Beylat et al. (2026) Assimilation of Atmospheric CO 2 Concentration in the ORCHIDEE Land Surface Model: Exploring the Added Value of Explicit Forest Regrowth Representation

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Identification

• Journal: Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-09-01
• Authors: Simon Beylat, Philippe Peylin, Nina M. Raoult, Michael O’Sullivan, Antoine Berchet, Frédéric Chevallier, Peter Julian Rayner
• DOI: 10.1029/2026ms005874

Research Groups

• Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford
• National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), UK

Short Summary

This study uses atmospheric measurements to constrain a land surface model and evaluate its performance in simulating terrestrial carbon fluxes, with a focus on the spatial distribution of the carbon sink.

Objective

• Investigate the impact of data-driven estimates of forest post-disturbance regrowth and fire impacts on the simulation of terrestrial carbon fluxes using the ORganizing Carbon and Hydrology In Dynamic EcosystEms LSM.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Global, with a focus on Europe and the northern land sink (above 30°N).
• Temporal Scale: 2010–2022 period

Methodology and Data

• Models used: ORganizing Carbon and Hydrology In Dynamic EcosystEms LSM
• Data sources: Atmospheric measurements, satellite data, observation-based datasets, reanalysis products

Main Results

• Calibration of the model improves agreement between simulated and observed atmospheric CO2 concentrations over the 2010–2022 period.
• Including post-disturbance regrowth estimates leads to distinct parameter values and improves the spatial distribution of land carbon uptake, particularly over Europe.

Contributions

• This study highlights the importance of considering forest demography when assimilating atmospheric data to obtain more realistic estimates of the spatial distribution of the terrestrial carbon sink.
• The results suggest that data-driven estimates of forest post-disturbance regrowth and fire impacts can improve the simulation of terrestrial carbon fluxes.

Funding

• UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
• European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No. [insert grant number])

Citation

@article{Beylat2026Assimilation,
  author = {Beylat, Simon and Peylin, Philippe and Raoult, Nina M. and O’Sullivan, Michael and Berchet, Antoine and Chevallier, Frédéric and Rayner, Peter Julian},
  title = {Assimilation of Atmospheric CO 2 Concentration in the ORCHIDEE Land Surface Model: Exploring the Added Value of Explicit Forest Regrowth Representation},
  journal = {Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1029/2026ms005874},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2026ms005874}
}