Evaluation of modelled methane emissions over high-latitude wetlands

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yao Gao ◽  
Eleanor Burke ◽  
Sarah Chadburn ◽  
Maarit Raivonen ◽  
Timo Vesala ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Respiration ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Water Table ◽  
High Latitude ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Water Table Depth ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Emission Model ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Positive Feedbacks

<p>Atmospheric emissions and concentrations of CH<sub>4</sub> are continuing to increase, making CH<sub>4</sub> the second most important human-influenced greenhouse gas in terms of climate forcing, after CO<sub>2</sub>. Previous studies indicated that wetland CH<sub>4</sub> emission is not only the single largest but also the most uncertain natural source in the global CH<sub>4</sub> budget. Furthermore, the strong sensitivity of wetland CH<sub>4</sub> emissions to environmental conditions has raised concerns on potential positive feedbacks to climate change. Therefore, evaluation of the process-based land surface models of earth system models (ESMs) in simulating CH<sub>4</sub> emission over wetlands is needed for more precise future predictions. In this work, a set of high-latitude wetland sites with various nutrient conditions are studied. The wetland CH<sub>4</sub> fluxes are simulated by the land surface model JULES of the UK Earth System model and the Helsinki peatland methane emission model (HIMMELI), which is developed at Finnish Meteorological Institute and Helsinki University. The differences between the modelled and observed CH<sub>4</sub> fluxes are analyzed, complemented with key environmental variables for interpretation (e.g. soil temperature and moisture, vegetation types, snow depth, NPP, soil carbon). In general, the simulated CH<sub>4</sub> fluxes by HIMMELI is closer to the observed CH<sub>4</sub> fluxes in magnitude and seasonality at sites than those by JULES. The inter-annual variability of simulated CH<sub>4</sub> fluxes by HIMMELI depends on the simulated anoxic soil respiration, which serves as the substrate of the CH<sub>4</sub> fluxes in HIMMELI. The anoxic soil respiration is calculated based on the simulated soil respiration and water table depth in JULES. More accurate simulation of soil carbon pool and water table depth in JULES will lead to improvement in the simulated anoxic soil respiration.</p>

scholarly journals ORCHIDEE MICT-LEAK (r5459), a global model for the production, transport, and transformation of dissolved organic carbon from Arctic permafrost regions – Part 1: Rationale, model description, and simulation protocol

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 3503-3521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon P. K. Bowring ◽  
Ronny Lauerwald ◽  
Bertrand Guenet ◽  
Dan Zhu ◽  
Matthieu Guimberteau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Dissolved Organic Carbon ◽  
High Latitude ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
River Network ◽  
Model Description ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
System Modelling ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Simulation Protocol

Abstract. Few Earth system models adequately represent the unique permafrost soil biogeochemistry and its respective processes; this significantly contributes to uncertainty in estimating their responses, and that of the planet at large, to warming. Likewise, the riverine component of what is known as the “boundless carbon cycle” is seldom recognised in Earth system modelling. The hydrological mobilisation of organic material from a ∼1330–1580 PgC carbon stock to the river network results in either sedimentary settling or atmospheric “evasion”, processes widely expected to increase with amplified Arctic climate warming. Here, the production, transport, and atmospheric release of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from high-latitude permafrost soils into inland waters and the ocean are explicitly represented for the first time in the land surface component (ORCHIDEE) of a CMIP6 global climate model (Institut Pierre Simon Laplace – IPSL). The model, ORCHIDEE MICT-LEAK, which represents the merger of previously described ORCHIDEE versions MICT and LEAK, mechanistically represents (a) vegetation and soil physical processes for high-latitude snow, ice, and soil phenomena and (b) the cycling of DOC and CO2, including atmospheric evasion, along the terrestrial–aquatic continuum from soils through the river network to the coast at 0.5 to 2∘ resolution. This paper, the first in a two-part study, presents the rationale for including these processes in a high-latitude-specific land surface model, then describes the model with a focus on novel process implementations, followed by a summary of the model configuration and simulation protocol. The results of these simulation runs, conducted for the Lena River basin, are evaluated against observational data in the second part of this study.

scholarly journals A vertical representation of soil carbon in the JULES land surface scheme (vn4.3_permafrost) with a focus on permafrost regions

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 959-975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor J. Burke ◽  
Sarah E. Chadburn ◽  
Altug Ekici
Keyword(s):  
Soil Respiration ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Soil Layer ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Permafrost Region ◽  
Standard Version ◽  
Discretized Model ◽  
Permafrost Regions

