IGN 23-2 - An ecologist’s approach to Earth system modeling: Can nighttime conductance be simulated?

Friday, August 11, 2017
C124, Oregon Convention Center
Danica Lombardozzi, CGD, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, Melanie Zeppel, Department of Biology, Centre for Climate Futures, Macquarie University, North Ryde NSW 2109, Australia, Rosie Fisher, Climate & Global Dynamics, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder and Ahmed Tawfik, National Center for Atmospheric Research, CO
Knowing how to engage with Earth system models (ESMs) is a significant challenge for ecologists because representation of processes can be unclear and code bases are large. Yet ESMs include complex representations of terrestrial processes, and would benefit from greater engagement from the ecological community. Here, we present one example of how ecologists used an ESM to explore different representations of nighttime stomatal conductance. We discovered that the representation considerably influences transpiration, GPP, and hydrology. In addition to determining the model sensitivity, this allowed us to develop additional hypotheses about nighttime and minimum conductance to test in the field.