Articles | Volume 7, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-2683-2014
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-2683-2014
Development and technical paper
 | 
13 Nov 2014
Development and technical paper |  | 13 Nov 2014

Response of microbial decomposition to spin-up explains CMIP5 soil carbon range until 2100

J.-F. Exbrayat, A. J. Pitman, and G. Abramowitz

Related authors

Reduction of predictive uncertainty in estimating irrigation water requirement through multi-model ensembles and ensemble averaging
S. Multsch, J.-F. Exbrayat, M. Kirby, N. R. Viney, H.-G. Frede, and L. Breuer
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 1233–1244, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-1233-2015,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-1233-2015, 2015
Short summary
Disentangling residence time and temperature sensitivity of microbial decomposition in a global soil carbon model
J.-F. Exbrayat, A. J. Pitman, and G. Abramowitz
Biogeosciences, 11, 6999–7008, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-6999-2014,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-6999-2014, 2014
Short summary

Related subject area

Climate and Earth system modeling
The very-high-resolution configuration of the EC-Earth global model for HighResMIP
Eduardo Moreno-Chamarro, Thomas Arsouze, Mario Acosta, Pierre-Antoine Bretonnière, Miguel Castrillo, Eric Ferrer, Amanda Frigola, Daria Kuznetsova, Eneko Martin-Martinez, Pablo Ortega, and Sergi Palomas
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 461–482, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-461-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-461-2025, 2025
Short summary
GOSI9: UK Global Ocean and Sea Ice configurations
Catherine Guiavarc'h, David Storkey, Adam T. Blaker, Ed Blockley, Alex Megann, Helene Hewitt, Michael J. Bell, Daley Calvert, Dan Copsey, Bablu Sinha, Sophia Moreton, Pierre Mathiot, and Bo An
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 377–403, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-377-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-377-2025, 2025
Short summary
Decomposition of skill scores for conditional verification: impact of Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation phases on the predictability of decadal temperature forecasts
Andy Richling, Jens Grieger, and Henning W. Rust
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 361–375, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-361-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-361-2025, 2025
Short summary
Virtual Integration of Satellite and In-situ Observation Networks (VISION) v1.0: In-Situ Observations Simulator (ISO_simulator)
Maria R. Russo, Sadie L. Bartholomew, David Hassell, Alex M. Mason, Erica Neininger, A. James Perman, David A. J. Sproson, Duncan Watson-Parris, and Nathan Luke Abraham
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 181–191, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-181-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-181-2025, 2025
Short summary
Climate model downscaling in central Asia: a dynamical and a neural network approach
Bijan Fallah, Masoud Rostami, Emmanuele Russo, Paula Harder, Christoph Menz, Peter Hoffmann, Iulii Didovets, and Fred F. Hattermann
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 161–180, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-161-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-161-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Ahlström, A., Smith, B., Lindström, J., Rummukainen, M., and Uvo, C. B.: GCM characteristics explain the majority of uncertainty in projected 21st century terrestrial ecosystem carbon balance, Biogeosciences, 10, 1517–1528, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-1517-2013, 2013.
Allison, S. D., Wallenstein, M. D., and Bradford, M. A.: Soil-carbon response to warming dependent on microbial physiology, Nat. Geosci., 3, 336–340, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo846, 2010.
Anav, A., Friedlingstein, P., Kidston, M., Bopp, L., Ciais, P., Cox, P., Jones, C., Jung, M., Myneni, R., and Zhu, Z.: Evaluating the Land and Ocean Components of the Global Carbon Cycle in the CMIP5 Earth System Models, J. Clim., 26, 6801–6843, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00417.1, 2013.
Arora, V. K. and Boer, G. J.: Uncertainties in the 20th century carbon budget associated with land use change, Glob. Chang. Biol., 16, 3327–3348, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2010.02202.x, 2010.
Bentsen, M., Bethke, I., Debernard, J. B., Iversen, T., Kirkevåg, A., Seland, Ø., Drange, H., Roelandt, C., Seierstad, I. A., Hoose, C., and Kristjánsson, J. E.: The Norwegian Earth System Model, NorESM1-M – Part 1: Description and basic evaluation of the physical climate, Geosci. Model Dev., 6, 687–720, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-6-687-2013, 2013.
Download
Short summary
Pre-industrial soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks vary 6-fold in models used in the 5th IPCC Assessment Report. This paper shows that this range is largely determined by model-specific responses of microbal decomposition during the equilibration procedure. As SOC stocks are maintained through the present and to 2100 almost unchanged, we propose that current SOC observations could be used to constrain this equilibration procedure and thereby reduce the uncertainty in climate change projections.