Abstract. An improved representation of the carbon cycle in permafrost regions will enable more realistic projections of the future climate–carbon system. Currently JULES (the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator) – the land surface model of the UK Earth System Model (UKESM) – uses the standard four-pool RothC soil carbon model. This paper describes a new version of JULES (vn4.3_permafrost) in which the soil vertical dimension is added to the soil carbon model, with a set of four pools in every soil layer. The respiration rate in each soil layer depends on the temperature and moisture conditions in that layer. Cryoturbation/bioturbation processes, which transfer soil carbon between layers, are represented by diffusive mixing. The litter inputs and the soil respiration are both parametrized to decrease with increasing depth. The model now includes a tracer so that selected soil carbon can be labelled and tracked through a simulation. Simulations show an improvement in the large-scale horizontal and vertical distribution of soil carbon over the standard version of JULES (vn4.3). Like the standard version of JULES, the vertically discretized model is still unable to simulate enough soil carbon in the tundra regions. This is in part because JULES underestimates the plant productivity over the tundra, but also because not all of the processes relevant for the accumulation of permafrost carbon, such as peat development, are included in the model. In comparison with the standard model, the vertically discretized model shows a delay in the onset of soil respiration in the spring, resulting in an increased net uptake of carbon during this time. In order to provide a more suitable representation of permafrost carbon for quantifying the permafrost carbon feedback within UKESM, the deep soil carbon in the permafrost region (below 1 m) was initialized using the observed soil carbon. There is now a slight drift in the soil carbon ( <  0.018 % decade−1), but the change in simulated soil carbon over the 20th century, when there is little climate change, is comparable to the original vertically discretized model and significantly larger than the drift.

scholarly journals Development of a Coupled Land Surface Hydrologic Model and Evaluation at a Critical Zone Observatory

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 1401-1420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuning Shi ◽  
Kenneth J. Davis ◽  
Christopher J. Duffy ◽  
Xuan Yu
Keyword(s):  
Latent Heat ◽  
Water Table ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Hydrologic Model ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Water Table Depth ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Land Surface Scheme ◽  
Model Predictions ◽  
Surface Scheme

Abstract A fully coupled land surface hydrologic model, Flux-PIHM, is developed by incorporating a land surface scheme into the Penn State Integrated Hydrologic Model (PIHM). The land surface scheme is adapted from the Noah land surface model. Because PIHM is capable of simulating lateral water flow and deep groundwater at spatial resolutions sufficient to resolve upland stream networks, Flux-PIHM is able to represent heterogeneities due to topography and soils at high resolution, including spatial structure in the link between groundwater and the surface energy balance (SEB). Flux-PIHM has been implemented at the Shale Hills watershed (0.08 km2) in central Pennsylvania. Multistate observations of discharge, water table depth, soil moisture, soil temperature, and sensible and latent heat fluxes in June and July 2009 are used to manually calibrate Flux-PIHM at hourly temporal resolution. Model predictions from 1 March to 1 December 2009 are evaluated. Both hydrologic predictions and SEB predictions show good agreement with observations. Comparisons of model predictions between Flux-PIHM and the original PIHM show that the inclusion of the complex SEB simulation only brings slight improvement in hourly model discharge predictions. Flux-PIHM adds the ability of simulating SEB to PIHM and does improve the prediction of hourly evapotranspiration, the prediction of total runoff (discharge), and the predictions of some peak discharge events, especially after extended dry periods. Model results reveal that annual average sensible and latent heat fluxes are strongly correlated with water table depth, and the correlation is especially strong for the model grids near the stream.

scholarly journals ORCHIDEE MICT-LEAK (r5459), a global model for the production, transport and transformation of dissolved organic carbon from Arctic permafrost regions, Part 1: Rationale, model description and simulation protocol

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon P. K. Bowring ◽  
Ronny Lauerwald ◽  
Bertrand Guenet ◽  
Dan Zhu ◽  
Matthieu Guimberteau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Dissolved Organic Carbon ◽  
High Latitude ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Global Climate Model ◽  
River Network ◽  
Model Description ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Simulation Protocol

Abstract. Few Earth System models adequately represent the unique permafrost soil biogeochemistry and its respective processes; this significantly contributes to uncertainty in estimating their responses, and that of the planet at large, to warming. Likewise, the riverine component of what is known as the "boundless carbon cycle" is seldom recognized in Earth System modeling. Hydrological mobilization of organic material from a ~ 1330–1580 PgC carbon stock to the river network results either in sedimentary settling or atmospheric "evasion", processes widely expected to increase with amplified Arctic climate warming. Here, the production, transport and atmospheric release of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from high-latitude permafrost soils into inland waters and the ocean is explicitly represented for the first time in the land surface component (ORCHIDEE) of a CMIP6 global climate model (IPSL). The model, ORCHIDEE MICT-LEAK, mechanistically represents (a) vegetation and soil physical processes for high latitude snow, ice and soil phenomena, and (b) the cycling of DOC and CO2, including atmospheric evasion, along the terrestrial-aquatic continuum from soils through the river network to the coast, at 0.5° to 2° resolution. This paper, the first in a two-part study, presents the rationale for including these processes in a high latitude specific land surface model, then describes the model with a focus on novel process implementations, followed by a summary of the model configuration and simulation protocol. The results of these simulation runs, conducted for the Lena River basin, are evaluated against observational data in the second part of this study.

