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TERRESTRIAL NPP: TOWARD A CONSISTENT DATA SET FORGLOBAL MODEL EVALUATION
Author(s) -
Scurlock J. M. O.,
Cramer W.,
Olson R. J.,
Parton W. J.,
Prince S. D.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
ecological applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.864
H-Index - 213
eISSN - 1939-5582
pISSN - 1051-0761
DOI - 10.1890/1051-0761(1999)009[0913:tntacd]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - primary production , biosphere , biome , global change , environmental science , carbon cycle , field (mathematics) , pathfinder , data set , ecology , computer science , environmental resource management , ecosystem , climate change , mathematics , artificial intelligence , pure mathematics , biology , library science
Progress in modeling the global carbon cycle is inhibited by the lack of a high‐quality data set based upon field observations of net primary productivity (NPP) with which to calibrate, parameterize, and evaluate terrestrial biosphere models. Under the auspices of the Global Primary Production Data Initiative (GPPDI), an activity endorsed by the International Geosphere–Biosphere Program’s Data and Information System, a small international workshop was held in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, in December 1996 to address the problem of extrapolating sparse field observations of NPP to produce a consistent database representative of major biomes. We report the conclusions of this workshop and the goals of GPPDI—to further expand the existing data compilation, to agree upon consistent standards for cross‐site comparisons and allometric relationships for various biome types, and to document methodologies for spatial extrapolation from point measurements to grid cells. The resulting NPP database will also have intrinsic value: global data are important for many ecological problems, and NPP is a kind of “pathfinder” for other ecological data sets.