Leveraging the signature of heterotrophic respiration on atmospheric CO2 for model benchmarking
Abstract
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,more »
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1604475
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1802624; OSTI ID: 1863816; OSTI ID: 2228927
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0014374; SC0016364; NNX17AK19G
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Biogeosciences (Online)
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Biogeosciences (Online) Journal Volume: 17 Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 1726-4189
- Publisher:
- Copernicus Publications, EGU
- Country of Publication:
- Germany
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; 58 GEOSCIENCES; Environmental Sciences & Ecology; Geology
Citation Formats
Basile, Samantha J., Lin, Xin, Wieder, William R., Hartman, Melannie D., and Keppel-Aleks, Gretchen. Leveraging the signature of heterotrophic respiration on atmospheric CO2 for model benchmarking. Germany: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.5194/bg-17-1293-2020.
Basile, Samantha J., Lin, Xin, Wieder, William R., Hartman, Melannie D., & Keppel-Aleks, Gretchen. Leveraging the signature of heterotrophic respiration on atmospheric CO2 for model benchmarking. Germany. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-1293-2020
Basile, Samantha J., Lin, Xin, Wieder, William R., Hartman, Melannie D., and Keppel-Aleks, Gretchen. Fri .
"Leveraging the signature of heterotrophic respiration on atmospheric CO2 for model benchmarking". Germany. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-1293-2020.
@article{osti_1604475,
title = {Leveraging the signature of heterotrophic respiration on atmospheric CO2 for model benchmarking},
author = {Basile, Samantha J. and Lin, Xin and Wieder, William R. and Hartman, Melannie D. and Keppel-Aleks, Gretchen},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.5194/bg-17-1293-2020},
journal = {Biogeosciences (Online)},
number = 5,
volume = 17,
place = {Germany},
year = {Fri Mar 13 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Fri Mar 13 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}
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https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-1293-2020
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