Biome-BGC Model for Evergreen Forest Carbon and Water Fluxes

This archived product contains the Biome-BGC Version 4.1.1 model used to recreate the results of a 2002 study on seven North American evergreen forests. The NASA-provided model integrates disturbance history, climate, and atmospheric changes to simulate carbon and water budgets. It was validated against site biometric analyses and eddy covariance observations aggregated by month and year.

Use Cases

• Calibrating ecosystem process models using site-level leaf area index and evapotranspiration data.
• Analyzing the effects of interannual climate variability on carbon sink strength across multiple forest sites.
• Comparing simulated carbon and water fluxes against eddy covariance and biometric observations.
• Studying the integrated impact of nitrogen deposition and atmospheric CO2 changes on forest biogeochemistry.
• Recreating the model experiments from the Thornton et al. 2002 publication on disturbance history.

Strengths

• Model validation used empirical data from seven distinct North American evergreen forest sites.
• Results were compared to both site biometric analyses and canopy-scale eddy covariance observations.
• The model produced good estimates of between-site variation in leaf area index.
• Cross-platform presence on Data.gov and NASA EarthData indicates recognized scientific importance.

Limitations

• The model exhibited a bias toward smaller annual carbon sinks at five sites and smaller warm-season sink strength at all sites.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date: Data.gov lists 2026-03-13, while NASA EarthData lists 2002-12-02.
• Specific row counts, column names, and dataset size are not provided by any source.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Coupled water, carbon, nitrogen ecosystem process modeling (Biome-BGC) compared to field observations.

Time Range

Study period covered by the 2002 publication.

Freshness

2026-03-13

Geography

Seven North American evergreen needleleaf forest sites.