Validation of 3D-CMCC Forest Ecosystem Model (v.5.1) against eddy covariance data for ten European forest sites

Abstract

Abstract. This study evaluates the performances of the new version (v.5.1) of 3D-CMCC Forest Ecosystem Model (FEM) in simulating gross primary production (GPP), against eddy covariance GPP data for ten FLUXNET forest sites across Europe. A new carbon allocation module, coupled with new both phenological and autotrophic respiration schemes, was implemented in this new version. Model ability in reproducing timing and magnitude of daily and monthly GPP fluctuations is validated at intra-annual and inter-annual scale, including extreme anomalous seasons. With the purpose to test the 3D-CMCC FEM applicability over Europe without a site-related calibration, the model has been deliberately parameterized with a single set of species-specific parameterizations for each forest ecosystem. The model consistently reproduces both in timing and in magnitude daily and monthly GPP variability across all sites, with the exception of the two Mediterranean sites. We find that 3D-CMCC FEM tends to better simulate the timing of inter-annual anomalies than their magnitude within measurements uncertainty. In six of eight sites where data were available the model well reproduces the 2003 summer drought event. Finally, for three sites we evaluate if a more accurate representation of forest structural characteristics (i.e. cohorts, forest layers) and species composition can improve model results. In two of the three sites results reveal that model slightly increases its performances, although, statistically speaking, not in a relevant way.