LPJmL (version 5.0-tillage) Model Code

This the source code for the development of the LPJmL model (version 5.0-tillage), as part of the model description paper submitted to Geoscientific Model Development: https://www.geosci-model-dev-discuss.net/gmd-2018-255/

Abstract. The effects of tillage on soil properties (e.g. soil carbon and nitrogen), crop productivity, and global greenhouse gas emissions have been discussed in the last decades. Global ecosystem models are limited in simulating tillage. Hence, they do not allow for analyzing the effects of tillage and cannot evaluate, for example, reduced-tillage or no-till as mitigation practices for climate change. In this paper, we describe the implementation of tillage related practices in the global ecosystem model LPJmL. The model is subsequently evaluated against reported differences between tillage and no-till management on several soil properties. To this end, simulation results are compared with published meta-analysis on tillage effects. In general, the model is able to reproduce observed tillage effects on global, as well as regional patterns of carbon and water fluxes. However, modeled N-fluxes deviate from the literature and need further study. The addition of the tillage module to LPJmL 5.0 opens opportunities to assess the impact of agricultural soil management practices under different scenarios with implications for agricultural productivity, carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental indicators.

How to cite: Lutz, F., Herzfeld, T., Heinke, J., Rolinski, S., Schaphoff, S., von Bloh, W., Stoorvogel, J. J., and Müller, C.: Simulating the effect of tillage practices with the global ecosystem model LPJmL (version 5.0-tillage), Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 2419-2440, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-2419-2019, 2019.