The soil organic matter module calculates the soil organic carbon loss due to landuse activities. It also estimates the nitrogen release due to the soil organic carbon turnover.
| Description | Unit | A | B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| fm_carbon_density (t_all, j, land, c_pools) |
LPJmL carbon density for land and carbon pools | \(tC/ha\) | x | x |
| pcm_carbon_stock (j, land, c_pools) |
Current carbon in vegetation soil and litter for different land types | \(10^6 tC\) | x | x |
| pcm_land (j, land) |
Land area in previous time step | \(10^6 ha\) | x | x |
| pm_climate_class (j, clcl) |
Koeppen-Geiger climate classification on the simulation cluster level | \(1\) | x | |
| pm_croparea_start (j, kcr) |
Agricultural land initialization area | \(10^6 ha\) | x | |
| pm_land_start (j, land) |
Land initialization area | \(10^6 ha\) | x | |
| vm_area (j, kcr, w) |
Agricultural production area | \(10^6 ha\) | x | |
| vm_carbon_stock (j, land, c_pools) |
Carbon stock in vegetation soil and litter for different land types | \(10^6 tC\) | x | x |
| vm_croplandexpansion (j, land) |
Sources of cropland expansion | \(10^6 ha\) | x | |
| vm_croplandreduction (j, land) |
Targets of cropland reduction | \(10^6 ha\) | x | |
| vm_land (j, land) |
Land area of the different land types | \(10^6 ha\) | x | x |
| vm_landexpansion (j, land) |
Land expansion | \(10^6 ha\) | x |
| Description | Unit | |
|---|---|---|
| vm_nr_som (j) |
Release of soil organic matter | \(Mt N/yr\) |
| vm_nr_som_fertilizer (j) |
Uptake of soil organic matter from plants | \(Mt N/yr\) |
The cellpool_aug16 realization is built on the IPCC 2006 Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (IPCC (2006).). It calculates the loss of soil carbon due to cropping activities and management based on stock change factors, compared to potential natural vegetation. This approach also accounts for the temporal dimension of soil organic carbon change, since it assumes a gradual step of 15% in the direction of the new equilibrium soil organic carbon pool each year. Stock change factors tracks crop types as well as management (e.g. irrigation) and input differences on cropland.
For every cell a new equilibrium value for the soil organic carbon pool on cropland as the sum over all crop types and irrigation regimes is calculated
\[\begin{multline*} v59\_som\_target(j2,"crop") = \sum_{kcr,w}\left( vm\_area(j2,kcr,w) \cdot i59\_cratio(j2,kcr,w)\right) \cdot \sum_{ct}f59\_topsoilc\_density(ct,j2) \end{multline*}\]
as well as for all non cropland given by
\[\begin{multline*} v59\_som\_target(j2,noncropland59) = vm\_land(j2,noncropland59) \cdot \sum_{ct}f59\_topsoilc\_density(ct,j2) \end{multline*}\]
Depending on the setting of c59_som_scenarioclimate impacts (cc) are taken into account or not (nocc). For a static climate f59_topsoilc_density is set to the value of 1995 within the input of the module realization. The actual carbon transfer from cropland as well as to cropland soils is then given by
\[\begin{multline*} v59\_som\_transfer\_to\_cropland\left(j2, noncropland59\right) = \sum_{ct}\left( vm\_croplandexpansion(j2,noncropland59) \cdot p59\_carbon\_density(ct,j2,noncropland59) - vm\_croplandreduction(j2,noncropland59) \cdot p59\_carbon\_density(ct,j2,"crop")\right) \end{multline*}\]
To get the current size of the soil organic carbon pool, the pool of the previous timestep corrected by the carbon transfer is developing into the direction of the above calculated target values taken the timestep depending lossrate into account by
\[\begin{multline*} v59\_som\_pool(j2,"crop") = \sum_{ct} i59\_lossrate(ct) \cdot \left(v59\_som\_target(j2,"crop") - \left(p59\_som\_pool(j2,"crop") + \sum_{noncropland59} v59\_som\_transfer\_to\_cropland(j2,noncropland59)\right)\right) + \left(p59\_som\_pool(j2,"crop") + \sum_{noncropland59} v59\_som\_transfer\_to\_cropland(j2,noncropland59)\right) \end{multline*}\]
and
\[\begin{multline*} v59\_som\_pool\left(j2, noncropland59\right) = \sum_{ct}i59\_lossrate(ct) \cdot \left(v59\_som\_target(j2,noncropland59) - \left(p59\_som\_pool(j2,noncropland59) - v59\_som\_transfer\_to\_cropland(j2,noncropland59)\right)\right) + \left(p59\_som\_pool(j2,noncropland59) - v59\_som\_transfer\_to\_cropland(j2,noncropland59)\right) \end{multline*}\]
The soil carbon content is calculated as sum of actual topsoil pool and the reference soil carbon pool of the subsoil
\[\begin{multline*} vm\_carbon\_stock\left(j2, pools59, "soilc"\right) = v59\_som\_pool\left(j2, pools59\right) + vm\_land\left(j2, pools59\right) \cdot \sum_{ct}i59\_subsoilc\_density(ct,j2) \end{multline*}\]
The annual nitrogen release (or sink) for cropland soils is than calculated by the loss of soil organic carbon given by
\[\begin{multline*} vm\_nr\_som(j2) = \frac{ \sum_{ct}i59\_lossrate(ct)}{m\_timestep\_length} \cdot \frac{1}{15 } \cdot \left(p59\_som\_pool(j2,"crop") + \sum_{noncropland59} v59\_som\_transfer\_to\_cropland(j2,noncropland59) - v59\_som\_target(j2,"crop")\right) \end{multline*}\]
with the carbon to nitrogen ratio of soils assumed to be 15:1. The amount of nitrogen that becomes available to cropland farming is limited by loss of soil organic matter by
\[\begin{multline*} vm\_nr\_som\_fertilizer(j2) \leq vm\_nr\_som(j2) \end{multline*}\]
as well as by the amount that crops can take up
\[\begin{multline*} vm\_nr\_som\_fertilizer(j2) \leq vm\_landexpansion(j2,"crop") \cdot s59\_nitrogen\_uptake \end{multline*}\]
Here we assume a maximum of 200 kg on the expanded area.
