Evaluating soil biogeochemistry parameterizations in Earth system models with observations

Wieder, William R.; Boehnert, Jennifer; Bonan, Gordon B.

doi:10.1002/2013gb004665

Cited by 119 publications

(130 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Soil monitoring is crucial for detecting changes in SOC stocks and as a reference for projecting changes in the global carbon pool using models (Wei et al, 2014;Wieder et al, 2014;Yan et al, 2014). The following conclusions from our study and a workshop of soil experts with respect to improved soil monitoring agree with more comprehensive recommendations by an international group of experts (Jandl et al, 2014).…”

Section: Global Carbon Mass -Reprisesupporting

confidence: 75%

“…First, we compare the Harmonized World Soil Database (HWSD; FAO et al, 2012) to earlier spatial databases. The HWSD was the latest and most detailed inventory at the global scale when this study was begun and is still widely used as an international reference (e.g., Wieder et al, 2014;Yan et al, 2014) Next, we describe the adjustments, especially those of BDs of organic soils (Hiederer and Köchy, 2011), that are necessary for calculating the SOC stocks from the HWSD. Based on the adjusted HWSD, we report area-weighted frequency distributions of SOC stocks in the top 1 m of soil, in particular for the large SOC stocks in wetlands, in the tropics, and in frozen soils.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Global distribution of soil organic carbon – Part 1: Masses and frequency distributions of SOC stocks for the tropics, permafrost regions, wetlands, and the world

Köchy¹,

Roland

Freibauer³

2015

SOIL

357

247

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Abstract. The global soil organic carbon (SOC) mass is relevant for the carbon cycle budget and thus atmospheric carbon concentrations. We review current estimates of SOC stocks and mass (stock × area) in wetlands, permafrost and tropical regions and the world in the upper 1 m of soil. The Harmonized World Soil Database (HWSD) v.1.2 provides one of the most recent and coherent global data sets of SOC, giving a total mass of 2476 Pg when using the original values for bulk density. Adjusting the HWSD's bulk density (BD) of soil high in organic carbon results in a mass of 1230 Pg, and additionally setting the BD of Histosols to 0.1 g cm −3 (typical of peat soils), results in a mass of 1062 Pg. The uncertainty in BD of Histosols alone introduces a range of −56 to +180 Pg C into the estimate of global SOC mass in the top 1 m, larger than estimates of global soil respiration. We report the spatial distribution of SOC stocks per 0.5 arcminutes; the areal masses of SOC; and the quantiles of SOC stocks by continents, wetland types, and permafrost types. Depending on the definition of "wetland", wetland soils contain between 82 and 158 Pg SOC. With more detailed estimates for permafrost from the Northern Circumpolar Soil Carbon Database (496 Pg SOC) and tropical peatland carbon incorporated, global soils contain 1325 Pg SOC in the upper 1 m, including 421 Pg in tropical soils, whereof 40 Pg occurs in tropical wetlands. Global SOC amounts to just under 3000 Pg when estimates for deeper soil layers are included. Variability in estimates is due to variation in definitions of soil units, differences in soil property databases, scarcity of information about soil carbon at depths > 1 m in peatlands, and variation in definitions of "peatland".

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Section: Global Carbon Mass -Reprisesupporting

confidence: 75%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global distribution of soil organic carbon – Part 1: Masses and frequency distributions of SOC stocks for the tropics, permafrost regions, wetlands, and the world

Köchy¹,

Roland

Freibauer³

2015

SOIL

357

247

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“…In models such as Century and RothC, transfer rates are modulated based on reported clay or clay + silt content (Sierra et al, 2012). Other models such as TECO or CLM4cn use constant transfer rates (Luo and Weng, 2011;Wieder et al, 2014). The structure of these models is slightly different than the structure presented here, but TECO reports a rate of transfer from the fast to the slow pool of 0.296 and from the slow to the passive pool as 0.001.…”

