ED Model: Ecosystem Carbon and Biomass Estimates for South America

Ecosystem Demography Model (ED) version 1.0 provides source code and output data for a portion of South America, including the Brazilian Amazon. Model outputs are potential average live biomass, soil carbon, and above-ground net primary production at 1.0-degree spatial resolution. The individual-based terrestrial ecosystem model predicts structure and fluxes from climate, soil, and land-use inputs.

Use Cases

• Modeling potential carbon stocks based on climate and soil inputs.
• Analyzing large-scale vegetation dynamics and net primary production.
• Examining the effects of climate, disturbances, and land-use on ecosystem structure.
• Benchmarking or initializing other terrestrial ecosystem models for South America.

Strengths

• Includes the full source code for the Ecosystem Demography Model (ED v1.0), enabling reproducibility and modification.
• Provides model output at a defined 1.0-degree spatial resolution for three key ecosystem variables.
• Data is provided in both ASCII text and NetCDF formats, supporting different analysis workflows.

Limitations

• Model output is based on climate data from 1987-1988, which may not represent current conditions.
• Explicit column names and row counts are not provided in the metadata, limiting immediate understanding of data structure.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates exist between sources (1988 vs. 2026), creating uncertainty about metadata freshness.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Model simulation forced with ISLSCP I climate data.

Time Range

1987-1988

Freshness

2026-04-10 03:29:12.508664

Geography

Portion of South America, including the Brazilian Amazon.