Leveraging the signature of heterotrophic respiration on atmospheric CO2 for model benchmarking

Basile, Samantha J.; Lin, Xin; Wieder, William R.; Hartman, Melannie D.; Keppel-Aleks, Gretchen

doi:10.5194/bg-17-1293-2020

Title: Leveraging the signature of heterotrophic respiration on atmospheric CO₂ for model benchmarking

Journal Article · Fri Mar 13 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Biogeosciences (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-1293-2020· OSTI ID:1604475

;

; Hartman, Melannie D.; Keppel-Aleks, Gretchen

Spatial and temporal variations in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) reflect large-scale net carbon exchange between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems. Soil heterotrophic respiration (HR) is one of the component fluxes that drive this net exchange, but, given observational limitations, it is difficult to quantify this flux or to evaluate global-scale model simulations thereof. Here, we show that atmospheric CO₂ can provide a useful constraint on large-scale patterns of soil heterotrophic respiration. We analyze three soil model configurations (CASA-CNP, MIMICS, and CORPSE) that simulate HR fluxes within a biogeochemical test bed that provides each model with identical net primary productivity (NPP) and climate forcings. We subsequently quantify the effects of variation in simulated terrestrial carbon fluxes (NPP and HR from the three soil test-bed models) on atmospheric CO₂ distributions using a three-dimensional atmospheric tracer transport model. Our results show that atmospheric CO₂ observations can be used to identify deficiencies in model simulations of the seasonal cycle and interannual variability in HR relative to NPP. In particular, the two models that explicitly simulated microbial processes (MIMICS and CORPSE) were more variable than observations at interannual timescales and showed a stronger-than-observed temperature sensitivity. Our results prompt future research directions to use atmospheric CO₂, in combination with additional constraints on terrestrial productivity or soil carbon stocks, for evaluating HR fluxes.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0014374; SC0016364; NNX17AK19G

OSTI ID:: 1604475

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1802624; OSTI ID: 1863816; OSTI ID: 2228927

Journal Information:: Biogeosciences (Online), Journal Name: Biogeosciences (Online) Vol. 17 Journal Issue: 5; ISSN 1726-4189

Publisher:: Copernicus Publications, EGUCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: Germany

Language:: English

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Cited by: 8 works

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