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Sensitivity Analysis of the Maximum Entropy Production Method to Model Evaporation in Boreal and Temperate Forests
Author(s) -
Isabelle P.E.,
Viens L.,
Nadeau D. F.,
Anctil F.,
Wang J.,
Maheu A.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2020gl091919
Subject(s) - environmental science , temperate climate , climate change , atmospheric sciences , boreal , evaporation , latent heat , entropy production , temperate forest , sensitivity (control systems) , transpiration , climatology , meteorology , ecology , physics , thermodynamics , geology , chemistry , biochemistry , photosynthesis , electronic engineering , biology , engineering
The maximum entropy production (MEP) approach has been little used to simulate evaporation in forests and its sensitivity to input variables has yet to be systematically evaluated. This study addresses these shortcomings. First, we show that the MEP model performed well in simulating evaporation during snow‐free periods at six sites in temperate and boreal forests (0.68 ≤ NSE ≤ 0.82). Second, we computed a sensitivity coefficient S representing the proportion of change in the input variable transferred to the latent heat flux ( λE ). Net radiation ( R n ) was the most influential variable ( S ≈ 1) at all sites, indicating that an increase in R n translates into an equivalent increase in λE . The MEP model avoided the issue of oversensitivity to air temperature ( S < 0.5 at peak evaporation) and captured limitations to transpiration associated with the atmospheric evaporative demand. Overall, the MEP model offers a promising tool for climate change studies.