct changes in burnt area over the past 12 000 years from sites in Iberia. We show that regional changes in burnt area reflect known changes in climate, with a high burnt area during warming intervals and low burnt area when the climate was cooler and/or wetter than today.
Jon Cranko Page, Martin G. De Kauwe, Gab Abramowitz, Jamie Cleverly, Nina Hinko-Najera, Mark J. Hovenden, Yao Liu, Andy J. Pitman, and Kiona Ogle
Biogeosciences, 19, 1913–1932, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1913-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1913-2022, 2022
Short summary
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Although vegetation responds to climate at a wide range of timescales, models of the land carbon sink often ignore responses that do not occur instantly. In this study, we explore the timescales at which Australian ecosystems respond to climate. We identified that carbon and water fluxes can be modelled more accurately if we include environmental drivers from up to a year in the past. The importance of antecedent conditions is related to ecosystem aridity but is also influenced by other factors.
Anna M. Ukkola, Gab Abramowitz, and Martin G. De Kauwe
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 449–461, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-449-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-449-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Flux towers provide measurements of water, energy, and carbon fluxes. Flux tower data are invaluable in improving and evaluating land models but are not suited to modelling applications as published. Here we present flux tower data tailored for land modelling, encompassing 170 sites globally. Our dataset resolves several key limitations hindering the use of flux tower data in land modelling, including incomplete forcing variable, data format, and low data quality.
Sami W. Rifai, Martin G. De Kauwe, Anna M. Ukkola, Lucas A. Cernusak, Patrick Meir, Belinda E. Medlyn, and Andy J. Pitman
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Australia's woody ecosystems have experienced widespread greening despite a warming climate and repeated record-breaking droughts and heat waves. Increasing atmospheric CO2 increases plant water use efficiency, yet quantifying the CO2 effect is complicated due to co-occurring effects of global change. Here we harmonized a 38-year satellite record to separate the effects of climate change, land use change, and disturbance to quantify the CO2 fertilization effect on the greening phenomenon.
Xianjin He, Laurent Augusto, Daniel S. Goll, Bruno Ringeval, Yingping Wang, Julian Helfenstein, Yuanyuan Huang, Kailiang Yu, Zhiqiang Wang, Yongchuan Yang, and Enqing Hou
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Our database of globally distributed natural soil total P (STP) concentration showed concentration ranged from 1.4 to 9630.0 (mean 570.0) mg kg−1. Global predictions of STP concentration increased with latitude. Global STP stocks (excluding Antarctica) were estimated to be 26.8 and 62.2 Pg in the topsoil and subsoil, respectively. Our global map of STP concentration can be used to constrain Earth system models representing the P cycle and to inform quantification of global soil P availability.
Mengmeng Liu, Yicheng Shen, Penelope González-Sampériz, Graciela Gil-Romera, Cajo J. F. ter Braak, Iain Colin Prentice, and Sandy P. Harrison
Clim. Past Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2021-174, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2021-174, 2021
Revised manuscript under review for CP
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We reconstructed the Holocene climates in Iberian Peninsula using a large pollen dataset and found that the west-east moisture gradient was much flatter than today. We also found that the winter was much colder, which can be expected from the low winter insolation during the Holocene. However, summer temperature didn’t follow the trend of summer insolation, instead, it was strongly correlated with moisture.
Lina Teckentrup, Martin G. De Kauwe, Andrew J. Pitman, Daniel S. Goll, Vanessa Haverd, Atul K. Jain, Emilie Joetzjer, Etsushi Kato, Sebastian Lienert, Danica Lombardozzi, Patrick C. McGuire, Joe R. Melton, Julia E. M. S. Nabel, Julia Pongratz, Stephen Sitch, Anthony P. Walker, and Sönke Zaehle
Biogeosciences, 18, 5639–5668, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5639-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5639-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The Australian continent is included in global assessments of the carbon cycle such as the global carbon budget, yet the performance of dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) over Australia has rarely been evaluated. We assessed simulations by an ensemble of dynamic global vegetation models over Australia and highlighted a number of key areas that lead to model divergence on both short (inter-annual) and long (decadal) timescales.
Juhwan Lee, Raphael A. Viscarra Rossel, Mingxi Zhang, Zhongkui Luo, and Ying-Ping Wang
Biogeosciences, 18, 5185–5202, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5185-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5185-2021, 2021
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We performed Roth C simulations across Australia and assessed the response of soil carbon to changing inputs and future climate change using a consistent modelling framework. Site-specific initialisation of the C pools with measurements of the C fractions is essential for accurate simulations of soil organic C stocks and composition at a large scale. With further warming, Australian soils will become more vulnerable to C loss: natural environments > native grazing > cropping > modified grazing.
Mengyuan Mu, Martin G. De Kauwe, Anna M. Ukkola, Andy J. Pitman, Weidong Guo, Sanaa Hobeichi, and Peter R. Briggs
Earth Syst. Dynam., 12, 919–938, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-12-919-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-12-919-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Groundwater can buffer the impacts of drought and heatwaves on ecosystems, which is often neglected in model studies. Using a land surface model with groundwater, we explained how groundwater sustains transpiration and eases heat pressure on plants in heatwaves during multi-year droughts. Our results showed the groundwater’s influences diminish as drought extends and are regulated by plant physiology. We suggest neglecting groundwater in models may overstate projected future heatwave intensity.
Alexander Kuhn-Régnier, Apostolos Voulgarakis, Peer Nowack, Matthias Forkel, I. Colin Prentice, and Sandy P. Harrison
Biogeosciences, 18, 3861–3879, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3861-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3861-2021, 2021
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Along with current climate, vegetation, and human influences, long-term accumulation of biomass affects fires. Here, we find that including the influence of antecedent vegetation and moisture improves our ability to predict global burnt area. Additionally, the length of the preceding period which needs to be considered for accurate predictions varies across regions.
Anna B. Harper, Karina E. Williams, Patrick C. McGuire, Maria Carolina Duran Rojas, Debbie Hemming, Anne Verhoef, Chris Huntingford, Lucy Rowland, Toby Marthews, Cleiton Breder Eller, Camilla Mathison, Rodolfo L. B. Nobrega, Nicola Gedney, Pier Luigi Vidale, Fred Otu-Larbi, Divya Pandey, Sebastien Garrigues, Azin Wright, Darren Slevin, Martin G. De Kauwe, Eleanor Blyth, Jonas Ardö, Andrew Black, Damien Bonal, Nina Buchmann, Benoit Burban, Kathrin Fuchs, Agnès de Grandcourt, Ivan Mammarella, Lutz Merbold, Leonardo Montagnani, Yann Nouvellon, Natalia Restrepo-Coupe, and Georg Wohlfahrt
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 3269–3294, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-3269-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-3269-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluated 10 representations of soil moisture stress in the JULES land surface model against site observations of GPP and latent heat flux. Increasing the soil depth and plant access to deep soil moisture improved many aspects of the simulations, and we recommend these settings in future work using JULES. In addition, using soil matric potential presents the opportunity to include parameters specific to plant functional type to further improve modeled fluxes.
Lina Teckentrup, Martin G. De Kauwe, Andrew J. Pitman, and Benjamin Smith
Biogeosciences, 18, 2181–2203, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2181-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2181-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) describes changes in the sea surface temperature patterns of the Pacific Ocean. This influences the global weather, impacting vegetation on land. There are two types of El Niño: central Pacific (CP) and eastern Pacific (EP). In this study, we explored the long-term impacts on the carbon balance on land linked to the two El Niño types. Using a dynamic vegetation model, we simulated what would happen if only either CP or EP El Niño events had occurred.
Mengyuan Mu, Martin G. De Kauwe, Anna M. Ukkola, Andy J. Pitman, Teresa E. Gimeno, Belinda E. Medlyn, Dani Or, Jinyan Yang, and David S. Ellsworth
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 447–471, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-447-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-447-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Land surface model (LSM) is a critical tool to study land responses to droughts and heatwaves, but lacking comprehensive observations limited past model evaluations. Here we use a novel dataset at a water-limited site, evaluate a typical LSM with a range of competing model hypotheses widely used in LSMs and identify marked uncertainty due to the differing process assumptions. We show the extensive observations constrain model processes and allow better simulated land responses to these extremes.
Erqian Cui, Chenyu Bian, Yiqi Luo, Shuli Niu, Yingping Wang, and Jianyang Xia
Biogeosciences, 17, 6237–6246, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-6237-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-6237-2020, 2020
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Mean annual net ecosystem productivity (NEP) is related to the magnitude of the carbon sink of a specific ecosystem, while its inter-annual variation (IAVNEP) characterizes the stability of such a carbon sink. Thus, a better understanding of the co-varying NEP and IAVNEP is critical for locating the major and stable carbon sinks on land. Based on daily NEP observations from eddy-covariance sites, we found local indicators for the spatially varying NEP and IAVNEP, respectively.
Stijn Hantson, Douglas I. Kelley, Almut Arneth, Sandy P. Harrison, Sally Archibald, Dominique Bachelet, Matthew Forrest, Thomas Hickler, Gitta Lasslop, Fang Li, Stephane Mangeon, Joe R. Melton, Lars Nieradzik, Sam S. Rabin, I. Colin Prentice, Tim Sheehan, Stephen Sitch, Lina Teckentrup, Apostolos Voulgarakis, and Chao Yue
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 3299–3318, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-3299-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-3299-2020, 2020
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Global fire–vegetation models are widely used, but there has been limited evaluation of how well they represent various aspects of fire regimes. Here we perform a systematic evaluation of simulations made by nine FireMIP models in order to quantify their ability to reproduce a range of fire and vegetation benchmarks. While some FireMIP models are better at representing certain aspects of the fire regime, no model clearly outperforms all other models across the full range of variables assessed.
Fortunat Joos, Renato Spahni, Benjamin D. Stocker, Sebastian Lienert, Jurek Müller, Hubertus Fischer, Jochen Schmitt, I. Colin Prentice, Bette Otto-Bliesner, and Zhengyu Liu
Biogeosciences, 17, 3511–3543, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-3511-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-3511-2020, 2020
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Results of the first globally resolved simulations of terrestrial carbon and nitrogen (N) cycling and N2O emissions over the past 21 000 years are compared with reconstructed N2O emissions. Modelled and reconstructed emissions increased strongly during past abrupt warming events. This evidence appears consistent with a dynamic response of biological N fixation to increasing N demand by ecosystems, thereby reducing N limitation of plant productivity and supporting a land sink for atmospheric CO2.
