ImBio

Improving a Process-based Biogeochemistry Model Using an Atmospheric Transport Chemistry Model and In-Situ and Remotely-Sensed Terrestrial and Atmospheric Data

Duration:09/2007 - 09/2010
Award Amount:$84,000

Participants
Lead Institution - Purdue University: Qianlai Zhuang, Jinyun Tang

Project Objectives
To predict future atmospheric composition and climate, more accurate biogeochemistry models used in Earth System Models are needed.  Here we propose to use available atmospheric data from satellite missions and in situ trace-gas networks and remote-sensing and in-situ data of terrestrial ecosystems and a 3D tropospheric chemistry model (GEOS-Chem) in a model-data fusion manner to improve a global biogeochemistry model (TEM) in simulating methane fluxes.  Simulated fluxes with the biogeochemistry model will be fed into the tropospheric chemistry model to simulate the gas concentrations.  The observed atmospheric concentrations will be compared to the estimates of the tropospheric chemistry model.  By altering parameters of the biogeochemistry model, the differences between the observed and the simulated atmospheric gas concentrations could be optimized.  Iterations of these steps will improve the biogeochemistry model by constraining its key uncertain parameters and suggesting alternative structures to the model.