Ecosystem modelling platform

The Norwegian Earth system model land sites platform (NorESM-LSP) facilitates single-site simulations with an advanced Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (DGVM), the Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator (FATES),  coupled with the Community Land Model (CLM), the land surface model of the NorESM.

Model structure of the ecosystem modelling platform

The NorESM land sites platform model framework. a) the Earth System Model (Norwegian Earth System Model; NorESM). The coupler – Common Infrastructure for Modeling the Earth (CIME) – connects components for the atmosphere, ocean, sea- and land-ice, and land. The text in parentheses refers to the NorESM-LSP default model setup: the Community Land Model (CLM) is used as the land surface model, whereas an observational dataset is used for atmospheric forcing and the other components are deactivated (stub) versions. b) the CLM divides the land surface into grid cells with urban, ice, vegetated, crop and freshwater fractions. c) the Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator; FATES) divides vegetated land fractions into age-since-disturbance patches, where cohorts of Plant Functional Types (PFT) grow (credit: https://noresmhub.github.io/noresm-land-sites-platform/)

The NorESM-LSP includes a Graphical User Interface and an Application Programming Interface, which improve the user experience and lower the technical thresholds for installing these model architectures and setting up model experiments. The software is distributed via version-controlled containers; researchers and students can run simulations directly on their personal computers or servers, with relatively low hardware requirements, and on different operating systems. Version 1.0 of the NorESM-LSP supports site-level simulations. We provide input data for 20 established geo-ecological observation sites in Norway and workflows to add generic sites from public global datasets. The NorESM-LSP makes standard model experiments with default data easily achievable (e.g. for educational or introductory purposes) while retaining flexibility for more advanced scientific uses. We further provide tools to visualise the model input and output, including simple examples to relate predictions to local observations. The NorESM-LSP improves access to land surface and DGVM modelling as a first building block of community cyberinfrastructure that may inspire new avenues for mechanistic ecosystem research across disciplines.

For more information on the platform, please see https://noresmhub.github.io/noresm-land-sites-platform/

Published Mar. 6, 2023 3:46 PM - Last modified Mar. 6, 2023 3:46 PM