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Global Ecosystem Demography Model (ED-global v1.0): Development, Calibration and Evaluation for NASA’s Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI)
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  • Lei Ma,
  • George Hurtt,
  • Lesley Ott,
  • Ritvik Sahajpal,
  • Justin Fisk,
  • Steve Flanagan,
  • Benjamin Poulter,
  • Shunlin Liang,
  • Joe Sullivan,
  • Ralph Dubayah
Lei Ma
University of Maryland at College Park

Corresponding Author:leima578542312@gmail.com

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George Hurtt
University of Maryland,Princeton University
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Lesley Ott
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt
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Ritvik Sahajpal
University of Maryland at College Park
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Justin Fisk
University of Maryland at College Park
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Steve Flanagan
Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy
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Benjamin Poulter
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt
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Shunlin Liang
University of Maryland at College Park
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Joe Sullivan
University of Maryland at College Park
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Ralph Dubayah
University of Maryland at College Park
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Abstract

Climate mitigation and forest management require accurate information on carbon stocks, fluxes, and potential future sequestration potential. Previous large-scale estimates have substantial uncertainties arising from lack of data, heterogeneity of forest structure, and modeling limitations. However, recent local-to-regional studies suggest that combination of lidar-derived canopy height with an advanced 3-D ecosystem model that explicitly tracks vegetation height (i.e. Ecosystem Demography, ED) can reduce uncertainties and provide mapped estimates of these quantities at high-spatial resolution over policy relevant domains. Extending this approach to the global scale requires both a source of global lidar data height data and a global height structured ecosystem model. The NASA GEDI mission provides precise measurements of forest canopy height and vertical structure with great potential for global carbon cycle modelling. Here we present recent development and calibration of ED-global (v1.0) and its evaluation simulations against heterogeneous sources of satellite observations and field measurements. ED-global estimates of vegetation carbon stocks and fluxes, vegetation distribution and structure will be examined across various temporal and spatial scales from seasonal to inter-annual and also from grid cell to biome. The developed ED-global will serve as base model of NASA’s GEDI mission to answer the key science questions: What is the carbon balance of Earth’s forests? And how will the land surface mitigate atmospheric CO2 in the future?