1. General Model Information

Name: Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach (CASA) Biosphere model

Acronym: CASA

Contact:

Author(s):

Abstract:

The CASA2 Biosphere Model is a spatially-resolved modeling environment designed to extrapolate ecophysiological and biogeochemical principles to the global scale. Its main advantage is its reliance on both satellite data and a mechanistic plant and soil carbon model to model the flow of carbon through terrestrial ecosystems. A number of interesting applications of the model have been developed recently with the aim of exploring, among other things:

• The use of satellite NDVI data to parameterize models of net primary production (NPP) at the global scale (Field et al. 1995).
• The compatibility and novel benefits of combining satellite driven NPP estimates with a mechanistic model of soil carbon dynamics (Potter et al. 1993).
• The relationship between changes in terrestrial NPP and the terrestrial atmospheric carbon sink (Thompson et al. 1996).
• The importance of litter dynamics on the seasonal cycle of atmospheric CO2 (Randerson et al. 1996).
• The effects of the use of different processing algorithms for satellite NDVI data on estimates of terrestrial NPP, as well as the use of agricultural yield data to validate satellite- based models of NPP (Malmström et al. in review).
• Simplifications of terrestrial plant and soil carbon models that provide enhanced means of comparison and validation (Thompson and Randerson in preparation).

CASA calculates the seasonal flow of carbon between the atmosphere and the terrestrial biosphere on a number of different time steps and a multitude of spatial resolutions. The main strength of the CASA model is its ability to use remote sensing data to calculate net primary production (NPP) and carbon turnover mechanistically through a CENTURY-like plant and soil carbon cycling model

Author of this abstract: Matthew Thompson

II. Technical Information

II.1 Executables:

II.2 Source-code:

II.3 Manuals:

II.4 Data:

III. Mathematical Information

III.1 Mathematics

III.2 Quantities

III.2.1 Input

III.2.2 Output

IV. References