Sean F. Cleator, Sandy P. Harrison, Nancy K. Nichols, I. Colin Prentice, and Ian Roulstone
Clim. Past, 16, 699–712, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-699-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-699-2020, 2020
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We present geographically explicit reconstructions of seasonal temperature and annual moisture variables at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), 21 000 years ago. The reconstructions use existing site-based estimates of climate, interpolated in space and time in a physically consistent way using climate model simulations. The reconstructions give a much better picture of the LGM climate and will provide a robust evaluation of how well state-of-the-art climate models simulate large climate changes.
Benjamin D. Stocker, Han Wang, Nicholas G. Smith, Sandy P. Harrison, Trevor F. Keenan, David Sandoval, Tyler Davis, and I. Colin Prentice
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 1545–1581, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-1545-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-1545-2020, 2020
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Estimating terrestrial photosynthesis relies on satellite data of vegetation cover and models simulating the efficiency by which light absorbed by vegetation is used for CO2 assimilation. This paper presents the P-model, a light use efficiency model derived from a carbon–water optimality principle, and evaluates its predictions of ecosystem-level photosynthesis against globally distributed observations. The model is implemented and openly accessible as an R package (rpmodel).
Jun Ge, Andrew J. Pitman, Weidong Guo, Beilei Zan, and Congbin Fu
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 515–533, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-515-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-515-2020, 2020
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We investigate the impact of revegetation on the hydrology of the Loess Plateau based on high-resolution simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. We find that past revegetation has caused decreased runoff and soil moisture with increased evapotranspiration as well as little response from rainfall. WRF suggests that further revegetation could aggravate this water imbalance. We caution that further revegetation might be unsustainable in this region.
Jinyan Yang, Belinda E. Medlyn, Martin G. De Kauwe, Remko A. Duursma, Mingkai Jiang, Dushan Kumarathunge, Kristine Y. Crous, Teresa E. Gimeno, Agnieszka Wujeska-Klause, and David S. Ellsworth
Biogeosciences, 17, 265–279, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-265-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-265-2020, 2020
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This study addressed a major knowledge gap in the response of forest productivity to elevated CO2. We first quantified forest productivity of an evergreen forest under both ambient and elevated CO2, using a model constrained by in situ measurements. The simulation showed the canopy productivity response to elevated CO2 to be smaller than that at the leaf scale due to different limiting processes. This finding provides a key reference for the understanding of CO2 impacts on forest ecosystems.
Alexander J. Norton, Peter J. Rayner, Ernest N. Koffi, Marko Scholze, Jeremy D. Silver, and Ying-Ping Wang
Biogeosciences, 16, 3069–3093, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-3069-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-3069-2019, 2019
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This study presents an estimate of global terrestrial photosynthesis. We make use of satellite chlorophyll fluorescence measurements, a visible indicator of photosynthesis, to optimize model parameters and estimate photosynthetic carbon uptake. This new framework incorporates nonlinear, process-based understanding of the link between fluorescence and photosynthesis, an advance on past approaches. This will aid in the utility of fluorescence to quantify terrestrial carbon cycle feedbacks.
Mingkai Jiang, Sönke Zaehle, Martin G. De Kauwe, Anthony P. Walker, Silvia Caldararu, David S. Ellsworth, and Belinda E. Medlyn
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 2069–2089, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-2069-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-2069-2019, 2019
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Here we used a simple analytical framework developed by Comins and McMurtrie (1993) to investigate how different model assumptions affected plant responses to elevated CO2. This framework is useful in revealing both the consequences and the mechanisms through which different assumptions affect predictions. We therefore recommend the use of this framework to analyze the likely outcomes of new assumptions before introducing them to complex model structures.
Sophie V. J. van der Horst, Andrew J. Pitman, Martin G. De Kauwe, Anna Ukkola, Gab Abramowitz, and Peter Isaac
Biogeosciences, 16, 1829–1844, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-1829-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-1829-2019, 2019
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Measurements of surface fluxes are taken around the world and are extremely valuable for understanding how the land and atmopshere interact, and how the land can amplify temerature extremes. However, do these measurements sample extreme temperatures, or are they biased to the average? We examine this question and highlight data that do measure surface fluxes under extreme conditions. This provides a way forward to help model developers improve their models.
Guangqi Li, Sandy P. Harrison, and I. Colin Prentice
Biogeosciences Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2019-63, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2019-63, 2019
Publication in BG not foreseen
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Current methods of removing age effect from tree-ring are influenced by sampling biases – older trees are more abundantly sampled for recent decades, when the strongest environmental change happens. New technique of extracting environment-driven signals from tree ring is specifically designed to overcome this bias, drawing on theoretical tree growth. It removes sampling-bias effectively and shows consistent relationships between growth and climates through time and across two conifer species.
Jing Wang, Jianyang Xia, Xuhui Zhou, Kun Huang, Jian Zhou, Yuanyuan Huang, Lifen Jiang, Xia Xu, Junyi Liang, Ying-Ping Wang, Xiaoli Cheng, and Yiqi Luo
Biogeosciences, 16, 917–926, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-917-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-917-2019, 2019
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Soil is critical in mitigating climate change mainly because soil carbon turns over much slower in soils than vegetation and the atmosphere. However, Earth system models (ESMs) have large uncertainty in simulating carbon dynamics due to their biased estimation of soil carbon transit time (τsoil). Here, the τsoil estimates from 12 ESMs that participated in CMIP5 were evaluated by a database of measured τsoil. We detected a large spatial variation in measured τsoil across the globe.
Martin G. De Kauwe, Belinda E. Medlyn, Andrew J. Pitman, John E. Drake, Anna Ukkola, Anne Griebel, Elise Pendall, Suzanne Prober, and Michael Roderick
Biogeosciences, 16, 903–916, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-903-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-903-2019, 2019
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Recent experimental evidence suggests that during heat extremes, trees may reduce photosynthesis to near zero but increase transpiration. Using eddy covariance data and examining the 3 days leading up to a temperature extreme, we found evidence of reduced photosynthesis and sustained or increased latent heat fluxes at Australian wooded flux sites. However, when focusing on heatwaves, we were unable to disentangle photosynthetic decoupling from the effect of increasing vapour pressure deficit.
Dongyang Wei, Penélope González-Sampériz, Graciela Gil-Romera, Sandy P. Harrison, and I. Colin Prentice
Clim. Past Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2019-16, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2019-16, 2019
Revised manuscript not accepted
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El Cañizar de Villarquemado provides a pollen record from semi-arid Spain since before the last interglacial. We use modern pollen–climate relationships to reconstruct changes in seasonal temperature and moisture, accounting for CO2 effects on plants, and show coherent climate changes on glacial–interglacial and orbital timescales. The low glacial CO2 means moisture changes are less extreme than suggested by the vegetation shifts, and driven by evapotranspiration rather than rainfall changes.
Qianyu Li, Xingjie Lu, Yingping Wang, Xin Huang, Peter M. Cox, and Yiqi Luo
Biogeosciences, 15, 6909–6925, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-6909-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-6909-2018, 2018
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Land-surface models have been widely used to predict the responses of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change. A better understanding of model mechanisms that govern terrestrial ecosystem responses to rising atmosphere [CO2] is needed. Our study for the first time shows that the expansion of leaf area under rising [CO2] is the most important response for the stimulation of land carbon accumulation by a land-surface model: CABLE. Processes related to leaf area should be better calibrated.
Xingjie Lu, Ying-Ping Wang, Yiqi Luo, and Lifen Jiang
Biogeosciences, 15, 6559–6572, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-6559-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-6559-2018, 2018
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How long does C cycle through terrestrial ecosystems is a critical question for understanding land C sequestration capacity under future rising atmosphere [CO2] and climate warming. Under climate change, previous conventional concepts with a steady-state assumption will no longer be suitable for a non-steady state. Our results using the new concept, C transit time, suggest more significant responses in terrestrial C cycle under rising [CO2] and climate warming.
Yilong Wang, Philippe Ciais, Daniel Goll, Yuanyuan Huang, Yiqi Luo, Ying-Ping Wang, A. Anthony Bloom, Grégoire Broquet, Jens Hartmann, Shushi Peng, Josep Penuelas, Shilong Piao, Jordi Sardans, Benjamin D. Stocker, Rong Wang, Sönke Zaehle, and Sophie Zechmeister-Boltenstern
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 3903–3928, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-3903-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-3903-2018, 2018
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We present a new modeling framework called Global Observation-based Land-ecosystems Utilization Model of Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus (GOLUM-CNP) that combines a data-constrained C-cycle analysis with data-driven estimates of N and P inputs and losses and with observed stoichiometric ratios. GOLUM-CNP provides a traceable tool, where a consistency between different datasets of global C, N, and P cycles has been achieved.
Anthony P. Walker, Ming Ye, Dan Lu, Martin G. De Kauwe, Lianhong Gu, Belinda E. Medlyn, Alistair Rogers, and Shawn P. Serbin
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 3159–3185, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-3159-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-3159-2018, 2018
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Large uncertainty is inherent in model predictions due to imperfect knowledge of how to describe the processes that a model is intended to represent. Yet methods to quantify and evaluate this model hypothesis uncertainty are limited. To address this, the multi-assumption architecture and testbed (MAAT) automates the generation of all possible models by combining multiple representations of multiple processes. MAAT provides a formal framework for quantification of model hypothesis uncertainty.
Ned Haughton, Gab Abramowitz, Martin G. De Kauwe, and Andy J. Pitman
Biogeosciences, 15, 4495–4513, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4495-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4495-2018, 2018
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This project explores predictability in energy, water, and carbon fluxes in the free-use Tier 1 of the FLUXNET 2015 dataset using a uniqueness metric based on comparison of locally and globally trained models. While there is broad spread in predictability between sites, we found strikingly few strong patterns. Nevertheless, these results can contribute to the standardisation of site selection for land surface model evaluation and help pinpoint regions that are ripe for further FLUXNET research.
Kashif Mahmud, Belinda E. Medlyn, Remko A. Duursma, Courtney Campany, and Martin G. De Kauwe
Biogeosciences, 15, 4003–4018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4003-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4003-2018, 2018
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A major limitation of current terrestrial vegetation models is that we do not know how to model C balance processes under sink-limited conditions. To address this limitation, we applied data assimilation of a simple C balance model to a manipulative experiment in which sink limitation was induced with low rooting volume. Our analysis framework allowed us to infer that, in addition to a feedback on photosynthetic rates, the reduction in growth was effected by other C balance processes.
