Ecosystem Demography Model for U.S. Carbon Fluxes 1700-1990

NASA's Ecosystem Demography Model (ED version 1.0) provides simulated estimates of ecosystem carbon stocks and fluxes for the conterminous United States. The mechanistic model, incorporating sub-models for physiology and hydrology, was run at a 1.0-degree resolution from 1700 to 1990. Output data on carbon dynamics is stored in NetCDF format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the impact of historical land-use change, derived from cropland patterns and logging estimates, on regional carbon stocks.
• Modeling the consequences of fire suppression policies on ecosystem carbon fluxes over a 290-year period.
• Calibrating other ecosystem models using the gridded output of carbon stocks and fluxes at 1-degree resolution.
• Studying the recovery of forest ecosystems using inputs from U.S. Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data on stand age distribution.

Strengths

• Model integrates multiple established sub-models and high-quality inputs, including ISLSCP climate/soil data and a detailed land-use history reconstruction.
• Provides a long-term, consistent simulation from 1700 to 1990 (290 years) focusing specifically on land-use and fire-management effects.
• Data is available in the standardized, self-describing NetCDF format, which is widely used in geospatial sciences.

Limitations

• Key factual details like row count, dataset size, and specific license terms are unavailable or marked as 'None' across all platforms.
• The model run held atmospheric CO2 concentrations and climatic conditions constant, which may limit direct applicability to studies of climate change effects.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' metadata: one source lists 2026-03 13, while another indicates the data represents conditions up to 1990-12-31.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Mechanistic ecosystem model simulation using the Ecosystem Demography Model (ED v1.0), driven by ISLSCP climate/soil data and a gridded land-use history reconstruction.

Time Range

1700 to 1990

Freshness

2026-03-13 02:50:50.243549

Geography

Conterminous United States at 1.0-degree grid cell resolution.