An analysis of global terrestrial carbon, water and energy dynamics using the carbon–nitrogen coupled CLASS-CTEMN+ model

Suo Huang, Paul Bartlett and M. Altaf Arain

Ecological Modelling, 2016, vol. 336, issue C, 36-56

Abstract: A carbon–nitrogen (C–N) coupled terrestrial ecosystem model, CLASS-CTEMN+, was used to simulate global terrestrial carbon, water, and energy cycles at 0.5-degree spatial resolution from 1901 to 2010. Forcing and initializing data sets from the North American Carbon Program (NACP)—Multi-Scale Synthesis and Terrestrial Model Intercomparison Project (MsTMIP) were used. Two versions of the model (the C–N coupled and the C-only version) were compared. The C–N (C) version of the model simulated global annual total gross ecosystem productivity (GEP) of 122.7 (128.2) PgCyr−1, ecosystem respiration (Re) of 119.1 (122.4) PgCyr−1, net ecosystem productivity (NEP) of 3.64 (5.82) PgCyr−1, net primary productivity (NPP) of 62.7 (67.4) PgCyr−1, latent heat (LE) of 146.2 (167.4) ZJyr−1, sensible heat (H) of 194.0 (162) ZJyr−1, soil organic carbon (SOC) of 1230 (1328) PgC, and total vegetation biomass (Tvg) of 608 (629) PgC, over the 1980–2010 period were comparable to scaled observations and modelling studies in the literature. Our results suggest that altough inclusion of N cycling has not had a large effect on the simulated total global terrestrial ecosystem C budget over this period; however the temporal evolution and spatial distribution of the simulated C budget revealed important influences of the N cycle. Analysis of long-term annual variations in response to evolving climate, CO2 concentration levels, and N deposition over the 1901–2010 period showed largely similar increasing trends in global GEP, Re, NEP and NPP until about 1970, after which the rate of increase was suppressed in the C–N coupled version of the model relative to the C-only version. Spatial plots showed that GEP and Re were reduced in the C–N coupled version of the model over the temperate and boreal regions and in high latitudes, where N limitation is well documented. The strongest response in NEP was in the boreal forests of North America, Northern Europe and Northwestern Asia, which showed decreases in response to the inclusion of a N cycle. Commensurate with the reductions in GEP and NEP, leaf area index (LAI) and total vegetation biomass (Tvg) also showed decreases in the boreal region, while SOC showed wider decreases in temperate, boreal and northern regions.

Keywords: Carbon; Nitrogen; Net ecosystem productivity; Canadian Land Surface Scheme; Canada Terrestrial Ecosystem Model; Dynamic vegetation model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304380016301995
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecomod:v:336:y:2016:i:c:p:36-56

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2016.05.019

Access Statistics for this article

Ecological Modelling is currently edited by Brian D. Fath

More articles in Ecological Modelling from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().