Alexander J. Norton, Peter J. Rayner, Ernest N. Koffi, Marko Scholze, Jeremy D. Silver, and Ying-Ping Wang
Biogeosciences Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2018-270, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2018-270, 2018
Revised manuscript has not been submitted
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This study presents a global estimate of land carbon uptake through photosynthesis. We make use satellite chlorophyll fluorescence measurements, a visible indicator of photosynthesis, to optimize model parameters and then use the optimized model to estimate photosynthetic carbon uptake. This provides a new tool that can combine measurements and observations in a systematic way and maximise the use of chlorophyll fluorescence to improve our understanding of the land carbon cycle.
Henrique Fürstenau Togashi, Iain Colin Prentice, Owen K. Atkin, Craig Macfarlane, Suzanne M. Prober, Keith J. Bloomfield, and Bradley John Evans
Biogeosciences, 15, 3461–3474, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-3461-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-3461-2018, 2018
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Ecosystem models commonly assume that photosynthetic traits, such as carboxylation capacity measured at a standard temperature, are constant in time and therefore do not acclimate. Optimality hypotheses suggest this assumption may be incorrect. We investigated acclimation by carrying out measurements on woody species during distinct seasons in Western Australia. Our study shows evidence that carboxylation capacity should acclimate so that it increases somewhat with growth temperature.
Donghai Wu, Philippe Ciais, Nicolas Viovy, Alan K. Knapp, Kevin Wilcox, Michael Bahn, Melinda D. Smith, Sara Vicca, Simone Fatichi, Jakob Zscheischler, Yue He, Xiangyi Li, Akihiko Ito, Almut Arneth, Anna Harper, Anna Ukkola, Athanasios Paschalis, Benjamin Poulter, Changhui Peng, Daniel Ricciuto, David Reinthaler, Guangsheng Chen, Hanqin Tian, Hélène Genet, Jiafu Mao, Johannes Ingrisch, Julia E. S. M. Nabel, Julia Pongratz, Lena R. Boysen, Markus Kautz, Michael Schmitt, Patrick Meir, Qiuan Zhu, Roland Hasibeder, Sebastian Sippel, Shree R. S. Dangal, Stephen Sitch, Xiaoying Shi, Yingping Wang, Yiqi Luo, Yongwen Liu, and Shilong Piao
Biogeosciences, 15, 3421–3437, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-3421-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-3421-2018, 2018
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Our results indicate that most ecosystem models do not capture the observed asymmetric responses under normal precipitation conditions, suggesting an overestimate of the drought effects and/or underestimate of the watering impacts on primary productivity, which may be the result of inadequate representation of key eco-hydrological processes. Collaboration between modelers and site investigators needs to be strengthened to improve the specific processes in ecosystem models in following studies.
Sandy P. Harrison, Patrick J. Bartlein, Victor Brovkin, Sander Houweling, Silvia Kloster, and I. Colin Prentice
Earth Syst. Dynam., 9, 663–677, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-663-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-9-663-2018, 2018
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Temperature affects fire occurrence and severity. Warming will increase fire-related carbon emissions and thus atmospheric CO2. The size of this feedback is not known. We use charcoal records to estimate pre-industrial fire emissions and a simple land–biosphere model to quantify the feedback. We infer a feedback strength of 5.6 3.2 ppm CO2 per degree of warming and a gain of 0.09 ± 0.05 for a climate sensitivity of 2.8 K. Thus, fire feedback is a large part of the climate–carbon-cycle feedback.
Ned Haughton, Gab Abramowitz, and Andy J. Pitman
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 195–212, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-195-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-195-2018, 2018
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Previous studies indicate that fluxes of heat, water, and carbon between the land surface and atmosphere are substantially more predictable than the performance of the current crop of land surface models would indicate. This study uses simple empirical models to estimate the amount of useful information in meteorological forcings that is available for predicting land surface fluxes. These models can be used as benchmarks for land surface models and may help identify areas ripe for improvement.
Rhys Whitley, Jason Beringer, Lindsay B. Hutley, Gabriel Abramowitz, Martin G. De Kauwe, Bradley Evans, Vanessa Haverd, Longhui Li, Caitlin Moore, Youngryel Ryu, Simon Scheiter, Stanislaus J. Schymanski, Benjamin Smith, Ying-Ping Wang, Mathew Williams, and Qiang Yu
Biogeosciences, 14, 4711–4732, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-4711-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-4711-2017, 2017
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This paper attempts to review some of the current challenges faced by the modelling community in simulating the behaviour of savanna ecosystems. We provide a particular focus on three dynamic processes (phenology, root-water access, and fire) that are characteristic of savannas, which we believe are not adequately represented in current-generation terrestrial biosphere models. We highlight reasons for these misrepresentations, possible solutions and a future direction for research in this area.
Martin G. De Kauwe, Belinda E. Medlyn, Jürgen Knauer, and Christopher A. Williams
Biogeosciences, 14, 4435–4453, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-4435-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-4435-2017, 2017
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Understanding the sensitivity of transpiration to stomatal conductance is critical to simulating the water cycle. This sensitivity is a function of the degree of coupling between the vegetation and the atmosphere. We combined an extensive literature summary with estimates of coupling derived from FLUXNET data. We found notable departures from the values previously reported. These data form a model benchmarking metric to test existing coupling assumptions.
Richard Wartenburger, Martin Hirschi, Markus G. Donat, Peter Greve, Andy J. Pitman, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 3609–3634, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-3609-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-3609-2017, 2017
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This article analyses regional changes in climate extremes as a function of projected changes in global mean temperature. We introduce the DROUGHT-HEAT Regional Climate Atlas, an interactive tool to analyse and display a range of well-established climate extremes and water-cycle indices and their changes as a function of global warming. Readers are encouraged to use the online tool for visualization of specific indices of interest, e.g. to assess their response to 1.5 or 2 °C global warming.
Anna M. Ukkola, Ned Haughton, Martin G. De Kauwe, Gab Abramowitz, and Andy J. Pitman
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 3379–3390, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-3379-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-3379-2017, 2017
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Flux towers measure energy, carbon dioxide and water vapour fluxes. These data have become essential for evaluating land surface models (LSMs) – key tools for projecting future climate change. However, these data as released are not immediately usable with LSMs and must be post-processed to change units, screened for missing data and gap-filling. We present an open-source R package that transforms flux tower measurements into a format directly usable by LSMs.
Rachel M. Law, Tilo Ziehn, Richard J. Matear, Andrew Lenton, Matthew A. Chamberlain, Lauren E. Stevens, Ying-Ping Wang, Jhan Srbinovsky, Daohua Bi, Hailin Yan, and Peter F. Vohralik
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 2567–2590, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-2567-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-2567-2017, 2017
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The paper describes a version of the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator that has been enabled to simulate the carbon cycle, which is designated ACCESS-ESM1. The model performance for pre-industrial conditions is assessed and land and ocean carbon fluxes are found to be simulated realistically.
Daniel S. Goll, Alexander J. Winkler, Thomas Raddatz, Ning Dong, Ian Colin Prentice, Philippe Ciais, and Victor Brovkin
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 2009–2030, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-2009-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-2009-2017, 2017
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The response of soil organic carbon decomposition to warming and the interactions between nitrogen and carbon cycling affect the feedbacks between the land carbon cycle and the climate. In the model JSBACH carbon–nitrogen interactions have only a small effect on the feedbacks, whereas modifications of soil organic carbon decomposition have a large effect. The carbon cycle in the improved model is more resilient to climatic changes than in previous version of the model.
Tyler W. Davis, I. Colin Prentice, Benjamin D. Stocker, Rebecca T. Thomas, Rhys J. Whitley, Han Wang, Bradley J. Evans, Angela V. Gallego-Sala, Martin T. Sykes, and Wolfgang Cramer
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 689–708, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-689-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-689-2017, 2017
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This research presents a comprehensive description for calculating necessary, but sparsely observed, factors related to Earth's surface energy and water budgets relevant in, but not limited to, the study of ecosystems. We present the equations, including their derivations and assumptions, as well as example indicators relevant to plant-available moisture. The robustness of these relatively simple equations provides a tool to be used across broad fields of scientific research.
Ning Dong, Iain Colin Prentice, Bradley J. Evans, Stefan Caddy-Retalic, Andrew J. Lowe, and Ian J. Wright
Biogeosciences, 14, 481–495, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-481-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-481-2017, 2017
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The nitrogen content of leaves is a key quantity for understanding ecosystem function. We analysed variations in nitrogen per unit leaf area among species at sites along a transect across Australia including many climates and ecosystem types. The data could be explained by the idea that leaf nitrogen comprises two parts, one proportional to leaf mass, the other (metabolic) part proportional to light intensity and declining with CO2 drawdown and temperature, as optimal allocation theory predicts.
Yiqi Luo, Zheng Shi, Xingjie Lu, Jianyang Xia, Junyi Liang, Jiang Jiang, Ying Wang, Matthew J. Smith, Lifen Jiang, Anders Ahlström, Benito Chen, Oleksandra Hararuk, Alan Hastings, Forrest Hoffman, Belinda Medlyn, Shuli Niu, Martin Rasmussen, Katherine Todd-Brown, and Ying-Ping Wang
Biogeosciences, 14, 145–161, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-145-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-145-2017, 2017
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Climate change is strongly regulated by land carbon cycle. However, we lack the ability to predict future land carbon sequestration. Here, we develop a novel framework for understanding what determines the direction and rate of future change in land carbon storage. The framework offers a suite of new approaches to revolutionize land carbon model evaluation and improvement.
Eva A. Kowalczyk, Lauren E. Stevens, Rachel M. Law, Ian N. Harman, Martin Dix, Charmaine N. Franklin, and Ying-Ping Wang
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 2771–2791, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-2771-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-2771-2016, 2016
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This paper compares two ACCESS model versions that differ only in their land surface scheme. Differences in the simulated present-day climate are attributed to differences in the representation of various land surface processes.
Rashid Rafique, Jianyang Xia, Oleksandra Hararuk, Ghassem R. Asrar, Guoyong Leng, Yingping Wang, and Yiqi Luo
Earth Syst. Dynam., 7, 649–658, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-649-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-649-2016, 2016
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Traceability analysis was used to diagnose the causes of differences in simulating ecosystem carbon storage capacity between two land models: CLMA-CASA and CABLE. Results showed that the simulated ecosystem carbon storage capacity is largely influenced by the photosynthesis parameterization, residence time and organic matter decomposition.
