Objective
The aim of this project is to achieve an improved knowledge of the terrestrial carbon cycle in response to climate variability and extremes, to represent and apply this knowledge over Europe with predictive terrestrial carbon cycle modelling, to interpret the model predictions in terms of vulnerability of the terrestrial – in particular soil – carbon pools and give according advice to EU climate and soil protection policies. This objective will be achieved by integrating three major types of recent and new solid scientific carbon cycle data, from: (i) soil process studies, (ii) a network of established ecosystem manipulation experiments, and (iii) long-term observations spanning several times-scales (e.g. eddy covariance data, tree rings and growth, crop yields, long-term remote sensing data on soil moisture and vegetation activity and soil carbon inventories). The integration will be reached by establishing a consistent and harmonized data base and by confronting the terrestrial carbon cycle models with the multiple data sets within a Bayesian model identification and improvement procedure. Specific model development concerning processes affected by extreme events (e.g. soil carbon destabilization, tree growth response incl. lag effects and mortality) will be included and followed by model testing and improvement against the data made available in the project. The improved models will simulate terrestrial processes relevant to carbon balance and soil erosion at pan- European scale using regionalized climate scenarios with explicit inclusion of extreme climatic events. Since we are using several climate scenarios and an ensemble of models we will be able to characterize the uncertainties in prediction coming from models and climate scenarios. We will interpret the empirical evidence from the observational work and the model simulations in a framework of vulnerability assessment and disseminate and discuss results with stakeholders at EU level.
Fields of science
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologydendroclimatology
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringremote sensing
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturehorticulturearboriculture
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
Keywords
Programme(s)
Call for proposal
FP7-ENV-2008-1
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Funding Scheme
CP-FP - Small or medium-scale focused research projectCoordinator
80539 Munchen
Germany
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Participants (25)
75015 PARIS 15
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00185 Roma
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8092 Zuerich
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75007 Paris
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14473 Potsdam
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2000 Antwerpen
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AB24 3FX ABERDEEN
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01100 Viterbo
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75794 Paris
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MK43 0AL Cranfield - Bedfordshire
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2800 Kongens Lyngby
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077190 VOLUNTARI
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2361 Laxenburg
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Participation ended
28040 MADRID
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EX1 3PB Exeter
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SN2 1EU SWINDON WILTSHIRE
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750 07 Uppsala
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6020 Innsbruck
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1081 HV Amsterdam
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8903 Birmensdorf
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30167 Hannover
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22100 Lund
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46980 PATERNA VALENCIA
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91405 ORSAY CEDEX
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28801 Alcala De Henares/Madrid
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