Impact of fine-scale species change on the energy budget in an Earth System Model

Jacquelyn K. Shuman, University of Virginia, jkshuman@virginia.edu (Presenter)
Peter J. Lawrence, National Center for Atmospheric Research, lawrence@ucar.edu
Gordon B. Bonan, National Center for Atmospheric Research, bonan@ucar.edu
Herman Henry Shugart, University of Virginia, hhs@virginia.edu

Forest modeling is an important tool in forecasting land cover response to changing climate and disturbance patterns, and individual tree species are an essential piece. Future climate conditions are projected to impact the distribution of terrestrial ecosystems and individual species. The high latitude forests of Russia are shown to have a strong impact on the energy budget, with changes in the species distribution capable of altering the energy budget. A detailed individual species-based forest gap model (UVAFME) is used to simulate a mature forest at 31,010 grid cells across Russia for historic climate conditions and update the Russian forest percent species coverage within the NCAR Earth system model (CESM). UVAFME simulates and tracks each individual tree as they establish, compete, and grow in a mixed species forest over time, thus providing a detailed perspective of a generalized forest community and species change through succession over time. The fine-scale results of UVAFME for a mature forest are grouped into plant functional types and aggregated spatially to match the classification and spatial scale of CLM 4.5, the land portion of CESM. UVAFME simulated mature forest contains more of the deciduous conifer larch within central Siberia than the existing CLM 4.5 land cover. Comparisons between uncoupled simulations, with and without active biogeochemistry, for the forest modified according to UVAFME results and the current CLM forest, show a difference in the energy budget, with increased albedo and decreased net radiation localized over areas with an altered percent coverage of the deciduous needled conifer larch. The magnitude of the change in the energy budget increases with the use of active biogeochemistry. These comparisons suggest that fine-scale species composition change and the use of active biogeochemistry are both important in evaluating the response of the energy budget to forest change.

Presentation Type:  Poster

Session:  General Contributions   (Tue 4:35 PM)

Associated Project(s): 

• Shugart, Hank: Synthesis of forest growth, response to wildfires and carbon storage for Russian forests using a distributed, individual-based forest model ...details

Poster Location ID: 222