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Compendium on methods and tools to evaluate impacts of, and vulnerability and adaptation to, climate change


TEM (Terrestrial Ecosystem Model)
Description

The TEM is a process-based ecosystem model that describes carbon and nitrogen dynamics of plants and soils for terrestrial ecosystems of the globe. The TEM uses spatially referenced information on climate, elevation, soils, vegetation, and water availability as well as soil- and vegetation-specific parameters to make monthly estimates of important carbon and nitrogen fluxes and pool sizes of terrestrial ecosystems. The TEM operates on a monthly time step and at a 0.5° latitude/longitude spatial resolution.

Appropriate Use Regional to global simulation of climate effects on ecosystem dynamics.
Scope Regional to global
Key Output GPP, NPP, evapotranspiration, soil carbon and nitrogen, vegetation carbon and nitrogen.
Key Input Vegetation, soil texture, elevation, solar radiation, precipitation, air temperature.
Ease of Use Expertise in ecosystem science and biogeochemistry.
Training Required Yes
Training Available See Contacts
Computer Requirements High-end workstation
Documentation http://www.mbl.edu/eco42/.
Applications

Examined the time-dependent responses of terrestrial carbon storage and the net carbon exchange with the atmosphere as influenced by historical climate CO2, land use and soil thermal regime.

Contacts for Framework, Documentation, Technical Assistance

Jerry M. Melillo, A. David McGuire, David W. Kicklighter, Yude Pan, Hanqin Tian

The Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA 02543 USA; e-mails: jmelillo@lupine.mbl.edu, ffadm@aurora.alaska.edu, dkick@mbl.edu.

Cost Not specified
References

See http://www.mbl.edu/eco42/tempub.html for additional references.
McGuire, A.D., C. Wirth, M. Apps, J. Beringer, J. Clein, H. Epstein, D.W. Kicklighter, J. Bhatii, F.S. Chapin III, B. de Groot, D. Efremov, W. Eugster, M. Fukuda, T. Gower, L. Hinzman, B. Huntley, G.J. Jia, E. Kasischke, J.M. Melillo, V. Romanovsky, A. Shvidenko, E. Vaganov, and D. Walker. 2002. Environmental variation, vegetation distribution, carbon dynamics, and water/energy exchange in high latitudes. Journal of Vegetation Science 13:301-314.

Pan, Y., A.D. McGuire, J.M. Melillo, D.W. Kicklighter, S. Sitch, and I.C. Prentice. 2002. A biogeochemistry-based dynamic vegetation model and its application along a moisture gradient in the continental United States. Journal of Vegetation Science 13:369-382.

Tian, H., J.M. Melillo, D.W. Kicklighter, S. Pan, J. Liu, A.D. McGuire, and B. Moore III. 2003. Regional carbon dynamics in monsoon Asia and its implications for the global carbon cycle. Global and Planetary Change 37:201-217.