Corinne Le Quéré, Erik T. Buitenhuis, Róisín Moriarty, Séverine Alvain, Olivier Aumont, Laurent Bopp, Sophie Chollet, Clare Enright, Daniel J. Franklin, Richard J. Geider, Sandy P. Harrison, Andrew G. Hirst, Stuart Larsen, Louis Legendre, Trevor Platt, I. Colin Prentice, Richard B. Rivkin, Sévrine Sailley, Shubha Sathyendranath, Nick Stephens, Meike Vogt, and Sergio M. Vallina
Biogeosciences, 13, 4111–4133, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-4111-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-4111-2016, 2016
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We present a global biogeochemical model which incorporates ecosystem dynamics based on the representation of ten plankton functional types, and use the model to assess the relative roles of iron vs. grazing in determining phytoplankton biomass in the Southern Ocean. Our results suggest that observed low phytoplankton biomass in the Southern Ocean during summer is primarily explained by the dynamics of the Southern Ocean zooplankton community, despite iron limitation of phytoplankton growth.
Anna M. Ukkola, Andy J. Pitman, Mark Decker, Martin G. De Kauwe, Gab Abramowitz, Jatin Kala, and Ying-Ping Wang
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 2403–2419, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-2403-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-2403-2016, 2016
Stijn Hantson, Almut Arneth, Sandy P. Harrison, Douglas I. Kelley, I. Colin Prentice, Sam S. Rabin, Sally Archibald, Florent Mouillot, Steve R. Arnold, Paulo Artaxo, Dominique Bachelet, Philippe Ciais, Matthew Forrest, Pierre Friedlingstein, Thomas Hickler, Jed O. Kaplan, Silvia Kloster, Wolfgang Knorr, Gitta Lasslop, Fang Li, Stephane Mangeon, Joe R. Melton, Andrea Meyn, Stephen Sitch, Allan Spessa, Guido R. van der Werf, Apostolos Voulgarakis, and Chao Yue
Biogeosciences, 13, 3359–3375, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-3359-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-3359-2016, 2016
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Our ability to predict the magnitude and geographic pattern of past and future fire impacts rests on our ability to model fire regimes. A large variety of models exist, and it is unclear which type of model or degree of complexity is required to model fire adequately at regional to global scales. In this paper we summarize the current state of the art in fire-regime modelling and model evaluation, and outline what lessons may be learned from the Fire Model Intercomparison Project – FireMIP.
Rhys Whitley, Jason Beringer, Lindsay B. Hutley, Gab Abramowitz, Martin G. De Kauwe, Remko Duursma, Bradley Evans, Vanessa Haverd, Longhui Li, Youngryel Ryu, Benjamin Smith, Ying-Ping Wang, Mathew Williams, and Qiang Yu
Biogeosciences, 13, 3245–3265, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-3245-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-3245-2016, 2016
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In this study we assess how well terrestrial biosphere models perform at predicting water and carbon cycling for savanna ecosystems. We apply our models to five savanna sites in Northern Australia and highlight key causes for model failure. Our assessment of model performance uses a novel benchmarking system that scores a model’s predictive ability based on how well it is utilizing its driving information. On average, we found the models as a group display only moderate levels of performance.
Y. P. Wang, J. Jiang, B. Chen-Charpentier, F. B. Agusto, A. Hastings, F. Hoffman, M. Rasmussen, M. J. Smith, K. Todd-Brown, Y. Wang, X. Xu, and Y. Q. Luo
Biogeosciences, 13, 887–902, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-887-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-887-2016, 2016
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Comparing two nonlinear microbial models, we found that,
in response to warming, soil C decreases in one model but can increase or decrease in the other model, and sensitivity of priming response to carbon input increases with soil T in one model but decreases in the other model
Significance: these differences in the responses can be used to discern which model is more realistic, which will improve our understanding of the significance of soil microbial processes in the terrestrial C cycle.
A. V. Gallego-Sala, D. J. Charman, S. P. Harrison, G. Li, and I. C. Prentice
Clim. Past, 12, 129–136, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-129-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-129-2016, 2016
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It has become a well-established paradigm that blanket bog landscapes in the British Isles are a result of forest clearance by early human populations. We provide a novel test of this hypothesis using results from bioclimatic modelling driven by cimate reconstructions compared with a database of peat initiation dates. Both results show similar patterns of peat initiation over time and space. This suggests that climate was the main driver of blanket bog inception and not human disturbance.
B. A. A. Hoogakker, R. S. Smith, J. S. Singarayer, R. Marchant, I. C. Prentice, J. R. M. Allen, R. S. Anderson, S. A. Bhagwat, H. Behling, O. Borisova, M. Bush, A. Correa-Metrio, A. de Vernal, J. M. Finch, B. Fréchette, S. Lozano-Garcia, W. D. Gosling, W. Granoszewski, E. C. Grimm, E. Grüger, J. Hanselman, S. P. Harrison, T. R. Hill, B. Huntley, G. Jiménez-Moreno, P. Kershaw, M.-P. Ledru, D. Magri, M. McKenzie, U. Müller, T. Nakagawa, E. Novenko, D. Penny, L. Sadori, L. Scott, J. Stevenson, P. J. Valdes, M. Vandergoes, A. Velichko, C. Whitlock, and C. Tzedakis
Clim. Past, 12, 51–73, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-51-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-51-2016, 2016
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In this paper we use two climate models to test how Earth’s vegetation responded to changes in climate over the last 120 000 years, looking at warm interglacial climates like today, cold ice-age glacial climates, and intermediate climates. The models agree well with observations from pollen, showing smaller forested areas and larger desert areas during cold periods. Forests store most terrestrial carbon; the terrestrial carbon lost during cold climates was most likely relocated to the oceans.
J. Kala, M. G. De Kauwe, A. J. Pitman, R. Lorenz, B. E. Medlyn, Y.-P Wang, Y.-S Lin, and G. Abramowitz
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 3877–3889, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-3877-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-3877-2015, 2015
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We implement a new stomatal conductance scheme within a land surface model coupled to a global climate model. The new model differs from the default in that it allows model parameters to vary by the different plant functional types, derived from global synthesis of observations. We show that the new scheme results in improvements in the model climatology and improves existing biases in warm temperature extremes by up to 10-20% over the boreal forests during summer.
T.-T. Meng, H. Wang, S. P. Harrison, I. C. Prentice, J. Ni, and G. Wang
Biogeosciences, 12, 5339–5352, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-5339-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-5339-2015, 2015
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By analysing the quantitative leaf-traits along extensive temperature and moisture gradients with generalized linear models, we found that metabolism-related traits are universally acclimated to environmental conditions, rather than being fixed within plant functional types. The results strongly support a move towards Dynamic Global Vegetation Models in which continuous, adaptive trait variation provides the fundamental mechanism for changes in ecosystem properties along environmental gradients.
M. Decker, A. Pitman, and J. Evans
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 3433–3447, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3433-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3433-2015, 2015
I. C. Prentice, X. Liang, B. E. Medlyn, and Y.-P. Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 5987–6005, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5987-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5987-2015, 2015
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Land surface models (LSMs) describe how carbon and water fluxes react to environmental change. They are key component of climate models, yet they differ enormously. Many perform poorly, despite having many parameters. We outline a development strategy emphasizing robustness, reliability and realism, none of which is guaranteed by complexity alone. We propose multiple constraints, benchmarking and data assimilation, and representing unresolved processes stochastically, as tools in this endeavour.
C. Le Quéré, R. Moriarty, R. M. Andrew, G. P. Peters, P. Ciais, P. Friedlingstein, S. D. Jones, S. Sitch, P. Tans, A. Arneth, T. A. Boden, L. Bopp, Y. Bozec, J. G. Canadell, L. P. Chini, F. Chevallier, C. E. Cosca, I. Harris, M. Hoppema, R. A. Houghton, J. I. House, A. K. Jain, T. Johannessen, E. Kato, R. F. Keeling, V. Kitidis, K. Klein Goldewijk, C. Koven, C. S. Landa, P. Landschützer, A. Lenton, I. D. Lima, G. Marland, J. T. Mathis, N. Metzl, Y. Nojiri, A. Olsen, T. Ono, S. Peng, W. Peters, B. Pfeil, B. Poulter, M. R. Raupach, P. Regnier, C. Rödenbeck, S. Saito, J. E. Salisbury, U. Schuster, J. Schwinger, R. Séférian, J. Segschneider, T. Steinhoff, B. D. Stocker, A. J. Sutton, T. Takahashi, B. Tilbrook, G. R. van der Werf, N. Viovy, Y.-P. Wang, R. Wanninkhof, A. Wiltshire, and N. Zeng
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 7, 47–85, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-7-47-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-7-47-2015, 2015
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Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from human activities (burning fossil fuels and cement production, deforestation and other land-use change) are set to rise again in 2014.
This study (updated yearly) makes an accurate assessment of anthropogenic CO2 emissions and their redistribution between the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere in order to better understand the global carbon cycle, support the development of climate policies, and project future climate change.
G. Li, S. P. Harrison, and I. C. Prentice
Biogeosciences Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/bgd-12-4769-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bgd-12-4769-2015, 2015
Revised manuscript has not been submitted
M. G. De Kauwe, J. Kala, Y.-S. Lin, A. J. Pitman, B. E. Medlyn, R. A. Duursma, G. Abramowitz, Y.-P. Wang, and D. G. Miralles
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 431–452, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-431-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-431-2015, 2015
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Stomatal conductance affects the fluxes of carbon, energy and water between the vegetated land surface and the atmosphere. We test an implementation of an optimal stomatal conductance model within the CABLE land surface model (LSM). The new implementation resulted in a large reduction in the annual fluxes of transpiration across evergreen needleleaf, tundra and C4 grass regions. We conclude that optimisation theory can yield a tractable approach to predicting stomatal conductance in LSMs.
J.-F. Exbrayat, A. J. Pitman, and G. Abramowitz
Biogeosciences, 11, 6999–7008, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-6999-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-6999-2014, 2014
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We use a reduced complexity soil organic carbon (SOC) model to address the influence of two parameters on the response of SOC stocks to climate change: baseline turnover time (k) and temperature sensitivity of decomposition (Q10). In our model, k determines SOC stocks and the magnitude of the response to climate change (from 1850 to 2100 under RCP 8.5) while Q10 drives its sign. We dismiss unlikely simulations using global SOC data to reduce the uncertainty in projections and parameter values.
