skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Representing northern peatland microtopography and hydrology within the Community Land Model

Journal Article · · Biogeosciences (Online)
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [3]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  2. USDA Forest Service, Grand Rapids, MN (United States)
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Predictive understanding of northern peatland hydrology is a necessary precursor to understanding the fate of massive carbon stores in these systems under the influence of present and future climate change. Current models have begun to address microtopographic controls on peatland hydrology, but none have included a prognostic calculation of peatland water table depth for a vegetated wetland, independent of prescribed regional water tables. We introduce here a new configuration of the Community Land Model (CLM) which includes a fully prognostic water table calculation for a vegetated peatland. Our structural and process changes to CLM focus on modifications needed to represent the hydrologic cycle of bogs environment with perched water tables, as well as distinct hydrologic dynamics and vegetation communities of the raised hummock and sunken hollow microtopography characteristic of peatland bogs. The modified model was parameterized and independently evaluated against observations from an ombrotrophic raised-dome bog in northern Minnesota (S1-Bog), the site for the Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Climatic and Environmental Change experiment (SPRUCE). Simulated water table levels compared well with site-level observations. The new model predicts hydrologic changes in response to planned warming at the SPRUCE site. At present, standing water is commonly observed in bog hollows after large rainfall events during the growing season, but simulations suggest a sharp decrease in water table levels due to increased evapotranspiration under the most extreme warming level, nearly eliminating the occurrence of standing water in the growing season. Simulated soil energy balance was strongly influenced by reduced winter snowpack under warming simulations, with the warming influence on soil temperature partly offset by the loss of insulating snowpack in early and late winter. Furthermore, the new model provides improved predictive capacity for seasonal hydrological dynamics in northern peatlands, and provides a useful foundation for investigation of northern peatland carbon exchange.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1255652
Journal Information:
Biogeosciences (Online), Vol. 12, Issue 21; ISSN 1726-4189
Publisher:
European Geosciences UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 59 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (63)

Vertical zonation of Sphagnum mosses along hummock-hollow gradients journal December 1983
Modeling the large-scale effects of surface moisture heterogeneity on wetland carbon fluxes in the West Siberian Lowland journal January 2013
Improved simulation of poorly drained forests using Biome-BGC journal May 2007
The carbon balance of North American wetlands journal December 2006
Soil Temperature and Nutrient Cycling in the Tussock Growth Form of Eriophorum Vaginatum journal March 1979
Distributed hydrological model for mapping evapotranspiration using remote sensing inputs journal April 2005
Effects of topography on simulated net primary productivity at landscape scale journal November 2007
Self-organization in raised bog patterning: the origin of microtope zonation and mesotope diversity: Self-organization in raised bog patterning journal June 2005
Distribution and Movement of Elements in Ombrotrophic Peat Bogs journal January 1978
Modeling the effects of hydrology on gross primary productivity and net ecosystem productivity at Mer Bleue bog journal January 2011
Nutrients and Hydrology Indicate the Driving Mechanisms of Peatland Surface Patterning journal June 2009
Modeling seasonal to annual carbon balance of Mer Bleue Bog, Ontario, Canada: MODELING PEATLAND CARBON BALANCE journal July 2002
A new model of Holocene peatland net primary production, decomposition, water balance, and peat accumulation journal January 2010
Land surface insulation response to snow depth variability journal January 2010
Northern Peatlands: Role in the Carbon Cycle and Probable Responses to Climatic Warming journal May 1991
Modelling contrasting responses of wetland productivity to changes in water table depth journal January 2012
A method for experimental heating of intact soil profiles for application to climate change experiments: EXPERIMENTAL HEATING OF INTACT SOIL PROFILES journal January 2011
Modelling and analysis of peatlands as dynamical systems journal April 2000
A set of equations for full spectrum and 8- to 14-μm and 10.5- to 12.5-μm thermal radiation from cloudless skies journal April 1981
High sensitivity of peat decomposition to climate change through water-table feedback journal October 2008
Species-Controlled Sphagnum Decay on a South Swedish Raised Bog journal June 1991
Hydrological effects on carbon cycles of Canada’s forests and wetlands journal January 2006
A wetland hydrology and water quality model incorporating surface water/groundwater interactions: WETLAND HYDROLOGY-WATER QUALITY MODEL journal April 2007
The effect of vertically resolved soil biogeochemistry and alternate soil C and N models on C dynamics of CLM4 journal January 2013
Seasonal trends in energy, water, and carbon dioxide fluxes at a northern boreal wetland journal December 1997
Interannual variability in the peatland-atmosphere carbon dioxide exchange at an ombrotrophic bog: CARBON BALANCE AT AN OMBROTROPHIC BOG journal April 2003
Incorporating organic soil into a global climate model journal June 2007
Evaluating runoff simulations from the Community Land Model 4.0 using observations from flux towers and a mountainous watershed: EVALUATING RUNOFF SIMULATIONS FROM CLM4 journal December 2011
Peatlands and the carbon cycle: from local processes to global implications – a synthesis journal January 2008
Factors influencing size inequality in peatland black spruce and tamarack: evidence from post‐drainage release growth journal June 1999
Modelling effects of seasonal variation in water table depth on net ecosystem CO 2 exchange of a tropical peatland journal January 2014
A season of heat, water vapor, total hydrocarbon, and ozone fluxes at a subarctic fen journal January 1994
Growth and net production of Sphagnum at five fen sites, subarctic eastern Canada journal April 1989
The role of hydrological transience in peatland pattern formation journal January 2013
Temperature of upland and peatland soils in a north central Minnesota forest journal August 1998
Stream flow and ground water recharge from small forested watersheds in north central Minnesota journal May 2001
A simple TOPMODEL-based runoff parameterization (SIMTOP) for use in global climate models journal January 2005
Modelling microtopography in boreal peatlands: hummocks and hollows journal July 2003
Improvements to the Community Land Model and their impact on the hydrological cycle: COMMUNITY LAND MODEL HYDROLOGY journal March 2008
Constitutive Model for Unfrozen Water Content in Subfreezing Unsaturated Soils journal January 2014
Modeling challenges for predicting hydrologic response to degrading permafrost journal November 2012
Uncertainty in Peat Volume and Soil Carbon Estimated Using Ground-Penetrating Radar and Probing journal January 2012
Barriers to predicting changes in global terrestrial methane fluxes: analyses using CLM4Me, a methane biogeochemistry model integrated in CESM journal January 2011
Interactive effects of water table and precipitation on net CO 2 assimilation of three co-occurring Sphagnum mosses differing in distribution above the water table journal March 2009
Combined effects of varying water content and CO2 concentration on photosynthesis in Spagnum fuscum journal August 1990
CO 2 Fluxes from Peat in Boreal Mires under Varying Temperature and Moisture Conditions journal April 1996
Spatially explicit simulation of peatland hydrology and carbon dioxide exchange: Influence of mesoscale topography: PEATLAND HYDROLOGY AND CO journal April 2008
A Simulation Model of Mire Patterning journal November 1988
McGill wetland model: evaluation of a peatland carbon simulator developed for global assessments journal January 2010
The Impact of Climate Change on Canadian Peatlands journal January 2009
The resilience and functional role of moss in boreal and arctic ecosystems: Tansley review journal August 2012
Peat CO2 production in a natural and cutover peatland: Implications for restoration journal June 2001
Implementation and evaluation of a new methane model within a dynamic global vegetation model: LPJ-WHyMe v1.3.1 journal January 2010
Effect of changes in water content on photosynthesis, transpiration and discrimination against 13CO2 and C18O16O in Pleurozium and Sphagnum journal January 1996
Simulation of six years of carbon fluxes for a sedge-dominated oligotrophic minerogenic peatland in Northern Sweden using the McGill Wetland Model (MWM): SIMULATING CARBON FLUXES FOR A SEDGE-DOMINATED PEATLAND journal May 2013
Evapotranspiration dynamics in a boreal peatland and its impact on the water and energy balance journal January 2010
McGill Wetland Model: evaluation of a peatland carbon simulator developed for global assessments journal January 2008
Peatlands and the carbon cycle: from local processes to global implications – a synthesis journal January 2008
A new model of Holocene peatland net primary production, decomposition, water balance, and peat accumulation journal January 2010
The role of hydrological transience in peatland pattern formation posted_content June 2013
Watershed hydrology book September 2008
Barriers to predicting changes in global terrestrial methane fluxes: analyses using CLM4Me, a methane biogeochemistry model integrated in CESM journal January 2011
Hydrological effects on carbon cycles of Canada's forests and wetlands journal February 2006

