Midwest Cropland Carbon Flux Estimates from Ecosys Model

Daily county-level estimates of carbon fluxes for croplands in Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa from 2001 to 2018. Data are derived from the ecosys model, which simulates water, energy, carbon, and nutrient cycles, and is constrained by USDA crop yield statistics and remote sensing products. The dataset is provided in shapefile format and its model performance was evaluated against AmeriFlux tower observations.

Use Cases

• Analyzing trends in gross primary productivity (GPP) and net ecosystem exchange (NEE) for corn and soybean systems over an 18-year period.
• Modeling county-level heterotrophic respiration (Rh) to understand soil carbon dynamics in agricultural landscapes.
• Validating regional carbon cycle models using model estimates constrained by USDA yield data and SLOPE GPP products.
• Assessing the carbon footprint and sequestration potential of agricultural management practices in the US Midwest.

Strengths

• Model estimates are constrained and evaluated with observational data from USDA crop yields and AmeriFlux towers.
• Provides an 18-year time series (2001-2018) of daily carbon flux estimates at county-level resolution.
• Covers a key agricultural region producing significant global supplies of corn and soybeans.

Limitations

• Spatial coverage is limited to three states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa) within the Midwestern US.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist between platforms (2018-12 -31 vs. 2026-03-13), suggesting potential metadata inconsistency.
• Specific column names, row counts, and dataset size are not provided by any source.

Provenance

Source

ORNL_CLOUD

Collection Method

Generated by the ecosys model, constrained by USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service crop yield data and a remote-sensing-based SLOPE GPP product.

Time Range

2001-2018

Freshness

2026-03 13 03:02:12.538156

Geography

County-level coverage for Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa, USA.