G. Li, S. P. Harrison, I. C. Prentice, and D. Falster
Biogeosciences, 11, 6711–6724, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-6711-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-6711-2014, 2014
J.-F. Exbrayat, A. J. Pitman, and G. Abramowitz
Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 2683–2692, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-2683-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-2683-2014, 2014
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Pre-industrial soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks vary 6-fold in models used in the 5th IPCC Assessment Report. This paper shows that this range is largely determined by model-specific responses of microbal decomposition during the equilibration procedure. As SOC stocks are maintained through the present and to 2100 almost unchanged, we propose that current SOC observations could be used to constrain this equilibration procedure and thereby reduce the uncertainty in climate change projections.
M. Martin Calvo, I. C. Prentice, and S. P. Harrison
Biogeosciences, 11, 6017–6027, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-6017-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-6017-2014, 2014
H. Wang, I. C. Prentice, and T. W. Davis
Biogeosciences, 11, 5987–6001, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-5987-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-5987-2014, 2014
D. I. Kelley, S. P. Harrison, and I. C. Prentice
Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 2411–2433, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-2411-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-2411-2014, 2014
J. Kala, J. P. Evans, A. J. Pitman, C. B. Schaaf, M. Decker, C. Carouge, D. Mocko, and Q. Sun
Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 2121–2140, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-2121-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-2121-2014, 2014
I. Bistinas, S. P. Harrison, I. C. Prentice, and J. M. C. Pereira
Biogeosciences, 11, 5087–5101, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-5087-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-5087-2014, 2014
P. N. Foster, I. C. Prentice, C. Morfopoulos, M. Siddall, and M. van Weele
Biogeosciences, 11, 3437–3451, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-3437-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-3437-2014, 2014
Y. P. Wang, B. C. Chen, W. R. Wieder, M. Leite, B. E. Medlyn, M. Rasmussen, M. J. Smith, F. B. Agusto, F. Hoffman, and Y. Q. Luo
Biogeosciences, 11, 1817–1831, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-1817-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-1817-2014, 2014
R. Lorenz, A. J. Pitman, M. G. Donat, A. L. Hirsch, J. Kala, E. A. Kowalczyk, R. M. Law, and J. Srbinovsky
Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 545–567, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-545-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-545-2014, 2014
A. M. Foley, D. Dalmonech, A. D. Friend, F. Aires, A. T. Archibald, P. Bartlein, L. Bopp, J. Chappellaz, P. Cox, N. R. Edwards, G. Feulner, P. Friedlingstein, S. P. Harrison, P. O. Hopcroft, C. D. Jones, J. Kolassa, J. G. Levine, I. C. Prentice, J. Pyle, N. Vázquez Riveiros, E. W. Wolff, and S. Zaehle
Biogeosciences, 10, 8305–8328, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-8305-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-8305-2013, 2013
J.-F. Exbrayat, A. J. Pitman, Q. Zhang, G. Abramowitz, and Y.-P. Wang
Biogeosciences, 10, 7095–7108, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-7095-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-7095-2013, 2013
A. M. Ukkola and I. C. Prentice
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 4177–4187, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-4177-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-4177-2013, 2013
Q. Zhang, A. J. Pitman, Y. P. Wang, Y. J. Dai, and P. J. Lawrence
Earth Syst. Dynam., 4, 333–345, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-4-333-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-4-333-2013, 2013
H. Wang, I. C. Prentice, and J. Ni
Biogeosciences, 10, 5817–5830, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-5817-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-5817-2013, 2013
D. I. Kelley, I. C. Prentice, S. P. Harrison, H. Wang, M. Simard, J. B. Fisher, and K. O. Willis
Biogeosciences, 10, 3313–3340, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-3313-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-3313-2013, 2013
F. J. Bragg, I. C. Prentice, S. P. Harrison, G. Eglinton, P. N. Foster, F. Rommerskirchen, and J. Rullkötter
Biogeosciences, 10, 2001–2010, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-2001-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-2001-2013, 2013
D. J. Charman, D. W. Beilman, M. Blaauw, R. K. Booth, S. Brewer, F. M. Chambers, J. A. Christen, A. Gallego-Sala, S. P. Harrison, P. D. M. Hughes, S. T. Jackson, A. Korhola, D. Mauquoy, F. J. G. Mitchell, I. C. Prentice, M. van der Linden, F. De Vleeschouwer, Z. C. Yu, J. Alm, I. E. Bauer, Y. M. C. Corish, M. Garneau, V. Hohl, Y. Huang, E. Karofeld, G. Le Roux, J. Loisel, R. Moschen, J. E. Nichols, T. M. Nieminen, G. M. MacDonald, N. R. Phadtare, N. Rausch, Ü. Sillasoo, G. T. Swindles, E.-S. Tuittila, L. Ukonmaanaho, M. Väliranta, S. van Bellen, B. van Geel, D. H. Vitt, and Y. Zhao
Biogeosciences, 10, 929–944, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-929-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-929-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Biogeochemistry: Modelling, Terrestrial
Effect of land-use legacy on the future carbon sink for the conterminous US
Peatlands and their carbon dynamics in northern high latitudes from 1990 to 2300: a process-based biogeochemistry model analysis
Improved representation of phosphorus exchange on soil mineral surfaces reduces estimates of phosphorus limitation in temperate forest ecosystems
A coupled ground heat flux–surface energy balance model of evaporation using thermal remote sensing observations
Modeling nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soil incubation experiments using CoupModel
Local-scale evaluation of the simulated interactions between energy, water and vegetation in ISBA, ORCHIDEE and a diagnostic model
Implementation and initial calibration of carbon-13 soil organic matter decomposition in the Yasso model
The carbon budget of the managed grasslands of Great Britain – informed by earth observations
Accounting for non-rainfall moisture and temperature improves litter decay model performance in a fog-dominated dryland system
Ideas and perspectives: Allocation of carbon from net primary production in models is inconsistent with observations of the age of respired carbon
Towards an ensemble-based evaluation of land surface models in light of uncertain forcings and observations
Exploring the role of bedrock representation on plant transpiration response during dry periods at four forested sites in Europe
Effects of climate change in European croplands and grasslands: productivity, greenhouse gas balance and soil carbon storage
Assimilation of passive microwave vegetation optical depth in LDAS-Monde: a case study over the continental USA
Global modelling of soil carbonyl sulfide exchanges
Assessing the impacts of agricultural managements on soil carbon stocks, nitrogen loss, and crop production – a modelling study in eastern Africa
The effects of varying drought-heat signatures on terrestrial carbon dynamics and vegetation composition
Resolving temperature limitation on spring productivity in an evergreen conifer forest using a model–data fusion framework
A robust initialization method for accurate soil organic carbon simulations
Evaluation of carbonyl sulfide biosphere exchange in the Simple Biosphere Model (SiB4)
Model simulations of arctic biogeochemistry and permafrost extent are highly sensitive to the implemented snow scheme in LPJ-GUESS
Theoretical insights from upscaling Michaelis–Menten microbial dynamics in biogeochemical models: a dimensionless approach
Estimated effect of the permafrost carbon feedback on the zero emissions commitment to climate change
An improved process-oriented hydro-biogeochemical model for simulating dynamic fluxes of methane and nitrous oxide in alpine ecosystems with seasonally frozen soils
A novel representation of biological nitrogen fixation and competitive dynamics between nitrogen-fixing and non-fixing plants in a land model (GFDL LM4.1-BNF)
Organic phosphorus cycling may control grassland responses to nitrogen deposition: a long-term field manipulation and modelling study
A triple tree-ring constraint for tree growth and physiology in a global land surface model
Simulating shrubs and their energy and carbon dioxide fluxes in Canada's Low Arctic with the Canadian Land Surface Scheme Including Biogeochemical Cycles (CLASSIC)
Competing effects of nitrogen deposition and ozone exposure on northern hemispheric terrestrial carbon uptake and storage, 1850–2099
Carbonyl sulfide: comparing a mechanistic representation of the vegetation uptake in a land surface model and the leaf relative uptake approach
Optimal model complexity for terrestrial carbon cycle prediction
CO2 physiological effect can cause rainfall decrease as strong as large-scale deforestation in the Amazon
Plant phenology evaluation of CRESCENDO land surface models – Part 1: Start and end of the growing season
Understanding the effect of fire on vegetation composition and gross primary production in a semi-arid shrubland ecosystem using the Ecosystem Demography (EDv2.2) model
Impacts of fertilization on grassland productivity and water quality across the European Alps under current and warming climate: insights from a mechanistic model
The climate benefit of carbon sequestration
Extending a land-surface model with Sphagnum moss to simulate responses of a northern temperate bog to whole ecosystem warming and elevated CO2
Improving the representation of high-latitude vegetation distribution in dynamic global vegetation models
Robust processing of airborne laser scans to plant area density profiles
Investigating the sensitivity of soil heterotrophic respiration to recent snow cover changes in Alaska using a satellite-based permafrost carbon model
Hysteretic temperature sensitivity of wetland CH4 fluxes explained by substrate availability and microbial activity
Modelling the habitat preference of two key Sphagnum species in a poor fen as controlled by capitulum water content
Evaluating two soil carbon models within the global land surface model JSBACH using surface and spaceborne observations of atmospheric CO2
Assessing impacts of selective logging on water, energy, and carbon budgets and ecosystem dynamics in Amazon forests using the Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator
Microbial dormancy and its impacts on northern temperate and boreal terrestrial ecosystem carbon budget
Historical CO2 emissions from land use and land cover change and their uncertainty
A Bayesian approach to evaluation of soil biogeochemical models
Rainfall intensification increases the contribution of rewetting pulses to soil heterotrophic respiration
Wide discrepancies in the magnitude and direction of modeled solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence in response to light conditions
Modeling biological nitrogen fixation in global natural terrestrial ecosystems
Benjamin S. Felzer
Biogeosciences, 20, 573–587, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-573-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-573-2023, 2023
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The future of the terrestrial carbon sink depends upon the legacy of past land use, which determines the stand age of the forest and nutrient levels in the soil, both of which affect vegetation growth. This study uses a modeling approach to determine the effects of land-use legacy in the conterminous US from 1750 to 2099. Not accounting for land legacy results in a low carbon sink and high biomass, while water variables are not as highly affected.