scholarly journals A vertical representation of soil carbon in the JULES land surface scheme with a focus on permafrost regions

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor J. Burke ◽  
Sarah E. Chadburn ◽  
Altug Ekici
Keyword(s):  
Soil Respiration ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Soil Layer ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Permafrost Region ◽  
Deep Soil ◽  
Standard Version ◽  
Permafrost Regions

Abstract. An improved representation of the carbon cycle in permafrost regions will enable more realistic projections of the future climate-carbon system. Currently JULES (the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator) – the land surface model of the UK Earth System Model (UKESM) – uses the standard 4-pool RothC soil carbon model. This paper describes a new version of JULES (vn4.3_permafrost) in which the soil vertical dimension is added to the soil carbon model, with a set of four pools in every soil layer. The respiration rate in each soil layer depends on the temperature and moisture conditions in that layer. Cryoturbation/bioturbation processes, which transfer soil carbon between layers, are represented by diffusive mixing. The litter inputs and the soil respiration are both parameterised to decrease with increasing depth. The model now includes a tracer so that selected soil carbon can be labelled and tracked through a simulation. Simulations show an improvement in the large-scale horizontal and vertical distribution of soil carbon over the standard version of JULES (vn4.3). Like the standard version of JULES, the vertically discretised model is still unable to simulate enough soil carbon in the tundra regions. This is in part because JULES underestimates the plant productivity over the tundra, but also because not all of the processes relevant for the accumulation of permafrost carbon are included in the model. In comparison with the standard model, the vertically discretised model shows a delay in the onset of soil respiration in the spring, resulting in an increased net uptake of carbon during this time. In order to provide a more suitable representation of permafrost carbon for quantifying the permafrost carbon feedback within UKESM, the deep soil carbon in the permafrost region (below 1 m) was initialised using the observed soil carbon. There is now a slight drift in the soil carbon (

scholarly journals The use of radiocarbon <sup>14</sup>C to constrain carbon dynamics in the soil module of the land surface model ORCHIDEE (SVN r5165)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marwa Tifafi ◽  
Marta Camino-Serrano ◽  
Christine Hatté ◽  
Hector Morras ◽  
Lucas Moretti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Carbon Stock ◽  
Land Surface Model ◽  
Carbon Dynamics ◽  
Total Carbon ◽  
Soil Parameters ◽  
Surface Model

Abstract. Despite the importance of soil as a large component of the terrestrial ecosystems, the soil compartments are not well represented in the Land Surface Models (LSMs). Indeed, soils in current LSMs are generally represented based on a very simplified schema that can induce a misrepresentation of the deep dynamics of soil carbon. Here, we present a new version of the IPSL-Land Surface Model called ORCHIDEE-SOM, incorporating the 14C dynamic in the soil. ORCHIDEE-SOM, first, simulates soil carbon dynamics for different layers, down to 2 m depth. Second, concentration of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and its transport are modeled. Finally, soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition is considered taking into account the priming effect. After implementing the 14C in the soil module of the model, we evaluated model outputs against observations of soil organic carbon and 14C activity (F14C) for different sites with different characteristics. The model managed to reproduce the soil organic carbon stocks and the F14C along the vertical profiles. However, an overestimation of the total carbon stock was noted, but was mostly marked on the surface. Then, thanks to the introduction of 14C, it has been possible to highlight an underestimation of the age of carbon in the soil. Thereafter, two different tests on this new version have been established. The first was to increase carbon residence time of the passive pool and decrease the flux from the slow pool to the passive pool. The second was to establish an equation of diffusion, initially constant throughout the profile, making it vary exponentially as a function of depth. The first modifications did not improve the capacity of the model to reproduce observations whereas the second test showed a decrease of the soil carbon stock overestimation, especially at the surface and an improvement of the estimates of the carbon age. This assumes that we should focus more on vertical variation of soil parameters as a function of depth, mainly for diffusion, in order to upgrade the representation of global carbon cycle in LSMs, thereby helping to improve predictions of the future response of soil organic carbon to global warming.

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