The Impact of Crop Rotation and Spatially Varying Crop Parameters in the E3SM Land Model (ELMv2)
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Published:2023-03
Issue:3
Volume:128
Page:
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ISSN:2169-8953
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Container-title:Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
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language:en
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Short-container-title:JGR Biogeosciences
Author:
Sinha Eva1ORCID,
Bond‐Lamberty Ben2ORCID,
Calvin Katherine V.2ORCID,
Drewniak Beth A.3ORCID,
Bisht Gautam1ORCID,
Bernacchi Carl45ORCID,
Blakely Bethany J.5,
Moore Caitlin E.56
Affiliation:
1. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Richland WA USA
2. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Joint Global Change Research Institute College Park MD USA
3. Argonne National Laboratory Lemont IL USA
4. Global Change and Photosynthesis Research Unit USDA‐ARS Urbana IL USA
5. University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign Urbana IL USA
6. School of Agriculture and Environment The University of Western Australia Crawley WA Australia
Abstract
AbstractEarth System Models (ESMs) are increasingly representing agriculture due to its impact on biogeochemical cycles, local and regional climate, and fundamental importance for human society. Realistic large scale simulations may require spatially varying crop parameters that capture crop growth at various scales and among different cultivars, as well as common crop management practices, but their importance is uncertain, and they are often not represented in ESMs. In this study, we examine the impact of using constant versus spatially varying crop parameters using a novel, realistic crop rotation scenario in the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) Land Model version 2 (ELMv2). We implemented crop rotation by using ELMv2's dynamic land unit capability, and then calibrated and validated the model against observations collected at three AmeriFlux sites in the US Midwest with corn soybean rotation. The calibrated model closely captured the magnitude and observed seasonality of carbon and energy fluxes across crops and sites. We performed regional simulations for the US Midwest using the calibrated model and found that spatially varying only a few crop parameters across the region, as opposed to using constant parameters, had a large impact, with the carbon fluxes and energy fluxes both varying by up to 40%. These results imply that large scale ESM simulations using spatially invariant crop parameters may result in biased energy and carbon fluxes estimation from agricultural land, and underline the importance of improving human‐earth systems interactions in ESMs.
Funder
U.S. Department of Energy
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Office of Science
Biological and Environmental Research
Energy Biosciences Institute
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Agricultural Research Service
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Subject
Paleontology,Atmospheric Science,Soil Science,Water Science and Technology,Ecology,Aquatic Science,Forestry