Bailu Zhao and Qianlai Zhuang
Biogeosciences, 20, 251–270, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-251-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-251-2023, 2023
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In this study, we use a process-based model to simulate the northern peatland's C dynamics in response to future climate change during 1990–2300. Northern peatlands are projected to be a C source under all climate scenarios except for the mildest one before 2100 and C sources under all scenarios afterwards.
We find northern peatlands are a C sink until pan-Arctic annual temperature reaches −2.09 to −2.89 °C. This study emphasizes the vulnerability of northern peatlands to climate change.
Lin Yu, Silvia Caldararu, Bernhard Ahrens, Thomas Wutzler, Marion Schrumpf, Julian Helfenstein, Chiara Pistocchi, and Sönke Zaehle
Biogeosciences, 20, 57–73, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-57-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-57-2023, 2023
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In this study, we addressed a key weakness in current ecosystem models regarding the phosphorus exchange in the soil and developed a new scheme to describe this process. We showed that the new scheme improved the model performance for plant productivity, soil organic carbon, and soil phosphorus content at five beech forest sites in Germany. We claim that this new model could be used as a better tool to study ecosystems under future climate change, particularly phosphorus-limited systems.
Bimal K. Bhattacharya, Kaniska Mallick, Devansh Desai, Ganapati S. Bhat, Ross Morrison, Jamie R. Clevery, William Woodgate, Jason Beringer, Kerry Cawse-Nicholson, Siyan Ma, Joseph Verfaillie, and Dennis Baldocchi
Biogeosciences, 19, 5521–5551, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5521-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5521-2022, 2022
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Evaporation retrieval in heterogeneous ecosystems is challenging due to empirical estimation of ground heat flux and complex parameterizations of conductances. We developed a parameter-sparse coupled ground heat flux-evaporation model and tested it across different limits of water stress and vegetation fraction in the Northern/Southern Hemisphere. The model performed particularly well in the savannas and showed good potential for evaporative stress monitoring from thermal infrared satellites.
Jie Zhang, Wenxin Zhang, Per-Erik Jansson, and Søren O. Petersen
Biogeosciences, 19, 4811–4832, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4811-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4811-2022, 2022
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In this study, we relied on a properly controlled laboratory experiment to test the model’s capability of simulating the dominant microbial processes and the emissions of one greenhouse gas (nitrous oxide, N2O) from agricultural soils. This study reveals important processes and parameters that regulate N2O emissions in the investigated model framework and also suggests future steps of model development, which have implications on the broader communities of ecosystem modelers.
Jan De Pue, José Miguel Barrios, Liyang Liu, Philippe Ciais, Alirio Arboleda, Rafiq Hamdi, Manuela Balzarolo, Fabienne Maignan, and Françoise Gellens-Meulenberghs
Biogeosciences, 19, 4361–4386, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4361-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4361-2022, 2022
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The functioning of ecosystems involves numerous biophysical processes which interact with each other. Land surface models (LSMs) are used to describe these processes and form an essential component of climate models. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of three LSMs and their interactions with soil moisture and vegetation. Though we found room for improvement in the simulation of soil moisture and drought stress, the main cause of errors was related to the simulated growth of vegetation.
Jarmo Mäkelä, Laura Arppe, Hannu Fritze, Jussi Heinonsalo, Kristiina Karhu, Jari Liski, Markku Oinonen, Petra Straková, and Toni Viskari
Biogeosciences, 19, 4305–4313, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4305-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4305-2022, 2022
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Soils account for the largest share of carbon found in terrestrial ecosystems, and accurate depiction of soil carbon decomposition is essential in understanding how permanent these carbon storages are. We present a straightforward way to include carbon isotope concentrations into soil decomposition and carbon storages for the Yasso model, which enables the model to use 13C as a natural tracer to track changes in the underlying soil organic matter decomposition.
Vasileios Myrgiotis, Thomas Luke Smallman, and Mathew Williams
Biogeosciences, 19, 4147–4170, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4147-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4147-2022, 2022
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This study shows that livestock grazing and grass cutting can determine whether a grassland is adding (source) or removing (sink) carbon (C) to/from the atmosphere. The annual C balance of 1855 managed grassland fields in Great Britain was quantified for 2017–2018 using process modelling and earth observation data. The examined fields were, on average, small C sinks, but the summer drought of 2018 led to a 9-fold increase in the number of fields that became C sources in 2018 compared to 2017.
J. Robert Logan, Kathe E. Todd-Brown, Kathryn M. Jacobson, Peter J. Jacobson, Roland Vogt, and Sarah E. Evans
Biogeosciences, 19, 4129–4146, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4129-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4129-2022, 2022
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Understanding how plants decompose is important for understanding where the atmospheric CO2 they absorb ends up after they die. In forests, decomposition is controlled by rain but not in deserts. We performed a 2.5-year study in one of the driest places on earth (the Namib desert in southern Africa) and found that fog and dew, not rainfall, closely controlled how quickly plants decompose. We also created a model to help predict decomposition in drylands with lots of fog and/or dew.
Carlos A. Sierra, Verónika Ceballos-Núñez, Henrik Hartmann, David Herrera-Ramírez, and Holger Metzler
Biogeosciences, 19, 3727–3738, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3727-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3727-2022, 2022
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Empirical work that estimates the age of respired CO2 from vegetation tissue shows that it may take from years to decades to respire previously produced photosynthates. However, many ecosystem models represent respiration processes in a form that cannot reproduce these observations. In this contribution, we attempt to provide compelling evidence, based on recent research, with the aim to promote a change in the predominant paradigm implemented in ecosystem models.
Vivek K. Arora, Christian Seiler, Libo Wang, and Sian Kou-Giesbrecht
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-641, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-641, 2022
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The behaviour of natural systems is now very often represented through mathematical models. These models represent our understanding of how the nature works. Of course, the nature doesn't care about our understanding. Since our understanding is not perfect, evaluating models is challenging and there are uncertainties. This manuscript illustrates this uncertainty for land models and argues that evaluating models in the light of uncertainty in various components provides useful information.
César Dionisio Jiménez-Rodríguez, Mauro Sulis, and Stanislaus Schymanski
Biogeosciences, 19, 3395–3423, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3395-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3395-2022, 2022
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Vegetation relies on soil water reservoirs during dry periods. However, when this source is depleted, the plants may access water stored deeper in the rocks. This rock moisture contribution is usually omitted in large-scale models, which affects modeled plant water use during dry periods. Our study illustrates that including this additional source of water in the Community Land Model improves the model's ability to reproduce observed plant water use at seasonally dry sites.
Marco Carozzi, Raphaël Martin, Katja Klumpp, and Raia Silvia Massad
Biogeosciences, 19, 3021–3050, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3021-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3021-2022, 2022
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Crop and grassland production indicates a strong reduction due to the shortening of the length of the growing cycle associated with rising temperatures. Greenhouse gas emissions will increase exponentially over the century, often exceeding the CO2 accumulation of agro-ecosystems. Water demand will double in the next few decades, whereas the benefits in terms of yield will not fill the gap of C losses due to climate perturbation. Climate change will have a regionally distributed effect in the EU.
Anthony Mucia, Bertrand Bonan, Clément Albergel, Yongjun Zheng, and Jean-Christophe Calvet
Biogeosciences, 19, 2557–2581, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2557-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2557-2022, 2022
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For the first time, microwave vegetation optical depth data are assimilated in a land surface model in order to analyze leaf area index and root zone soil moisture. The advantage of microwave products is the higher observation frequency. A large variety of independent datasets are used to verify the added value of the assimilation. It is shown that the assimilation is able to improve the representation of soil moisture, vegetation conditions, and terrestrial water and carbon fluxes.
Camille Abadie, Fabienne Maignan, Marine Remaud, Jérôme Ogée, J. Elliott Campbell, Mary E. Whelan, Florian Kitz, Felix M. Spielmann, Georg Wohlfahrt, Richard Wehr, Wu Sun, Nina Raoult, Ulli Seibt, Didier Hauglustaine, Sinikka T. Lennartz, Sauveur Belviso, David Montagne, and Philippe Peylin
Biogeosciences, 19, 2427–2463, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2427-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2427-2022, 2022
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A better constraint of the components of the carbonyl sulfide (COS) global budget is needed to exploit its potential as a proxy of gross primary productivity. In this study, we compare two representations of oxic soil COS fluxes, and we develop an approach to represent anoxic soil COS fluxes in a land surface model. We show the importance of atmospheric COS concentration variations on oxic soil COS fluxes and provide new estimates for oxic and anoxic soil contributions to the COS global budget.
Jianyong Ma, Sam S. Rabin, Peter Anthoni, Anita D. Bayer, Sylvia S. Nyawira, Stefan Olin, Longlong Xia, and Almut Arneth
Biogeosciences, 19, 2145–2169, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2145-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2145-2022, 2022
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Improved agricultural management plays a vital role in protecting soils from degradation in eastern Africa. We simulated the impacts of seven management practices on soil carbon pools, nitrogen loss, and crop yield under different climate scenarios in this region. This study highlights the possibilities of conservation agriculture when targeting long-term environmental sustainability and food security in crop ecosystems, particularly for those with poor soil conditions in tropical climates.
Elisabeth Tschumi, Sebastian Lienert, Karin van der Wiel, Fortunat Joos, and Jakob Zscheischler
Biogeosciences, 19, 1979–1993, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1979-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-1979-2022, 2022
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Droughts and heatwaves are expected to occur more often in the future, but their effects on land vegetation and the carbon cycle are poorly understood. We use six climate scenarios with differing extreme occurrences and a vegetation model to analyse these effects. Tree coverage and associated plant productivity increase under a climate with no extremes. Frequent co-occurring droughts and heatwaves decrease plant productivity more than the combined effects of single droughts or heatwaves.
Stephanie G. Stettz, Nicholas C. Parazoo, A. Anthony Bloom, Peter D. Blanken, David R. Bowling, Sean P. Burns, Cédric Bacour, Fabienne Maignan, Brett Raczka, Alexander J. Norton, Ian Baker, Mathew Williams, Mingjie Shi, Yongguang Zhang, and Bo Qiu
Biogeosciences, 19, 541–558, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-541-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-541-2022, 2022
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Uncertainty in the response of photosynthesis to temperature poses a major challenge to predicting the response of forests to climate change. In this paper, we study how photosynthesis in a mountainous evergreen forest is limited by temperature. This study highlights that cold temperature is a key factor that controls spring photosynthesis. Including the cold-temperature limitation in an ecosystem model improved its ability to simulate spring photosynthesis.
