B11K-08:
Zero-D to One-D: Challenges and implications of considering vertical soil C profiles in Earth System Models
Monday, 15 December 2014: 9:45 AM
Charles D Koven, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United States, David M Lawrence, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, United States, William J Riley, Lawrence Berkeley Natl Lab, Berkeley, CA, United States and Margaret S Torn, Berkeley Lab/UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States
Abstract:
Earth system models have traditionally considered soil biogeochemical transformations as occurring only at the surface, neglecting C and nutrient cycling that occurs below the surface zone. However, much of the world’s soil C lies below this surface zone, and the dynamics of this carbon in response to global change may differ considerably from those at the surface. We have implemented a vertically-resolved soil biogeochemistry model into the Community Land Model (CLM4.5), and discuss the uncertainties in adding this level of increased complexity as well as the implications of this representation on the response of C cycle feedbacks. We focus on the uncertainty of how decomposition rates differ between the surface and depth, and show that this uncertainty maps strongly onto the response of soil C to warming, which is primarily due to the response of permafrost soils and their post-thaw decomposition dynamics.
