Articles | Volume 18, issue 19
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-6623-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-6623-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Implementing a process-based representation of soil water movement in a second-generation dynamic vegetation model: application to dryland ecosystems (LPJ-GUESS-RE v1.0)
Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University Of Copenhagen, Denmark
Center for Volatile Interactions, University Of Copenhagen, Denmark
David Wårlind
Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, Sweden
Stéphanie Horion
Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University Of Copenhagen, Denmark
Félicien Meunier
Q-ForestLab, Department of Environment, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Isotope Bioscience Laboratory, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Hans Verbeeck
Q-ForestLab, Department of Environment, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Aleksander Wieckowski
Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, Sweden
Torbern Tagesson
Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, Sweden
Guy Schurgers
Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University Of Copenhagen, Denmark
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Tao Chen, Félicien Meunier, Marc Peaucelle, Guoping Tang, Ye Yuan, and Hans Verbeeck
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Chansopheaktra Sovann, Torbern Tagesson, Patrik Vestin, Sakada Sakhoeun, Soben Kim, Sothea Kok, and Stefan Olin
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-98, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-98, 2024
Revised manuscript not accepted
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We offer pairwise observed datasets that compare the characteristics of tropical ecosystems, specifically pristine forests, regrowth forests, and cashew plantations. Our findings uncover some key differences in their characteristics, emphasizing the influence of human activities on these ecosystems. By sharing our unique datasets, we hope to improve the knowledge of tropical forest ecosystems in Southeast Asia, advancing tropical research, and tackling global environmental challenges.
Qi Guan, Jing Tang, Lian Feng, Stefan Olin, and Guy Schurgers
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The increase in global and regional temperatures has the potential to drive accelerated soil organic carbon losses in tropical forests. We simulated climate warming by translocating intact soil cores from higher to lower elevations. The results revealed increasing temperature sensitivity and decreasing losses of soil organic carbon with increasing elevation. Our results suggest that climate warming may trigger enhanced losses of soil organic carbon from tropical montane forests.
Félicien Meunier, Wim Verbruggen, Hans Verbeeck, and Marc Peaucelle
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Flossie Brown, Gerd A. Folberth, Stephen Sitch, Susanne Bauer, Marijn Bauters, Pascal Boeckx, Alexander W. Cheesman, Makoto Deushi, Inês Dos Santos Vieira, Corinne Galy-Lacaux, James Haywood, James Keeble, Lina M. Mercado, Fiona M. O'Connor, Naga Oshima, Kostas Tsigaridis, and Hans Verbeeck
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David Martín Belda, Peter Anthoni, David Wårlind, Stefan Olin, Guy Schurgers, Jing Tang, Benjamin Smith, and Almut Arneth
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 6709–6745, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-6709-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-6709-2022, 2022
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Félicien Meunier, Sruthi M. Krishna Moorthy, Marc Peaucelle, Kim Calders, Louise Terryn, Wim Verbruggen, Chang Liu, Ninni Saarinen, Niall Origo, Joanne Nightingale, Mathias Disney, Yadvinder Malhi, and Hans Verbeeck
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 4783–4803, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-4783-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-4783-2022, 2022
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We integrated state-of-the-art observations of the structure of the vegetation in a temperate forest to constrain a vegetation model that aims to reproduce such an ecosystem in silico. We showed that the use of this information helps to constrain the model structure, its critical parameters, as well as its initial state. This research confirms the critical importance of the representation of the vegetation structure in vegetation models and proposes a method to overcome this challenge.
Ralf Döscher, Mario Acosta, Andrea Alessandri, Peter Anthoni, Thomas Arsouze, Tommi Bergman, Raffaele Bernardello, Souhail Boussetta, Louis-Philippe Caron, Glenn Carver, Miguel Castrillo, Franco Catalano, Ivana Cvijanovic, Paolo Davini, Evelien Dekker, Francisco J. Doblas-Reyes, David Docquier, Pablo Echevarria, Uwe Fladrich, Ramon Fuentes-Franco, Matthias Gröger, Jost v. Hardenberg, Jenny Hieronymus, M. Pasha Karami, Jukka-Pekka Keskinen, Torben Koenigk, Risto Makkonen, François Massonnet, Martin Ménégoz, Paul A. Miller, Eduardo Moreno-Chamarro, Lars Nieradzik, Twan van Noije, Paul Nolan, Declan O'Donnell, Pirkka Ollinaho, Gijs van den Oord, Pablo Ortega, Oriol Tintó Prims, Arthur Ramos, Thomas Reerink, Clement Rousset, Yohan Ruprich-Robert, Philippe Le Sager, Torben Schmith, Roland Schrödner, Federico Serva, Valentina Sicardi, Marianne Sloth Madsen, Benjamin Smith, Tian Tian, Etienne Tourigny, Petteri Uotila, Martin Vancoppenolle, Shiyu Wang, David Wårlind, Ulrika Willén, Klaus Wyser, Shuting Yang, Xavier Yepes-Arbós, and Qiong Zhang
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 2973–3020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2973-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2973-2022, 2022
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The Earth system model EC-Earth3 is documented here. Key performance metrics show physical behavior and biases well within the frame known from recent models. With improved physical and dynamic features, new ESM components, community tools, and largely improved physical performance compared to the CMIP5 version, EC-Earth3 represents a clear step forward for the only European community ESM. We demonstrate here that EC-Earth3 is suited for a range of tasks in CMIP6 and beyond.
Alexandra Pongracz, David Wårlind, Paul A. Miller, and Frans-Jan W. Parmentier
Biogeosciences, 18, 5767–5787, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5767-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5767-2021, 2021
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This study shows that the introduction of a multi-layer snow scheme in the LPJ-GUESS DGVM improved simulations of high-latitude soil temperature dynamics and permafrost extent compared to observations. In addition, these improvements led to shifts in carbon fluxes that contrasted within and outside of the permafrost region. Our results show that a realistic snow scheme is essential to accurately simulate snow–soil–vegetation relationships and carbon–climate feedbacks.
