Are vegetation-specific model parameters required for estimating gross primary production?

Models of gross primary production (GPP) are currently parameterized with vegetation-specific parameter sets and therefore require accurate information on the distribution of vegetation to drive them. Can this parameterization scheme be replaced with a vegetation-invariant parameter set that can maintain or increase model applicability while reducing errors introduced from the uncertainty of land cover classification? Based on the measurements of ecosystem carbon fluxes from 150 globally distributed sites, we examined the predictive capacity of seven light use efficiency (LUE) models using vegetation invariant parameters across all vegetation types. Two model experiments were conducted using constant parameters for various vegetation types and vegetation-specific parameters. The results showed no significant differences in model performance between the GPP simulations from the two experiments among the seven LUE models. These results indicate that the application of LUE models can potentially be simplified with a constant parameterization scheme that is independent of land cover types and associated vegetation characteristics.

YUAN Wenping;  LIU S.;  CAI W;  DONG W;  CHEN J;  ARAIN Altaf;  BLANKEN P.D.;  CESCATTI Alessandro;  WOHLFAHRT Georg;  GEORGIADIS T.;  GENESIO Lorenzo;  GIANELLE Damiano;  GRELLE Achim;  KIELY Gerard;  KNOHL A.;  MAREK Michael;  MERBOLD Lutz;  MONTAGNANI Leonardo;  PANFEROV O;  PELTONIEMI M;  RAMBAL S.;  RASCHI A.;  VARLAGIN Andrej;  XIA J; 

2015-01-27

COPERNICUS GESELLSCHAFT MBH

JRC89717

1991-959X,   

www.geosci-model-dev-discuss.net/6/5475/2013/,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC89717,   

10.5194/gmdd-6-5475-2013,