BGC simulations

Simulations are transient, covering years 10,000 BC to 2010 CE.

  • File format: NetCDF, with longitude and latitude dimensions in degrees, and a time dimension with defined calendar.
  • Temporal resolution: 10 years, e.g., state at the end of year 1000, 1010, 1020, …
  • Spatial resolution: any
  • Values per gridcell should represent the sum over all vegetation types (PFTs) and the mean over multiple sub-gridscale land classes (tiles), weighted by respective area fractions. Hence, no additional dimensions should be present other than longitude, latitude and time.
  • C pools should sum up as totc = vegc + soilc + prodc.
  • Land cover fractions should sum up as fland = fcrop + fpast + fgrass + ftree.

Required output variables are:

Variable Standard name Units Remarx
Total C totc g C m\(^{-2}\) This should include all C stored per gridcell, including product pools. Its change between time steps should be what the atmosphere “sees”.
Vegetation C vegc g C m\(^{-2}\) Including all living plant biomass pools.
Soil C soilc g C m\(^{-2}\) Including all soil organic matter and litter pools.
Product C prodc g C m\(^{-2}\) C in product pools.
LAI lai m m\(^{-1}\) Leaf area index, calculated as total foliage area per unit ground area.
NPP npp g C m\(^{-2}\) yr\(^{-1}\) Net primary production, mean over 10 y period.
Land area fland 1 Land area fraction is used if not all of the gridcell area is land
Cropland area fcrop 1 Land area fraction currently under cultivation for crops. This excludes fallow areas.
Pasture area fpast 1 Land area fraction under use for pasture, including extensive grazing, i.e., where a certain fraction of aboveground biomass is removed by grazers.
Grass cover fgrass 1 Land area fraction covered by natural grasslands (excluding croplands and pastures)
Tree cover ftree 1 Land area fraction covered forest at all age stages, including young regrowth after harvesting or cropland abandonment.

ESM simulations