Abstract. Nitrogen and phosphorus biogeochemical dynamics are crucial for the regulation of the terrestrial carbon cycle. In Earth System Models (ESMs) the implementation of nutrient limitations has been shown to improve the carbon cycle feedback representation and hence, improve the fidelity of the response of land to simulated atmospheric CO2 rise. Here we aimed to implement a terrestrial nitrogen and phosphorus cycle in an Earth system model of intermediate complexity to improve projections of the future CO2 fertilization feedbacks. The nitrogen cycle is an improved version of the Wania et al. (2012) Nitrogen (N) module, with enforcement of N mass conservation and the merger with a deep land-surface and wetland module that allows for the estimation of N2O and NO fluxes. The N cycle module estimates fluxes from three organic (litter, soil organic matter and vegetation) and two inorganic (NH4+ and NO3-) pools, accounts for inputs from biological nitrogen fixation and N deposition. The P cycle module contains the same organic pools with one inorganic P pool, it estimates influx of P from rock weathering and losses from leaching and occlusion. Two historical simulations are carried for the different nutrient limitation setups of the model: carbon and nitrogen (CN) and carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus (CNP), with a baseline carbon only simulation. The improved N cycle module now conserves mass and the added fluxes (NO and N2O), along with the N and P pools are within the range of other studies and literature. The implementation of nutrient limitation resulted in a reduction of GPP from the Carbon-Nitrogen (133 Pg yr-1) and Carbon-Nitrogen-Phosphorus (129 Pg yr-1) simulations by the year 2020, which implies that the model efficiently represents a nutrient limitation over the CO2 fertilization effect. CNP simulation resulted in a reduction of 10 % of the mean GPP and a reduction of 23 % of the vegetation biomass compared to baseline C simulation. These results are in better agreement with observations, particularly in tropical regions where P limitation is known to be important. In summary, the implementation of the nitrogen and phosphorus cycle have successfully enforced a nutrient limitation in the terrestrial system, which now have reduced the primary productivity and the capacity of land to uptake atmospheric carbon better matching observations.

Abstract. Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) biogeochemical dynamics are crucial for the regulation of the terrestrial carbon cycle. In Earth system models (ESMs) the implementation of nutrient limitations has been shown to improve the carbon cycle feedback representation and, hence, the fidelity of the response of land to simulated atmospheric CO2 rise. Here we aimed to implement a terrestrial N and P cycle in an Earth system model of intermediate complexity to improve projections of future CO2 fertilization feedbacks. The N cycle is an improved version of the Wania et al. (2012) N module, with enforcement of N mass conservation and the merger with a deep land-surface and wetland module that allows for the estimation of N2O and NO fluxes. The N cycle module estimates fluxes from three organic (litter, soil organic matter and vegetation) and two inorganic (NH4+ and NO3-) pools and accounts for inputs from biological N fixation and N deposition. The P cycle module contains the same organic pools with one inorganic P pool; it estimates influx of P from rock weathering and losses from leaching and occlusion. Two historical simulations are carried out for the different nutrient limitation setups of the model: carbon and nitrogen (CN), as well as carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus (CNP), with a baseline carbon-only simulation. The improved N cycle module now conserves mass, and the added fluxes (NO and N2O), along with the N and P pools, are within the range of other studies and literature. For the years 2001–2015 the nutrient limitation resulted in a reduction of gross primary productivity (GPP) from the carbon-only value of 143 to 130 Pg C yr−1 in the CN version and 127 Pg C yr−1 in the CNP version. This implies that the model efficiently represents a nutrient limitation over the CO2 fertilization effect. CNP simulation resulted in a reduction of 11 % of the mean GPP and a reduction of 23 % of the vegetation biomass compared to the baseline C simulation. These results are in better agreement with observations, particularly in tropical regions where P limitation is known to be important. In summary, the implementation of the N and P cycle has successfully enforced a nutrient limitation in the terrestrial system, which has now reduced the primary productivity and the capacity of land to take up atmospheric carbon, better matching observations.

Abstract. The carbon cycle plays a foundational role in the estimation of the remaining carbon budget. It is intrinsic for the determination of the transient climate response to cumulative CO2 emissions and the zero emissions commitment. For the terrestrial carbon cycle, nutrient limitation has a core regulation on the amount of carbon fixed by terrestrial vegetation. Hence, the addition of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus in land model structures in Earth system models is essential for an accurate representation of the carbon cycle feedback in future climate projections. Thereby, the estimation of the remaining carbon budget is impacted by the representation of nutrient limitation in modelled terrestrial ecosystems, yet it is rarely accounted for. Here, we estimate the carbon budget and remaining carbon budget of a nutrient limited Earth system model, using nitrogen and phosphorus cycles to limit vegetation productivity and biomass. We use eight Shared Socioeconomic Pathways scenarios and idealized experiments on three distinct model structures: 1) carbon cycle without nutrient limitation, 2) carbon cycle with terrestrial nitrogen limitation and 3) carbon cycle with terrestrial nitrogen and phosphorus limitation. To capture the uncertainty of the remaining carbon budget, three different climate sensitives were tuned for each model version. Our results show that overall the nutrient limitation reduced the remaining carbon budget for all simulations in comparison with the carbon cycle without nutrient limitation. Between the nitrogen and nitrogen-phosphorus limitation, the latter had the lowest remaining carbon budget. The mean remaining carbon budget from the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways scenarios simulations for the 1.5 °C target in the no nutrient limitation, nitrogen limited and nitrogen-phosphorus limited models obtained were 228, 185 and 175 Pg C respectively, relative to year 2020. For the 2 °C target the mean remaining carbon budget were 471, 373 and 351 Pg C for the no nutrient limitation, nitrogen limited and nitrogen-phosphorus limited models respectively, relative to year 2020. This represents a reduction of 19 and 24 % for the 1.5 °C target and 21 and 26 % for the 2 °C target in the nitrogen and nitrogen-phosphorus limited simulations compared to the no nutrient limitation model. These results show that terrestrial nutrient limitations constitute an important factor to be considered when estimating or interpreting remaining carbon budgets and are an essential uncertainty of remaining carbon budgets from Earth system model simulations.