FATES (the Functionally-Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator), a next-generation dynamic vegetation model, has been fully integrated into the E3SM ESM and its land model (ALM)
The Science
FATES, a dynamics vegetation model that predicts tree size distributions, disturbance dynamics, and plant trait competition, has been integrated into the E3SM Land Model, and released as an open source tool to the public.
The Impact
FATES will allow a richer representation of the potential ecosystem responses to weather, land-use, and atmospheric compositional changes, and how these ecosystem changes alter the dynamics of the Earth system. The coupled E3SM ESM will benefit from these changes to allow it to be applied to scientific questions about the role of ecosystem change in the context of larger global changes.
Summary
The Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator (FATES) is a demographic vegetation model that includes dynamics that are not included in the current E3SM Land Model, such as individual tree growth, death, and competition for light; explicit representation of both natural and anthropogenic disturbance; and competitive dynamics between different plant functional types as a result of their differing plant traits. The FATES model has been designed for modularity so as to allow scientific isolation of component processes and clean scientific experimental design. Because FATES makes predictions about tree size distributions, disturbance dynamics, and physiological dynamics at the level of individual trees, it can be more robustly tested against field measurements and can therefore serve as an organizing model for DOE field activities, particularly in forested ecosystems, such as NGEE Tropics. Now that FATES has been fully integrated into the ACME Land Model, such activities are directly feeding into science.
Contacts (BER PM): Daniel Stover, SC-23.1, Daniel.Stover@science.doe.gov (301-903-0289)
Dorothy Koch, SC-23.1, Dorothy.Koch@science.doe.gov (301-903-0105)
PI Contact: Charles Koven, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Phone: 510-486-6724, cdkoven@lbl.gov
Funding
Support for this activity is from the Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research, through the Climate and Environmental Sciences Division and the Terrestrial Ecosystem Sciences Division as part of the Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE-Tropics) Project.
Related Links
The link to the FATES-release github repository is: https://github.com/NGEET/fates-release