Articles | Volume 12, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-5029-2019
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-5029-2019
Development and technical paper
 | 
03 Dec 2019
Development and technical paper |  | 03 Dec 2019

Improving the LPJmL4-SPITFIRE vegetation–fire model for South America using satellite data

Markus Drüke, Matthias Forkel, Werner von Bloh, Boris Sakschewski, Manoel Cardoso, Mercedes Bustamante, Jürgen Kurths, and Kirsten Thonicke

Model code and software

LPJmL4 Model Code, V 4.0.003 Drüke, M., Forkel, M., von Bloh, W., Sakschewski, B., Cardoso, M., Bustamante, M., Kurths, J., and Thonicke, K. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3497213

LPJmLmdi Model Code, V 1.31 Forkel, M. and Drüke, M. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3497201

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Short summary
This work shows the successful application of a systematic model–data integration setup, as well as the implementation of a new fire danger formulation, in order to optimize a process-based fire-enabled dynamic global vegetation model. We have demonstrated a major improvement in the fire representation within LPJmL4-SPITFIRE in terms of the spatial pattern and the interannual variability of burned area in South America as well as in the modelling of biomass and the distribution of plant types.