HR: 1330h
AN: PP23B-09    [Abstracts]
TI: An assessment of interactively coupled paleoclimate-vegetation models
AU: * Batra, P O
EM: pbatra@mtholyoke.edu
AF: Department of Earth and Environment, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA 01075
AU: Barron, E J
EM: barron@ems.psu.edu
AF: College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
AU: Pollard, D
EM: pollard@essc.psu.edu
AF: Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
AB: Vegetation is a key component of climate models. Failure to include realistic vegetation-climate interactions can cause significant discrepancies in predicted surface temperature and precipitation. In this study, four different vegetation models -- BIOME4, EVE, IBIS and SIVM -- were coupled to the GENESIS2 global climate model and simulations run for four paleoclimatic time periods in the Miocene and late Pleistocene. The simulated vegetation from each model was compared to observed paleo-distributions derived from pollen and plant macrofossils. The BIOME4 model best reproduces the paleovegetation, and analysis suggests that this is at least in part due to its inclusion of parameterizations of fire disturbance and the effects of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels on plant growth. Furthermore, using one model rather than another results in regional temperature differences of up to 4 °C for annual means and 7 °C for seasonal means.
DE: 3322 Land/atmosphere interactions
DE: 3344 Paleoclimatology
SC: Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology [PP]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly