Constraining a complex biogeochemical model for multi-site
greenhouse gas emission simulations by model-data fusion
Abstract. This paper presents results of a combined measurement and modelling strategy to analyse N2O and CO2 emissions from adjacent arable, forest and grassland sites in Germany. Measured emissions reveal seasonal patterns and management effects like fertilizer application, tillage, harvest and grazing. Measured annual N2O fluxes are 4.5, 0.4 and 0.1 kg N ha−1 a−1, while CO2 fluxes are 20.0, 12.2 and 3.0 t C ha−1 a−1 for the arable, grassland and forest sites, respectively. An innovative model-data fusion concept based on multi-criteria evaluation (soil moisture in different depths, yield, CO2 and N2O emissions) is used to rigorously test the biogeochemical LandscapeDNDC model. The model is run in a Latin Hypercube based uncertainty analyses framework to constrain model parameter uncertainty and derive behavioral model runs. Results indicate that the model is in general capable to predict the trace gas emissions, evaluated by RMSE as an objective function. The model shows reasonable performance in simulating the ecosystems C and N balances. The model-data fusion concept helps to detect remaining model errors like missing (e.g. freeze-thaw cycling) or incomplete model processes (e.g. respiration amount after harvest). It further elucidates identifying missing model input sources (e.g. uptake of N through shallow groundwater on grassland during the vegetation period) and uncertainty in measured validation data (e.g. forest N2O emissions in winter months). Guidance is provided to improve model structure and field measurements to further advance landscape scale model predictions.