Models and Their Adaptation

This chapter describes computer simulation models developed for ­estimating greenhouse gas fluxes of different ecosystems. In general, each model is used for the simulation of specific parts of the complex systems; therefore, merging the results of various kind of models can give a better insight. In this chapter, we describe four models used for estimating biospheric fluxes of greenhouse gases in Hungary. The Biome-BGC and the DNDC models are process-based ecological models. The adapted version of Biome-BGC is capable of describing the carbon, nitrogen, and water fluxes of the Hungarian arable lands and grasslands. This model is used to estimate the net primary production (NPP) and the net biome production. DNDC is used to predict the soil fluxes of nitrous oxide and methane, and simulates the biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nitrogen occurring in agricultural soil. MOD17 is a simple lightweight model that is based on remote sensing and ancillary meteorological information, and provides gross primary production (GPP) and NPP data. The CASMOFOR model was developed to estimate how much carbon can be accumulated in afforestation projects.