Cited By (13)

Intermediate-scale community-level flux of CO2 and CH4 in a Minnesota peatland: putting the SPRUCE project in a global context journal August 2016
Assessing runoff generation in riparian wetlands: monitoring groundwater–surface water dynamics at the micro-catchment scale journal January 2019
Subsidence and carbon dioxide emissions in a smallholder peatland mosaic in Sumatra, Indonesia journal March 2018
Fine-root growth in a forested bog is seasonally dynamic, but shallowly distributed in nutrient-poor peat journal March 2017
Dynamic Vertical Profiles of Peat Porewater Chemistry in a Northern Peatland journal October 2016
Global wetland contribution to 2000–2012 atmospheric methane growth rate dynamics journal September 2017
Assessing the Value of UAV Photogrammetry for Characterizing Terrain in Complex Peatlands journal July 2017
Attaining whole-ecosystem warming using air and deep-soil heating methods with an elevated CO 2 atmosphere journal January 2017
Implementing northern peatlands in a global land surface model: description and evaluation in the ORCHIDEE high-latitude version model (ORC-HL-PEAT) journal January 2018
ORCHIDEE-PEAT (revision 4596), a model for northern peatland CO2, water, and energy fluxes on daily to annual scales journal January 2018
Global wetland contribution to 2000–2012 atmospheric methane growth rate dynamics text January 2017
ORCHIDEE-PEAT (revision 4596), a model for northern peatland CO2, water, and energy fluxes on daily to annual scales text January 2018
PEAT-CLSM: A Specific Treatment of Peatland Hydrology in the NASA Catchment Land Surface Model text January 2019

Similar Records

Representing northern peatland microtopography and hydrology within the Community Land Model
Journal Article · Fri Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Biogeosciences Discussions (Online) · OSTI ID:1255652

SPRUCE Representing Northern Peatland Microtopography and Hydrology within the Community Land Model: Modeling Archive
Dataset · Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · OSTI ID:1255652

Incorporating Microtopography in a Land Surface Model and Quantifying the Effect on the Carbon Cycle
Journal Article · Fri Feb 04 00:00:00 EST 2022 · Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems · OSTI ID:1255652

Related Subjects