Tuesday, May 29, 2012

The features of our model and modelling system


The general equation of the model

Our Gross Primary Production (GPP) model design builds on the well founded and tested light use efficiency approach and incorporates recent developments in our understanding of the relationships between Carbon dioxide (CO2), Vapour Pressure Deficit, Soil Moisture and Photosynthesis. More specifically we recognise that;

→ VPD appears more predictable than previously thought.
→ SM appears to modify the VPD stomata relationship differently between plant functional types.
→ Soil dryness also reduces Vcmax and Jmax, compared to what would otherwise be predicted from stomatal conductance alone.

The general equation behind our modelling approach can be written as follows;

GPP = fAPAR . IPAR . E . f(T, CO2, VPD, SM)

Where fAPAR is the fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation, IPAR is the incoming photosynthetically active radiation (400-700nm), E (epsilon) is an estimate of light use efficiency which is a function of Temperature (T), Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Vapour Pressure Deficit (VPD) and Soil Moisture (SM).


Key features of the modelling system

1.     Capable of reading in a range of datasets from the TERN and Bureau of Meteorology and re-grid them as required; a.k.a. data abstraction.
2.     Be usable stand-alone, embedded in a workflow or ported to a new model core; a.k.a. modular in design.
3.     Facilitate point-to-point calibration and validation against OzFlux tower data across a range of spatial and temporal scales.
4.     Output any metadata elements in a human readable format.
5.     Written in an open source language with cross platform interoperability.

Architecture





Technology

The computational requirements of this project are overshadowed by the need for usability and transparency- given our open access and source approach. As such, we identified the two most widely used open source platforms in our core user group: R-Project and Python. R was chosen by the development team given it is considered more widely used for benchmarking within our local user community, for example: PALS.

Data abstraction will be done using the Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL). In the R version, RGDAL bindings and the raster package will be used for low-level reading and writing of data and to facilitate the high-level model functions required for the model and modelling system functionality.



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

This project is supported by the Australian National Data Service (ANDS). ANDS is supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy Program and the Education Investment Fund (EIF) Super Science Initiative.

For more information visit the ANDS website ands.org.au and Research Data Australia services.ands.org.au.