T&C-CROP: representing mechanistic crop growth with a terrestrial biosphere model (T&C, v1.5) – model formulation and validation
<p>Cropland cultivation is fundamental to food security and plays a crucial role in the global water, energy, and carbon cycles. However, our understanding of how climate change will impact cropland functions is still limited. This knowledge gap is partly due to the simplifications made in ter...
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Copernicus Publications
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Geoscientific Model Development |
| Online Access: | https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/18/1287/2025/gmd-18-1287-2025.pdf |
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| author | J. Buckley Paules S. Fatichi B. Warring A. Paschalis |
| author_facet | J. Buckley Paules S. Fatichi B. Warring A. Paschalis |
| author_sort | J. Buckley Paules |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>Cropland cultivation is fundamental to food security and plays a crucial role in the global water, energy, and carbon cycles. However, our understanding of how climate change will impact cropland functions is still limited. This knowledge gap is partly due to the simplifications made in terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs), which often overlook essential agricultural management practices such as irrigation and fertilizer application and simplify critical physiological crop processes.</p>
<p>Here, we demonstrate how, with minor, parsimonious enhancements to the TBM T&C, it is possible to accurately represent a complex cropland system. Our modified model, T&C-CROP, incorporates realistic agricultural management practices, including complex crop rotations and irrigation and fertilization regimes, along with their effects on soil biogeochemical cycling. We successfully validate T&C-CROP across four distinct agricultural sites, encompassing diverse cropping systems such as multi-crop rotations, monoculture, and managed grassland.</p>
<p>A comprehensive validation of T&C-CROP was conducted, encompassing water, energy, and carbon fluxes; leaf area index (LAI); and organ-specific yields. Our model effectively captured the heterogeneity in daily land surface energy balances across crop sites, achieving coefficients of determination of 0.77, 0.48, and 0.87 for observed versus simulated net radiation (Rn), sensible heat flux (<span class="inline-formula"><i>H</i></span>), and latent heat flux (<span class="inline-formula"><i>L</i><i>E</i></span>), respectively. Seasonal, crop-specific gross primary production (GPP) was simulated with an average absolute bias of less than 10 %. Peak-season LAI was accurately represented, with an <span class="inline-formula"><i>r</i><sup>2</sup></span> of 0.67. Harvested yields (above-ground biomass, grain, and straw) were generally simulated within 10 %–20 % accuracy of observed values, although inter-annual variations in crop-specific growth were difficult to capture.</p> |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8b4cd46ba1d04f38a711356ac8b05bb0 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1991-959X 1991-9603 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geoscientific Model Development |
| spelling | doaj-art-8b4cd46ba1d04f38a711356ac8b05bb02025-08-20T02:17:46ZengCopernicus PublicationsGeoscientific Model Development1991-959X1991-96032025-03-01181287130510.5194/gmd-18-1287-2025T&C-CROP: representing mechanistic crop growth with a terrestrial biosphere model (T&C, v1.5) – model formulation and validationJ. Buckley Paules0S. Fatichi1B. Warring2A. Paschalis3Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UKDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore, SingaporeGrantham Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London, London, UKDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK<p>Cropland cultivation is fundamental to food security and plays a crucial role in the global water, energy, and carbon cycles. However, our understanding of how climate change will impact cropland functions is still limited. This knowledge gap is partly due to the simplifications made in terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs), which often overlook essential agricultural management practices such as irrigation and fertilizer application and simplify critical physiological crop processes.</p> <p>Here, we demonstrate how, with minor, parsimonious enhancements to the TBM T&C, it is possible to accurately represent a complex cropland system. Our modified model, T&C-CROP, incorporates realistic agricultural management practices, including complex crop rotations and irrigation and fertilization regimes, along with their effects on soil biogeochemical cycling. We successfully validate T&C-CROP across four distinct agricultural sites, encompassing diverse cropping systems such as multi-crop rotations, monoculture, and managed grassland.</p> <p>A comprehensive validation of T&C-CROP was conducted, encompassing water, energy, and carbon fluxes; leaf area index (LAI); and organ-specific yields. Our model effectively captured the heterogeneity in daily land surface energy balances across crop sites, achieving coefficients of determination of 0.77, 0.48, and 0.87 for observed versus simulated net radiation (Rn), sensible heat flux (<span class="inline-formula"><i>H</i></span>), and latent heat flux (<span class="inline-formula"><i>L</i><i>E</i></span>), respectively. Seasonal, crop-specific gross primary production (GPP) was simulated with an average absolute bias of less than 10 %. Peak-season LAI was accurately represented, with an <span class="inline-formula"><i>r</i><sup>2</sup></span> of 0.67. Harvested yields (above-ground biomass, grain, and straw) were generally simulated within 10 %–20 % accuracy of observed values, although inter-annual variations in crop-specific growth were difficult to capture.</p>https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/18/1287/2025/gmd-18-1287-2025.pdf |
| spellingShingle | J. Buckley Paules S. Fatichi B. Warring A. Paschalis T&C-CROP: representing mechanistic crop growth with a terrestrial biosphere model (T&C, v1.5) – model formulation and validation Geoscientific Model Development |
| title | T&C-CROP: representing mechanistic crop growth with a terrestrial biosphere model (T&C, v1.5) – model formulation and validation |
| title_full | T&C-CROP: representing mechanistic crop growth with a terrestrial biosphere model (T&C, v1.5) – model formulation and validation |
| title_fullStr | T&C-CROP: representing mechanistic crop growth with a terrestrial biosphere model (T&C, v1.5) – model formulation and validation |
| title_full_unstemmed | T&C-CROP: representing mechanistic crop growth with a terrestrial biosphere model (T&C, v1.5) – model formulation and validation |
| title_short | T&C-CROP: representing mechanistic crop growth with a terrestrial biosphere model (T&C, v1.5) – model formulation and validation |
| title_sort | t amp c crop representing mechanistic crop growth with a terrestrial biosphere model t amp c v1 5 model formulation and validation |
| url | https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/18/1287/2025/gmd-18-1287-2025.pdf |
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