Eva Kanari, Lauric Cécillon, François Baudin, Hugues Clivot, Fabien Ferchaud, Sabine Houot, Florent Levavasseur, Bruno Mary, Laure Soucémarianadin, Claire Chenu, and Pierre Barré
Biogeosciences, 19, 375–387, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-375-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-375-2022, 2022
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Soil organic carbon (SOC) is crucial for climate regulation, soil quality, and food security. Predicting its evolution over the next decades is key for appropriate land management policies. However, SOC projections lack accuracy. Here we show for the first time that PARTYSOC, an approach combining thermal analysis and machine learning optimizes the accuracy of SOC model simulations at independent sites. This method can be applied at large scales, improving SOC projections on a continental scale.
Linda M. J. Kooijmans, Ara Cho, Jin Ma, Aleya Kaushik, Katherine D. Haynes, Ian Baker, Ingrid T. Luijkx, Mathijs Groenink, Wouter Peters, John B. Miller, Joseph A. Berry, Jerome Ogée, Laura K. Meredith, Wu Sun, Kukka-Maaria Kohonen, Timo Vesala, Ivan Mammarella, Huilin Chen, Felix M. Spielmann, Georg Wohlfahrt, Max Berkelhammer, Mary E. Whelan, Kadmiel Maseyk, Ulli Seibt, Roisin Commane, Richard Wehr, and Maarten Krol
Biogeosciences, 18, 6547–6565, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-6547-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-6547-2021, 2021
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The gas carbonyl sulfide (COS) can be used to estimate photosynthesis. To adopt this approach on regional and global scales, we need biosphere models that can simulate COS exchange. So far, such models have not been evaluated against observations. We evaluate the COS biosphere exchange of the SiB4 model against COS flux observations. We find that the model is capable of simulating key processes in COS biosphere exchange. Still, we give recommendations for further improvement of the model.
Alexandra Pongracz, David Wårlind, Paul A. Miller, and Frans-Jan W. Parmentier
Biogeosciences, 18, 5767–5787, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5767-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5767-2021, 2021
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This study shows that the introduction of a multi-layer snow scheme in the LPJ-GUESS DGVM improved simulations of high-latitude soil temperature dynamics and permafrost extent compared to observations. In addition, these improvements led to shifts in carbon fluxes that contrasted within and outside of the permafrost region. Our results show that a realistic snow scheme is essential to accurately simulate snow–soil–vegetation relationships and carbon–climate feedbacks.
Chris H. Wilson and Stefan Gerber
Biogeosciences, 18, 5669–5679, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5669-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5669-2021, 2021
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To better mitigate against climate change, it is imperative that ecosystem scientists understand how microbes decompose organic carbon in the soil and thereby release it as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. A major challenge is the high variability across ecosystems in microbial biomass and in the environmental factors like temperature that drive their activity. In this paper, we use math to better understand how this variability impacts carbon dioxide release over large scales.
Andrew H. MacDougall
Biogeosciences, 18, 4937–4952, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4937-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4937-2021, 2021
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Permafrost soils hold about twice as much carbon as the atmosphere. As the Earth warms the organic matter in these soils will decay, releasing CO2 and CH4. It is expected that these soils will continue to release carbon to the atmosphere long after man-made emissions of greenhouse gases cease. Here we use a method employing hundreds of slightly varying model versions to estimate how much warming permafrost carbon will cause after human emissions of CO2 end.
Wei Zhang, Zhisheng Yao, Siqi Li, Xunhua Zheng, Han Zhang, Lei Ma, Kai Wang, Rui Wang, Chunyan Liu, Shenghui Han, Jia Deng, and Yong Li
Biogeosciences, 18, 4211–4225, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4211-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4211-2021, 2021
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The hydro-biogeochemical model Catchment Nutrient Management Model – DeNitrification-DeComposition (CNMM-DNDC) is improved by incorporating a soil thermal module to simulate the soil thermal regime in the presence of freeze–thaw cycles. The modified model is validated at a seasonally frozen catchment with typical alpine ecosystems (wetland, meadow and forest). The simulated aggregate emissions of methane and nitrous oxide are highest for the wetland, which is dominated by the methane emissions.
Sian Kou-Giesbrecht, Sergey Malyshev, Isabel Martínez Cano, Stephen W. Pacala, Elena Shevliakova, Thomas A. Bytnerowicz, and Duncan N. L. Menge
Biogeosciences, 18, 4143–4183, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4143-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4143-2021, 2021
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Representing biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is an important challenge for land models. We present a novel representation of BNF and updated nitrogen cycling in a land model. It includes a representation of asymbiotic BNF by soil microbes and the competitive dynamics between nitrogen-fixing and non-fixing plants. It improves estimations of major carbon and nitrogen pools and fluxes and their temporal dynamics in comparison to previous representations of BNF in land models.
Christopher R. Taylor, Victoria Janes-Bassett, Gareth K. Phoenix, Ben Keane, Iain P. Hartley, and Jessica A. C. Davies
Biogeosciences, 18, 4021–4037, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4021-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4021-2021, 2021
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We used experimental data to model two phosphorus-limited grasslands and investigated their response to nitrogen (N) deposition. Greater uptake of organic P facilitated a positive response to N deposition, stimulating growth and soil carbon storage. Where organic P access was less, N deposition exacerbated P demand and reduced plant C input to the soil. This caused more C to be released into the atmosphere than is taken in, reducing the climate-mitigation capacity of the modelled grassland.
Jonathan Barichivich, Philippe Peylin, Thomas Launois, Valerie Daux, Camille Risi, Jina Jeong, and Sebastiaan Luyssaert
Biogeosciences, 18, 3781–3803, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3781-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3781-2021, 2021
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The width and the chemical signals of tree rings have the potential to test and improve the physiological responses simulated by global land surface models, which are at the core of future climate projections. Here, we demonstrate the novel use of tree-ring width and carbon and oxygen stable isotopes to evaluate the representation of tree growth and physiology in a global land surface model at temporal scales beyond experimentation and direct observation.
Gesa Meyer, Elyn R. Humphreys, Joe R. Melton, Alex J. Cannon, and Peter M. Lafleur
Biogeosciences, 18, 3263–3283, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3263-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3263-2021, 2021
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Shrub and sedge plant functional types (PFTs) were incorporated in the land surface component of the Canadian Earth System Model to improve representation of Arctic tundra ecosystems. Evaluated against 14 years of non-winter measurements, the magnitude and seasonality of carbon dioxide and energy fluxes at a Canadian dwarf-shrub tundra site were better captured by the shrub PFTs than by previously used grass and tree PFTs. Model simulations showed the tundra site to be an annual net CO2 source.
Martina Franz and Sönke Zaehle
Biogeosciences, 18, 3219–3241, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3219-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3219-2021, 2021
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The combined effects of ozone and nitrogen deposition on the terrestrial carbon uptake and storage has been unclear. Our simulations, from 1850 to 2099, show that ozone-related damage considerably reduced gross primary production and carbon storage in the past. The growth-stimulating effect induced by nitrogen deposition is offset until the 2050s. Accounting for nitrogen deposition without considering ozone effects might lead to an overestimation of terrestrial carbon uptake and storage.
Fabienne Maignan, Camille Abadie, Marine Remaud, Linda M. J. Kooijmans, Kukka-Maaria Kohonen, Róisín Commane, Richard Wehr, J. Elliott Campbell, Sauveur Belviso, Stephen A. Montzka, Nina Raoult, Ulli Seibt, Yoichi P. Shiga, Nicolas Vuichard, Mary E. Whelan, and Philippe Peylin
Biogeosciences, 18, 2917–2955, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2917-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2917-2021, 2021
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The assimilation of carbonyl sulfide (COS) by continental vegetation has been proposed as a proxy for gross primary production (GPP). Using a land surface and a transport model, we compare a mechanistic representation of the plant COS uptake (Berry et al., 2013) to the classical leaf relative uptake (LRU) approach linking GPP and vegetation COS fluxes. We show that at high temporal resolutions a mechanistic approach is mandatory, but at large scales the LRU approach compares similarly.
Caroline A. Famiglietti, T. Luke Smallman, Paul A. Levine, Sophie Flack-Prain, Gregory R. Quetin, Victoria Meyer, Nicholas C. Parazoo, Stephanie G. Stettz, Yan Yang, Damien Bonal, A. Anthony Bloom, Mathew Williams, and Alexandra G. Konings
Biogeosciences, 18, 2727–2754, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2727-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2727-2021, 2021
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Model uncertainty dominates the spread in terrestrial carbon cycle predictions. Efforts to reduce it typically involve adding processes, thereby increasing model complexity. However, if and how model performance scales with complexity is unclear. Using a suite of 16 structurally distinct carbon cycle models, we find that increased complexity only improves skill if parameters are adequately informed. Otherwise, it can degrade skill, and an intermediate-complexity model is optimal.
Gilvan Sampaio, Marília H. Shimizu, Carlos A. Guimarães-Júnior, Felipe Alexandre, Marcelo Guatura, Manoel Cardoso, Tomas F. Domingues, Anja Rammig, Celso von Randow, Luiz F. C. Rezende, and David M. Lapola
Biogeosciences, 18, 2511–2525, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2511-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2511-2021, 2021
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The impact of large-scale deforestation and the physiological effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 on Amazon rainfall are systematically compared in this study. Our results are remarkable in showing that the two disturbances cause equivalent rainfall decrease, though through different causal mechanisms. These results highlight the importance of not only curbing regional deforestation but also reducing global CO2 emissions to avoid climatic changes in the Amazon.
Daniele Peano, Deborah Hemming, Stefano Materia, Christine Delire, Yuanchao Fan, Emilie Joetzjer, Hanna Lee, Julia E. M. S. Nabel, Taejin Park, Philippe Peylin, David Wårlind, Andy Wiltshire, and Sönke Zaehle
Biogeosciences, 18, 2405–2428, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2405-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2405-2021, 2021
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Global climate models are the scientist’s tools used for studying past, present, and future climate conditions. This work examines the ability of a group of our tools in reproducing and capturing the right timing and length of the season when plants show their green leaves. This season, indeed, is fundamental for CO2 exchanges between land, atmosphere, and climate. This work shows that discrepancies compared to observations remain, demanding further polishing of these tools.
