Articles | Volume 10, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-4693-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-4693-2017
Development and technical paper
 | 
22 Dec 2017
Development and technical paper |  | 22 Dec 2017

Towards a more detailed representation of high-latitude vegetation in the global land surface model ORCHIDEE (ORC-HL-VEGv1.0)

Arsène Druel, Philippe Peylin, Gerhard Krinner, Philippe Ciais, Nicolas Viovy, Anna Peregon, Vladislav Bastrikov, Natalya Kosykh, and Nina Mironycheva-Tokareva

Abstract. Simulation of vegetation–climate feedbacks in high latitudes in the ORCHIDEE land surface model was improved by the addition of three new circumpolar plant functional types (PFTs), namely non-vascular plants representing bryophytes and lichens, Arctic shrubs and Arctic C3 grasses. Non-vascular plants are assigned no stomatal conductance, very shallow roots, and can desiccate during dry episodes and become active again during wet periods, which gives them a larger phenological plasticity (i.e. adaptability and resilience to severe climatic constraints) compared to grasses and shrubs. Shrubs have a specific carbon allocation scheme, and differ from trees by their larger survival rates in winter, due to protection by snow. Arctic C3 grasses have the same equations as in the original ORCHIDEE version, but different parameter values, optimised from in situ observations of biomass and net primary productivity (NPP) in Siberia. In situ observations of living biomass and productivity from Siberia were used to calibrate the parameters of the new PFTs using a Bayesian optimisation procedure. With the new PFTs, we obtain a lower NPP by 31 % (from 55° N), as well as a lower roughness length (−41 %), transpiration (−33 %) and a higher winter albedo (by +3.6 %) due to increased snow cover. A simulation of the water balance and runoff and drainage in the high northern latitudes using the new PFTs results in an increase of fresh water discharge in the Arctic ocean by 11 % (+140 km3 yr−1), owing to less evapotranspiration. Future developments should focus on the competition between these three PFTs and boreal tree PFTs, in order to simulate their area changes in response to climate change, and the effect of carbon–nitrogen interactions.

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Short summary
To improve the simulation of vegetation–climate feedbacks at high latitudes, three new circumpolar vegetation types were added in the ORCHIDEE land surface model: bryophytes (mosses) and lichens, Arctic shrubs, and Arctic grasses. This article is an introduction to the modification of vegetation distribution and physical behaviour, implying for example lower productivity, roughness, and higher winter albedo or freshwater discharge in the Arctic Ocean.