Impact of crop growth on the land surface exchange processes in Europe

Catherine Van den Hoof, Pier Luigi Vidale, Hildegarde Vandenhove

    Research outputpeer-review

    Abstract

    In order to evaluate the sustainability issues that we will face in the near future, there is a need to understand the relationships between crop growth, land surface characteristics and energy and water cycles. The land surface model JULES includes the full hydrological cycle and vegetation effects on energy, water and carbon fluxes. However, it only simulates land surface processes in natural ecosystems. A dynamic crop growth structure and some model adaptations have been implemented within JULES: JULES-SUCROS. JULES-SUCROS has been validated against CarboEurope flux data in 3 geographically distinct regions in Europe. With JULES-SUCROS as tool, the effects of crop growth on the land surface have been compared to grass under current and changed atmospheric conditions. JULES-SUCROS improves the simulations of crop growth, energy and water fluxes over Europe, compared to the original land surface model JULES. Simulations with JULES-SUCROS show that land-atmosphere interactions are strongly affected by vegetation type and dynamic. Therefore, including a dynamic crop growth structure, such as JULES-SUCROS, within a GCM is likely to improve weather and climate simulations and so to help to better understand the interactions between crop growth, land and climate systems.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationWater in a Changing Climate – Progress in Land-Atmosphere Interactions and Energy/Water Cycle Research
    Place of PublicationMelbourne, Australia
    Pages278-279
    Volume2
    StatePublished - Aug 2009
    EventWater in a Changing Climate: Progress in Land-Atmosphere Interactions and Energy/Water Cycle Research - iLEAPS and GEWEX, Melbourne
    Duration: 24 Aug 200928 Aug 2009

    Conference

    ConferenceWater in a Changing Climate: Progress in Land-Atmosphere Interactions and Energy/Water Cycle Research
    Country/TerritoryAustralia
    CityMelbourne
    Period2009-08-242009-08-28

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