The cellpool_aug16 calculates the carbon loss with the assumption of a lossrate of 15% per year resulting in 44% in 5 years, 80% in 10 years and 96% in 20 years. The lossrate for a given timestep is than calculate by
i59_lossrate(t)=1-0.85**m_yeardiff(t);The stock change factors are implemented for cropland subsystems divided by MAgPIE crop types as well as potentially for tillage and input management. So far it just tracks the subsystem component due to missing data for the other categories. They are set to the following default values:
i59_tillage_share(i,tillage59)=0;
i59_tillage_share(i,"full_tillage")=1;
i59_input_share(i,inputs59)=0;
i59_input_share(i,"medium_input")=1;The stock change factor in each cell for every crop type also takes into account the climate variability of these factors and is therefor given by:
i59_cratio(j,kcr,w) = sum((cell(i,j),tillage59,inputs59,climate59),
sum(clcl_climate59(clcl,climate59),pm_climate_class(j,clcl))
* f59_cratio_landuse(climate59,kcr)
* i59_tillage_share(i,tillage59)
* f59_cratio_tillage(climate59,tillage59)
* i59_input_share(i,inputs59)
* f59_cratio_inputs(climate59,inputs59)
* f59_cratio_irrigation(climate59,w,kcr));Limitations It is assumed that pastures and rangelandes as well as managed forests do not change in soil carbon compared to the natural reference state.
The static_jan19 realization is built on the IPCC 2006 Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (IPCC (2006).). It calculates the loss of soil carbon due to cropping activities based on stock change factors, compared to potential natural vegetation. This approach does not account for the temporal dimension of soil organic carbon change, since it assumes a complete loss of carbon directly after land conversion to cropland. Therefore, no release of nitrogen due to soil organic matter loss is calculated. Moreover only one stock change factor for all crop types is used, neglecting e.g. differences for annual and perennial crops.
The soil carbon content for cropland is calculated as sum of reduced topsoil density and the reference soil carbon densities of the subsoil.
\[\begin{multline*} vm\_carbon\_stock(j2,"crop","soilc") = vm\_land(j2,"crop") \cdot \sum_{ct}\left( i59\_topsoilc\_density(ct,j2) + i59\_subsoilc\_density(ct,j2)\right) \end{multline*}\]
The soil carbon content for all other land use types is calculated based on the full profile soil carbon density:
\[\begin{multline*} vm\_carbon\_stock(j2,noncropland59,"soilc") = \sum_{ct}\left( vm\_land(j2,noncropland59) \cdot fm\_carbon\_density(ct,j2,noncropland59,"soilc")\right) \end{multline*}\]
Cropland topsoil carbon densities are calculated based on simple IPCC stock change factors (if not done in cellular preprocessing). We assume following the IPCC assumptions that cropland activities will only change the topsoil (here 30 cm) carbon density.
i59_subsoilc_density(t_all,j) = fm_carbon_density(t_all,j,"secdforest","soilc") - f59_topsoilc_density(t_all,j);
$ifthen "%c59_static_spatial_level%" == "cellular" i59_topsoilc_density(t_all,j) = fm_carbon_density(t_all,j,"crop","soilc") - i59_subsoilc_density(t_all,j);
$elseif "%c59_static_spatial_level%" == "cluster" i59_topsoilc_density(t_all,j) = f59_topsoilc_density(t_all,j) * (1- f59_cshare_released(j));
$endifLimitations The soil carbon dynamics are instantaneous and do not account for any time dependent release of soil carbon. The soil carbon pools on cropland are not crop type specific. The release of nitrogen due to soil organic matter loss is not calculated. It is assumed that pastures and rangelands as well as managed forests do not change in soil carbon compared to the natural reference state.
