Wang et al. (2026) Evaluation of daily gridded climate products using in situ FLUXNET data and tree growth modeling

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Environmental Research Letters
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-01-14
• Authors: Feng Wang, Erika Wise, Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Qing Chang, Matthew P. Dannenberg
• DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ae384b

Research Groups

Not explicitly mentioned in the abstract.

Short Summary

This study evaluates seven high-resolution daily gridded climate datasets across the contiguous United States using independent FLUXNET2015 data, focusing on their implications for process-based tree growth modeling. It finds that while gridded products accurately capture temperature, they consistently overestimate precipitation, leading to biases in modeled xylem production, though interannual tree ring variability remains insensitive to dataset choice.

Objective

• To evaluate the accuracy of seven high-resolution daily gridded climate datasets covering the contiguous United States using independent FLUXNET2015 meteorological data.
• To assess the implications of gridded climate dataset choice for process-based tree growth modeling, specifically regarding temperature, precipitation, and modeled xylem cell production.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Contiguous United States.
• Temporal Scale: Daily (for gridded datasets and FLUXNET2015 observations); interannual variability (for tree ring simulations); accumulated growth over several months.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Process-based tree growth model (specific model not named); tree ring simulations; xylem cell production model.
• Data sources: Seven high-resolution daily gridded climate datasets; FLUXNET2015 dataset (independent meteorological observations).

Main Results

• Gridded climate products accurately capture temperature but consistently overestimate the magnitude and frequency of precipitation and its extremes.
• The definition of a 'day' varies among datasets, significantly affecting temporal alignment with FLUXNET2015 observations.
• Interannual variability in tree ring simulations is insensitive to the choice of gridded climate dataset, likely due to daily-scale biases averaging out over several months of accumulated growth.
• Inaccuracies in temperature and precipitation significantly bias modeled xylem cell production, with systematically higher annual precipitation in gridded datasets leading to greater xylem production compared to simulations using in situ data.

Contributions

• Provides a comprehensive evaluation of multiple high-resolution daily gridded climate datasets against independent FLUXNET2015 data, highlighting specific biases in temperature and precipitation.
• Quantifies the sensitivity of process-based tree growth modeling outcomes (tree ring interannual variability, xylem cell production) to the choice of gridded climate dataset.
• Offers guidance for model applications, suggesting that those integrating to time scales longer than one day may be insensitive to dataset choice, while applications sensitive to daily variations or absolute climate values require careful consideration of gridded product biases.

Funding

Not mentioned in the abstract.

Citation

@article{Wang2026Evaluation,
  author = {Wang, Feng and Wise, Erika and Anchukaitis, Kevin J. and Chang, Qing and Dannenberg, Matthew P.},
  title = {Evaluation of daily gridded climate products using <i>in situ</i> FLUXNET data and tree growth modeling},
  journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/ae384b},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae384b}
}