Jan Vanderborght, Valentin Couvreur, Felicien Meunier, Andrea Schnepf, Harry Vereecken, Martin Bouda, and Mathieu Javaux
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 4835–4860, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4835-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4835-2021, 2021
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Root water uptake is an important process in the terrestrial water cycle. How this process depends on soil water content, root distributions, and root properties is a soil–root hydraulic problem. We compare different approaches to implementing root hydraulics in macroscopic soil water flow and land surface models.
Maurizio Santoro, Oliver Cartus, Nuno Carvalhais, Danaë M. A. Rozendaal, Valerio Avitabile, Arnan Araza, Sytze de Bruin, Martin Herold, Shaun Quegan, Pedro Rodríguez-Veiga, Heiko Balzter, João Carreiras, Dmitry Schepaschenko, Mikhail Korets, Masanobu Shimada, Takuya Itoh, Álvaro Moreno Martínez, Jura Cavlovic, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, Polyanna da Conceição Bispo, Nasheta Dewnath, Nicolas Labrière, Jingjing Liang, Jeremy Lindsell, Edward T. A. Mitchard, Alexandra Morel, Ana Maria Pacheco Pascagaza, Casey M. Ryan, Ferry Slik, Gaia Vaglio Laurin, Hans Verbeeck, Arief Wijaya, and Simon Willcock
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 3927–3950, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-3927-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-3927-2021, 2021
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Forests play a crucial role in Earth’s carbon cycle. To understand the carbon cycle better, we generated a global dataset of forest above-ground biomass, i.e. carbon stocks, from satellite data of 2010. This dataset provides a comprehensive and detailed portrait of the distribution of carbon in forests, although for dense forests in the tropics values are somewhat underestimated. This dataset will have a considerable impact on climate, carbon, and socio-economic modelling schemes.
Daniele Peano, Deborah Hemming, Stefano Materia, Christine Delire, Yuanchao Fan, Emilie Joetzjer, Hanna Lee, Julia E. M. S. Nabel, Taejin Park, Philippe Peylin, David Wårlind, Andy Wiltshire, and Sönke Zaehle
Biogeosciences, 18, 2405–2428, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2405-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-2405-2021, 2021
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Global climate models are the scientist’s tools used for studying past, present, and future climate conditions. This work examines the ability of a group of our tools in reproducing and capturing the right timing and length of the season when plants show their green leaves. This season, indeed, is fundamental for CO2 exchanges between land, atmosphere, and climate. This work shows that discrepancies compared to observations remain, demanding further polishing of these tools.
Paula Alejandra Lamprea Pineda, Marijn Bauters, Hans Verbeeck, Selene Baez, Matti Barthel, Samuel Bodé, and Pascal Boeckx
Biogeosciences, 18, 413–421, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-413-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-413-2021, 2021
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Tropical forest soils are an important source and sink of greenhouse gases (GHGs) with tropical montane forests having been poorly studied. In this pilot study, we explored soil fluxes of CO2, CH4, and N2O in an Ecuadorian neotropical montane forest, where a net consumption of N2O at higher altitudes was observed. Our results highlight the importance of short-term variations in N2O and provide arguments and insights for future, more detailed studies on GHG fluxes from montane forest soils.
Wim Verbruggen, Guy Schurgers, Stéphanie Horion, Jonas Ardö, Paulo N. Bernardino, Bernard Cappelaere, Jérôme Demarty, Rasmus Fensholt, Laurent Kergoat, Thomas Sibret, Torbern Tagesson, and Hans Verbeeck
Biogeosciences, 18, 77–93, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-77-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-77-2021, 2021
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A large part of Earth's land surface is covered by dryland ecosystems, which are subject to climate extremes that are projected to increase under future climate scenarios. By using a mathematical vegetation model, we studied the impact of single years of extreme rainfall on the vegetation in the Sahel. We found a contrasting response of grasses and trees to these extremes, strongly dependent on the way precipitation is spread over the rainy season, as well as a long-term impact on CO2 uptake.
Taraka Davies-Barnard, Johannes Meyerholt, Sönke Zaehle, Pierre Friedlingstein, Victor Brovkin, Yuanchao Fan, Rosie A. Fisher, Chris D. Jones, Hanna Lee, Daniele Peano, Benjamin Smith, David Wårlind, and Andy J. Wiltshire
Biogeosciences, 17, 5129–5148, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5129-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5129-2020, 2020
Hannes P. T. De Deurwaerder, Marco D. Visser, Matteo Detto, Pascal Boeckx, Félicien Meunier, Kathrin Kuehnhammer, Ruth-Kristina Magh, John D. Marshall, Lixin Wang, Liangju Zhao, and Hans Verbeeck
Biogeosciences, 17, 4853–4870, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4853-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4853-2020, 2020
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The depths at which plants take up water is challenging to observe directly. To do so, scientists have relied on measuring the isotopic composition of xylem water as this provides information on the water’s source. Our work shows that this isotopic composition changes throughout the day, which complicates the interpretation of the water’s source and has been currently overlooked. We build a model to help understand the origin of these composition changes and their consequences for science.
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Short summary
We improved the representation of soil water movement in a state-of-the-art dynamic vegetation model. This is important for dry ecosystems, as they are often driven by changes in soil water availability. We showed that this update resulted in a better match with observations and that the updated model is more sensitive to soil texture. The new model can also simulate a groundwater table. This updated model can help us to better understand the future of dry ecosystems under climate change.
We improved the representation of soil water movement in a state-of-the-art dynamic vegetation...