| Description | Unit | A | B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| f59_cratio_inputs (climate59, inputs59) |
Ratio of soil carbon relative to potential natural vegetation soil carbon for different input intensity | \(1\) | x | |
| f59_cratio_irrigation (climate59, w, kcr) |
Ratio of soil carbon relative to potential natural vegetation soil carbon for different irrigation schemes | \(1\) | x | |
| f59_cratio_landuse (climate59, kcr) |
Ratio of soil carbon relative to potential natural vegetation soil carbon for different landuse | \(1\) | x | |
| f59_cratio_tillage (climate59, tillage59) |
Ratio of soil carbon relative to potential natural vegetation soil carbon for different soil management | \(1\) | x | |
| f59_cshare_released (j) |
Share of soil carbon that is released on cropland compared to natural vegetation after 20 years | \(1\) | x | |
| f59_topsoilc_density (t_all, j) |
LPJ topsoil carbon density for natural vegetation | \(tC/ha\) | x | x |
| i59_cratio (j, kcr, w) |
Ratio of carbon density of land relative to natural vegetaion | \(1\) | x | |
| i59_input_share (i, inputs59) |
Share of land under input class | \(1\) | x | |
| i59_lossrate (t) |
Rate of loss or recovery of SOM pool per timestep | \(1\) | x | |
| i59_subsoilc_density (t_all, j) |
Subsoil carbon density of a hectare of land | \(tC/ha\) | x | x |
| i59_tillage_share (i, tillage59) |
Share of land under tillage class | \(1\) | x | |
| i59_topsoilc_density (t_all, j) |
Topsoil carbon density of a hectare of cropland | \(tC/ha\) | x | |
| p59_carbon_density (t_all, j, pools59) |
Carbon density of a hectare of land | \(tC/ha\) | x | |
| p59_som_pool (j, pools59) |
Actual C pool | \(10^6 tC\) | x | |
| q59_carbon_soil (j, pools59) |
Soil carbon content calculation | \(10^6 tC\) | x | |
| q59_nr_som (j) |
Soil organic matter loss | \(Mt N/yr\) | x | |
| q59_nr_som_fertilizer (j) |
Bound of nitrogen fertilizer of soil organic matter loss | \(Mt N/yr\) | x | |
| q59_nr_som_fertilizer2 (j) |
Fraction of soil organic matter loss take is taken up by plants | \(Mt N/yr\) | x | |
| q59_soilcarbon_cropland (j) |
Cropland soil carbon content calculation | \(10^6 tC\) | x | |
| q59_soilcarbon_noncropland (j, noncropland59) |
Non-cropland soil carbon content calculation | \(10^6 tC\) | x | |
| q59_som_pool_cropland (j) |
Actual C pool in croplands | \(10^6 tC\) | x | |
| q59_som_pool_noncropland (j, noncropland59) |
Actual C pool in non-croplands | \(10^6 tC\) | x | |
| q59_som_target_cropland (j) |
Estimates the long-term target state of cropland | \(10^6 tC\) | x | |
| q59_som_target_noncropland (j, noncropland59) |
Estimates the long-term target state of noncropland | \(10^6 tC\) | x | |
| q59_som_transfer_to_cropland (j, noncropland59) |
Estimates the transfer of carbon pools due to land conversion | \(10^6 tC\) | x | |
| s59_nitrogen_uptake | Maximum plant available nitrogen from soil organic matter loss | \(tN/ha\) | x | |
| v59_som_pool (j, pools59) |
Soil organic matter pool | \(10^6 tC\) | x | |
| v59_som_target (j, pools59) |
Long-term target state of C pool | \(10^6 tC\) | x | |
| v59_som_transfer_to_cropland (j, noncropland59) |
Transfer of SOM from other land to cropland | \(10^6 tC\) | x |
| description | |
|---|---|
| c_pools | Carbon pools |
| cell(i, j) | number of LPJ cells per region i |
| clcl | climate classification types |
| clcl_climate59(clcl, climate59) | Climate classification types |
| climate59 | Climate classes of IPCC 2006 |
| ct(t) | Current time period |
| i | all economic regions |
| inputs59 | Input management categories of IPCC |
| j | number of LPJ cells |
| j2(j) | Spatial Clusters (dynamic set) |
| kcr(kve) | Cropping activities |
| land | Land pools |
| noncropland59(pools59) | Soil carbon conserving landuse types |
| pools59(land) | Carbon differentiating landuse types |
| t_all(t_ext) | 5-year time periods |
| t(t_all) | Simulated time periods |
| tillage59 | Tillage categories of IPCC |
| type | GAMS variable attribute used for the output |
| w | Water supply type |
Benjamin Leon Bodirsky, Kristine Karstens
10_land, 30_crop, 45_climate, 50_nr_soil_budget, 51_nitrogen, 52_carbon
IPCC. 2006. “2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Prepared by the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme.”