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Global climate models and ‘dynamic’ vegetation changes
Author(s) -
HENDERSONSELLERS A.,
McGUFFIE K.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
global change biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.146
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1365-2486
pISSN - 1354-1013
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2486.1995.tb00007.x
Subject(s) - vegetation (pathology) , climate change , climatology , de facto , general circulation model , climate model , environmental science , gcm transcription factors , global change , physical geography , representation (politics) , environmental resource management , ecology , geography , geology , medicine , pathology , politics , political science , law , biology
Models of global change must come to incorporate changes in terrestrial vegetation. Here we choose a 1‐ year meshing (coupling) period to link a global climate model to a well‐known biophysical representation of the continental surface by means of eleven vegetation functional types. This coupled model is used to answer two questions: Can a ‘standard’ GCM ‘cope' with sudden switches in continental characteristics ?’ and Does the climate ‘care’ about the changing underlying vegetation ? We find affirmative answers to both questions. Our results also suggest that those content to generate vegetation post facto from climate output have incomplete results.