Karun Pandit, Hamid Dashti, Andrew T. Hudak, Nancy F. Glenn, Alejandro N. Flores, and Douglas J. Shinneman
Biogeosciences, 18, 2027–2045, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2027-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2027-2021, 2021
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A dynamic global vegetation model, Ecosystem Demography (EDv2.2), is used to understand spatiotemporal dynamics of a semi-arid shrub ecosystem under alternative fire regimes. Multi-decadal point simulations suggest shrub dominance for a non-fire scenario and a contrasting phase of shrub and C3 grass growth for a fire scenario. Regional gross primary productivity (GPP) simulations indicate moderate agreement with MODIS GPP and a GPP reduction in fire-affected areas before showing some recovery.
Martina Botter, Matthias Zeeman, Paolo Burlando, and Simone Fatichi
Biogeosciences, 18, 1917–1939, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-1917-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-1917-2021, 2021
Carlos A. Sierra, Susan E. Crow, Martin Heimann, Holger Metzler, and Ernst-Detlef Schulze
Biogeosciences, 18, 1029–1048, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-1029-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-1029-2021, 2021
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The climate benefit of carbon sequestration (CBS) is a metric developed to quantify avoided warming by two separate processes: the amount of carbon drawdown from the atmosphere and the time this carbon is stored in a reservoir. This metric can be useful for quantifying the role of forests and soils for climate change mitigation and to better quantify the benefits of carbon removals by sinks.
Xiaoying Shi, Daniel M. Ricciuto, Peter E. Thornton, Xiaofeng Xu, Fengming Yuan, Richard J. Norby, Anthony P. Walker, Jeffrey M. Warren, Jiafu Mao, Paul J. Hanson, Lin Meng, David Weston, and Natalie A. Griffiths
Biogeosciences, 18, 467–486, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-467-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-467-2021, 2021
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The Sphagnum mosses are the important species of a wetland ecosystem. To better represent the peatland ecosystem, we introduced the moss species to the land model component (ELM) of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) by developing water content dynamics and nonvascular photosynthetic processes for moss. We tested the model against field observations and used the model to make projections of the site's carbon cycle under warming and atmospheric CO2 concentration scenarios.
Peter Horvath, Hui Tang, Rune Halvorsen, Frode Stordal, Lena Merete Tallaksen, Terje Koren Berntsen, and Anders Bryn
Biogeosciences, 18, 95–112, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-95-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-95-2021, 2021
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We evaluated the performance of three methods for representing vegetation cover. Remote sensing provided the best match to a reference dataset, closely followed by distribution modelling (DM), whereas the dynamic global vegetation model (DGVM) in CLM4.5BGCDV deviated strongly from the reference. Sensitivity tests show that use of threshold values for predictors identified by DM may improve DGVM performance. The results highlight the potential of using DM in the development of DGVMs.
Johan Arnqvist, Julia Freier, and Ebba Dellwik
Biogeosciences, 17, 5939–5952, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5939-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5939-2020, 2020
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Data generated by airborne laser scans enable the characterization of surface vegetation for any application that might need it, such as forest management, modeling for numerical weather prediction, or wind energy estimation. In this work we present a new algorithm for calculating the vegetation density using data from airborne laser scans. The new routine is more robust than earlier methods, and an implementation in popular programming languages accompanies the article to support new users.
Yonghong Yi, John S. Kimball, Jennifer D. Watts, Susan M. Natali, Donatella Zona, Junjie Liu, Masahito Ueyama, Hideki Kobayashi, Walter Oechel, and Charles E. Miller
Biogeosciences, 17, 5861–5882, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5861-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5861-2020, 2020
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We developed a 1 km satellite-data-driven permafrost carbon model to evaluate soil respiration sensitivity to recent snow cover changes in Alaska. Results show earlier snowmelt enhances growing-season soil respiration and reduces annual carbon uptake, while early cold-season soil respiration is linked to the number of snow-free days after the land surface freezes. Our results also show nonnegligible influences of subgrid variability in surface conditions on model-simulated CO2 seasonal cycles.
Kuang-Yu Chang, William J. Riley, Patrick M. Crill, Robert F. Grant, and Scott R. Saleska
Biogeosciences, 17, 5849–5860, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5849-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5849-2020, 2020
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Methane (CH4) is a strong greenhouse gas that can accelerate climate change and offset mitigation efforts. A key assumption embedded in many large-scale climate models is that ecosystem CH4 emissions can be estimated by fixed temperature relations. Here, we demonstrate that CH4 emissions cannot be parameterized by emergent temperature response alone due to variability driven by microbial and abiotic interactions. We also provide mechanistic understanding for observed CH4 emission hysteresis.
Jinnan Gong, Nigel Roulet, Steve Frolking, Heli Peltola, Anna M. Laine, Nicola Kokkonen, and Eeva-Stiina Tuittila
Biogeosciences, 17, 5693–5719, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5693-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5693-2020, 2020
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In this study, which combined a field and lab experiment with modelling, we developed a process-based model for simulating dynamics within peatland moss communities. The model is useful because Sphagnum mosses are key engineers in peatlands; their response to changes in climate via altered hydrology controls the feedback of peatland biogeochemistry to climate. Our work showed that moss capitulum traits related to water retention are the mechanism controlling moss layer dynamics in peatlands.
Tea Thum, Julia E. M. S. Nabel, Aki Tsuruta, Tuula Aalto, Edward J. Dlugokencky, Jari Liski, Ingrid T. Luijkx, Tiina Markkanen, Julia Pongratz, Yukio Yoshida, and Sönke Zaehle
Biogeosciences, 17, 5721–5743, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5721-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5721-2020, 2020
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Global vegetation models are important tools in estimating the impacts of global climate change. The fate of soil carbon is of the upmost importance as its emissions will enhance the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. To evaluate the skill of global vegetation models to model the soil carbon and its responses to environmental factors, it is important to use different data sources. We evaluated two different soil carbon models by using atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.
Maoyi Huang, Yi Xu, Marcos Longo, Michael Keller, Ryan G. Knox, Charles D. Koven, and Rosie A. Fisher
Biogeosciences, 17, 4999–5023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4999-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4999-2020, 2020
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The Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator (FATES) is enhanced to mimic the ecological, biophysical, and biogeochemical processes following a logging event. The model can specify the timing and aerial extent of logging events; determine the survivorship of cohorts in the disturbed forest; and modifying the biomass, coarse woody debris, and litter pools. This study lays the foundation to simulate land use change and forest degradation in FATES as part of an Earth system model.
Junrong Zha and Qianla Zhuang
Biogeosciences, 17, 4591–4610, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4591-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4591-2020, 2020
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This study incorporated microbial dormancy into a detailed microbe-based biogeochemistry model to examine the fate of Arctic carbon budgets under changing climate conditions. Compared with the model without microbial dormancy, the new model estimated a much higher carbon accumulation in the region during the last and current century. This study highlights the importance of the representation of microbial dormancy in earth system models to adequately quantify the carbon dynamics in the Arctic.
Thomas Gasser, Léa Crepin, Yann Quilcaille, Richard A. Houghton, Philippe Ciais, and Michael Obersteiner
Biogeosciences, 17, 4075–4101, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4075-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4075-2020, 2020
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We combine several lines of evidence to provide a robust estimate of historical CO2 emissions from land use change. Our novel approach leads to reduced uncertainty and identifies key remaining sources of uncertainty and discrepancy.
We also quantify the carbon removal by natural ecosystems that would have occurred if these ecosystems had not been destroyed (mostly via deforestation). Over the last decade, this foregone carbon sink amounted to about 50 % of the actual emissions.
Hua W. Xie, Adriana L. Romero-Olivares, Michele Guindani, and Steven D. Allison
Biogeosciences, 17, 4043–4057, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4043-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4043-2020, 2020
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Soil biogeochemical models (SBMs) are needed to predict future soil CO2 emissions levels, but we presently lack statistically rigorous frameworks for assessing the predictive utility of SBMs. In this study, we demonstrate one possible approach to evaluating SBMs by comparing the fits of two models to soil CO2 respiration data with recently developed Bayesian statistical goodness-of-fit metrics. Our results demonstrate that our approach is a viable one for continued development and refinement.
Stefano Manzoni, Arjun Chakrawal, Thomas Fischer, Joshua P. Schimel, Amilcare Porporato, and Giulia Vico
Biogeosciences, 17, 4007–4023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4007-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4007-2020, 2020
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Carbon dioxide is produced by soil microbes through respiration, which is particularly fast when soils are moistened by rain. Will respiration increase with future more intense rains and longer dry spells? With a mathematical model, we show that wetter conditions increase respiration. In contrast, if rainfall totals stay the same, but rain comes all at once after long dry spells, the average respiration will not change, but the contribution of the respiration bursts after rain will increase.
Nicholas C. Parazoo, Troy Magney, Alex Norton, Brett Raczka, Cédric Bacour, Fabienne Maignan, Ian Baker, Yongguang Zhang, Bo Qiu, Mingjie Shi, Natasha MacBean, Dave R. Bowling, Sean P. Burns, Peter D. Blanken, Jochen Stutz, Katja Grossmann, and Christian Frankenberg
Biogeosciences, 17, 3733–3755, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-3733-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-3733-2020, 2020
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Satellite measurements of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) provide a global measure of photosynthetic change. This enables scientists to better track carbon cycle responses to environmental change and tune biochemical processes in vegetation models for an improved simulation of future change. We use tower-instrumented SIF measurements and controlled model experiments to assess the state of the art in terrestrial biosphere SIF modeling and find a wide range of sensitivities to light.
Tong Yu and Qianlai Zhuang
Biogeosciences, 17, 3643–3657, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-3643-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-3643-2020, 2020
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Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) plays an important role in the global nitrogen cycle. However, the fixation rate has usually been measured or estimated at a particular observational site. This study develops a BNF model considering the symbiotic relationship between legume plants and bacteria. The model is extensively calibrated with site-level observational data and then extrapolated to the global terrestrial ecosystems to quantify the fixation rate in the 1990s.
Cited articles
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Short summary
Future climate change has the potential to increase drought in many regions of the globe. Recent data syntheses show that drought sensitivity varies considerably among plants from different climate zones, but state-of-the-art models currently assume the same drought sensitivity for all vegetation. Our results indicate that models will over-estimate drought impacts in drier climates unless different sensitivity of vegetation to drought is taken into account.
Future climate change has the potential to increase drought in many regions of the globe. Recent...
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