DOI number:10.5194/gmd-10-689-2017
Abstract:Bioclimatic indices for use in studies of ecosystem function,species distribution, and vegetation dynamics under changing climatescenarios depend on estimates of surface fluxes and other quantities, such asradiation, evapotranspiration and soil moisture, for which directobservations are sparse. These quantities can be derived indirectly frommeteorological variables, such as near-surface air temperature, precipitationand cloudiness. Here we present a consolidated set of simple process-ledalgorithms for simulating habitats (SPLASH) allowing robust approximations ofkey quantities at ecologically relevant timescales. We specify equations,derivations, simplifications, and assumptions for the estimation of daily andmonthly quantities of top-of-the-atmosphere solar radiation, net surfaceradiation, photosynthetic photon flux density, evapotranspiration (potential,equilibrium, and actual), condensation, soil moisture, and runoff, based onanalysis of their relationship to fundamental climatic drivers. The climaticdrivers include a minimum of three meteorological inputs: precipitation, airtemperature, and fraction of bright sunshine hours. Indices, such as themoisture index, the climatic water deficit, and the Priestley–Taylorcoefficient, are also defined. The SPLASH code is transcribed in C++,FORTRAN, Python, and R. A total of 1 year of results are presented at the local andglobal scales to exemplify the spatiotemporal patterns of daily and monthlymodel outputs along with comparisons to other model results.
Discipline:Natural Science
First-Level Discipline:Ecology
Translation or Not:no
Included Journals:SCI