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Title: BioEarth: Envisioning and developing a new regional earth system model to inform natural and agricultural resource management

Journal Article · · Climatic Change
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  1. Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)
  2. Clark Univ., Worcester, MA (United States)
  3. Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
  4. Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)
  5. Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States); Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  6. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  7. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
  8. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
  9. AIR Worldwide, Boston, MA (United States)
  10. Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States)
  11. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Uncertainties in global change impacts, the complexities associated with the interconnected cycling of nitrogen, carbon, and water present daunting management challenges. Existing models provide detailed information on specific sub-systems (e.g., land, air, water, and economics). An increasing awareness of the unintended consequences of management decisions resulting from interconnectedness of these sub-systems, however, necessitates coupled regional earth system models (EaSMs). Decision makers’ needs and priorities can be integrated into the model design and development processes to enhance decision-making relevance and “usability” of EaSMs. BioEarth is a research initiative currently under development with a focus on the U.S. Pacific Northwest region that explores the coupling of multiple stand-alone EaSMs to generate usable information for resource decision-making. Direct engagement between model developers and non-academic stakeholders involved in resource and environmental management decisions throughout the model development process is a critical component of this effort. BioEarth utilizes a bottom-up approach for its land surface model that preserves fine spatial-scale sensitivities and lateral hydrologic connectivity, which makes it unique among many regional EaSMs. Here, we describe the BioEarth initiative and highlights opportunities and challenges associated with coupling multiple stand-alone models to generate usable information for agricultural and natural resource decision-making.

Research Organization:
Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States); Univ. of Washington, Pullman, WA (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0006856; 2011-67003-30346
OSTI ID:
1252478
Journal Information:
Climatic Change, Vol. 129, Issue 3; ISSN 0165-0009
Publisher:
SpringerCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 27 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (9)

Relationships between the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, precipitation, and nitrogen wet deposition rates in the contiguous United States journal November 2016
Representing agriculture in Earth System Models: Approaches and priorities for development: AGRICULTURE IN ESMS journal September 2017
Watershed System Model: The Essentials to Model Complex Human-Nature System at the River Basin Scale journal March 2018
Impact of interactive vegetation phenology on the Canadian RCM simulated climate over North America journal November 2014
The Need for an Integrated Land-Lake-Atmosphere Modeling System, Exemplified by North America's Great Lakes Region journal October 2018
When Should Irrigators Invest in More Water‐Efficient Technologies as an Adaptation to Climate Change? journal November 2018
Plant hydraulics improves and topography mediates prediction of aspen mortality in southwestern USA journal July 2016
The Variable Infiltration Capacity model version 5 (VIC-5): infrastructure improvements for new applications and reproducibility journal January 2018
The significance of land-atmosphere interactions in the Earth system—iLEAPS achievements and perspectives journal December 2015

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
EaSMs
BioEarth initiative
natural resources