Section: Projected Land Use Effects Derived From Rapid Transfer Of Romentioning

confidence: 86%

Belowground Carbon Dynamics in Tropical Perennial C4 Grass Agroecosystems

Crow

Deem

Sierra

et al. 2018

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Effective soil management is critical to achieving climate change mitigation in plant-based renewable energy systems, yet limitations exist in our understanding of dynamic belowground responses to the cultivation of energy crops. To better understand the belowground dynamics following cultivation of a grassland in a high-yielding tropical perennial C4 grass in a zero-tillage production system, changes in soil carbon (C) pools were quantified, modeled, and projected and the chemical composition of the aggregate-protected pool was determined in support of the simulated dynamics. Multiple C pools with different ecosystem functions and turnover increased following cultivation: immediately available microbial substrate (measured as hot water-soluble C) and active C (determined through laboratory incubation) increased by 12 and 30% respectively over time and soil C accumulated significantly in multiple physical fractions. A more rapid and dynamic nature of multiple C pools and transfers between pools existed than is often assumed in belowground models used widely in the field to simulate soil C accumulation. Multiple indicators of fresh roots, including the more easily degraded lignin monomers and root-derived long chain substituted fatty acids, appeared in aggregate-protected pools of cultivated soils over time since planting. This rapid transfer of plant inputs through active and intermediate C pools into mineral-dominated pools is the ultimate outcome required for building soil C stocks. Initial model runs suggested that this is evident, even on a 2-year frame, in transfer rates of 0.485 and 0.890 from active to slow and slow to passive pools respectively. The rapid transfer of fresh root-derived input to stable pool suggests that soil C under zero-tillage management may be resilient to disturbances, such as replanting following a kill-harvest, that would otherwise result in losses from unprotected or readily available pools.

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“…We use an upscaled and regridded version of the HWSD with the area-weighted SOC calculated from the soil organic carbon (%), bulk density and soil depth (Wieder et al, 2014).…”

Section: Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The carbon cycle in the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS-ESM1) – Part 2: Historical simulations

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Over the last decade many climate models have evolved into Earth system models (ESMs), which are able to simulate both physical and biogeochemical processes through the inclusion of additional components such as the carbon cycle. The Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS) has been recently extended to include land and ocean carbon cycle components in its ACCESS-ESM1 version. A detailed description of ACCESS-ESM1 components including results from pre-industrial simulations is provided in Part 1. Here, we focus on the evaluation of ACCESS-ESM1 over the historical period in terms of its capability to reproduce climate and carbon-related variables. Comparisons are performed with observations, if available, but also with other ESMs to highlight common weaknesses. We find that climate variables controlling the exchange of carbon are well reproduced. However, the aerosol forcing in ACCESS-ESM1 is somewhat larger than in other models, which leads to an overly strong cooling response in the land from about 1960 onwards. The land carbon cycle is evaluated for two scenarios: running with a prescribed leaf area index (LAI) and running with a prognostic LAI. We overestimate the seasonal mean (1.7 vs. 1.4) and peak amplitude (2.0 vs. 1.8) of the prognostic LAI at the global scale, which is common amongst CMIP5 ESMs. However, the prognostic LAI is our preferred choice, because it allows for the vegetation feedback through the coupling between LAI and the leaf carbon pool. Our globally integrated land-atmosphere flux over the historical period is 98 PgC for prescribed LAI and 137 PgC for prognostic LAI, which is in line with estimates of land use emissions (ACCESS-ESM1 does not include land use change).The integrated ocean-atmosphere flux is 83 PgC, which is in agreement with a recent estimate of 82 PgC from the Global Carbon Project for the period 1959-2005. The seasonal cycle of simulated atmospheric CO 2 is close to the observed seasonal cycle (up to 1 ppm difference for the station at Mace Head and up to 2 ppm for the station at Mauna Loa), but shows a larger amplitude (up to 6 ppm) in the high northern latitudes. Overall, ACCESS-ESM1 performs well over the historical period, making it a useful tool to explore the change in land and oceanic carbon uptake in the future.

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Evaluating soil biogeochemistry parameterizations in Earth system models with observations

Cited by 119 publications

References 65 publications

Global distribution of soil organic carbon – Part 1: Masses and frequency distributions of SOC stocks for the tropics, permafrost regions, wetlands, and the world

Global distribution of soil organic carbon – Part 1: Masses and frequency distributions of SOC stocks for the tropics, permafrost regions, wetlands, and the world

Belowground Carbon Dynamics in Tropical Perennial C4 Grass Agroecosystems

The carbon cycle in the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS-ESM1) – Part 2: Historical simulations

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