Wide Discrepancies in the Magnitude and Direction of Modelled SIF in Response to Light Conditions.

Recent successes in passive remote sensing of far-red solar induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) have spurred development and integration of canopy-level fluorescence models in global terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) for climate and carbon cycle research. The interaction of fluorescence with photochemistry at the leaf- and canopy- scale provides opportunities to diagnose and constrain model simulations of photosynthesis and related processes, through direct comparison to and assimilation of tower, airborne, and satellite data. TBMs describe key processes relating to absorption of sunlight, leaf-level fluorescence emission, scattering and reabsorption throughout the canopy. Here, we analyze simulations from an ensemble of process-based TBM-SIF models (SiB3, SiB4, CLM4.5, CLM5.0, BETHY, ORCHIDEE, BEPS) at a subalpine evergreen needleleaf forest near Niwot Ridge, Colorado. These models are forced with tower observed meteorological data, and analyzed against continuous far-red SIF and gross primary productivity (GPP) partitioned eddy covariance data at diurnal and synoptic scales during the growing season (July-August 2017). Our primary objective is to summarize the site-level state of the art in TBM-SIF modeling over a relatively short time period (summer) when light, structure, and pigments are similar, setting the stage for regional- to global-scale analyses. We find that these models are generally well constrained in simulating photosynthetic yield, but show strongly divergent patterns in the simulation of absorbed photosynthetic active radiation (PAR), absolute GPP and fluorescence, quantum yields, and light response at leaf and canopy scale. This study highlights the need for mechanistic modeling of non-photochemical quenching in stressed and unstressed environments, and improved representation of light absorption (APAR), distribution of sunlit and shaded light, and radiative transfer from leaf to canopy scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]