SiB4 Modeled Global Carbon Fluxes and Pools by Plant Type

SiB4 Modeled Global 0.5-Degree Monthly Carbon Fluxes and Pools, 2000-2018 provides 19 years of global monthly land surface predictions at a 0.5-degree spatial resolution. The mechanistic Simple Biosphere Model (SiB4) output includes carbon, carbonyl sulfide, and energy fluxes, solar-induced fluorescence, carbon pools, and soil variables. Data is partitioned per 15 plant functional types within each grid cell, requiring area-weighted aggregation for total cell values.

Use Cases

• Analyzing global carbon flux trends (e.g., GPP, NEE) from 2000 to 2018 using the monthly time-series.
• Studying vegetation heterogeneity by aggregating per plant functional type (PFT) data using the 'pft_area' and 'pft_names' variables.
• Validating satellite-derived soil moisture and temperature estimates against modeled top-layer soil data.
• Investigating the relationship between solar-induced fluorescence (SIF) and photosynthesis across different biomes.
• Assessing plant available water and soil carbon pool dynamics at a half-degree global grid resolution.

Strengths

• Model output spans a 19-year time period from 2000 through 2018, providing a long-term climatological record.
• Data provides high spatial specificity with output partitioned for 15 distinct plant functional types (PFTs) within each grid cell.
• The mechanistic SiB4 model integrates dynamic phenology, carbon allocation, and cascading carbon pools from biomass to soil.

Limitations

• Key metadata conflicts exist: the 'last updated' date is reported as both 2018-12-31 and 2026-03 12 across different platform entries.
• Specific row counts, file sizes, and the complete set of column names are not provided by any source.
• Data requires user computation of area-weighted means across PFTs to derive grid cell totals, adding a processing step.

Provenance

Source

ORNL_CLOUD

Collection Method

Output from the mechanistic Simple Biosphere Model, Version 4.2 (SiB4).

Time Range

2000 through 2018

Freshness

2026 -03-12 21:45:02.420960

Geography

Global at 0.5-degree spatial resolution