CARAIB - A GLOBAL-MODEL OF TERRESTRIAL BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTIVITY

CARAIB, a mechanistic model of carbon assimilation in the biosphere es timates the net primary productivity (NPP) of the continental vegetati on on a grid of 1 degrees x 1 degrees in latitude and longitude. The m odel considers the annual and diurnal cycles. It is based on the coupl ing of the three following submodels; a leaf assimilation model includ ing estimates of stomatal conductance and leaf respiration, a canopy m odel describing principally the radiative transfer through the foliage , and a wood respiration model. Present-day climate and vegetation cha racteristics allow the discrimination between ecotypes. In particular, specific information on vegetation distribution and properties is suc cessfully used at four levels; the leaf physiological level, the plant level, the ecosystem level, and the global level. The productivity de termined by the CARAIB model is compared with local measurements and e mpirical estimates showing a good agreement with a global value of 65 Gt C yr(-1). The sensitivity of the model to the diurnal cycle and to the abundance of C-4 species is also tested. The productivity slightly decreases (10%) when the diurnal cycle of the temperature is neglecte d. By contrast, neglecting the diurnal cycle of solar irradiance produ ces unrealistically high values of NPP. Even if the importance of this increase would presumably be reduced by the coupling of CARAIB with a nutrient cycle model, this test emphasizes the key role of the diurna l cycle in a mechanistic model of the NPP. Uncertainties on the abunda nce and spatial distribution of C-4 plants may cause errors in the NPP estimates, however, as demonstrated by two sensitivity tests, these e rrors are certainly lower than 10% at the global scale as shown by two tests.