Fu et al. (2026) Development and evaluation of the ECHAM6-iMAPLE v1.0 coupled atmosphere–ecosystem model

Identification

• Journal: Geoscientific model development
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-10-06
• Authors: Weijie Fu, Chenguang Tian, Yuan Zhao, Yihan Hu, Jingchao Huang, Haishan Chen, Xu Yue
• DOI: 10.5194/gmd-19-9395-2026

Research Groups

• State Key Laboratory of Climate System Prediction and Risk Management (CPRM), Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology (NUIST)
• Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education (KLME), Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters (CIC-FEMD), School of Atmospheric Sciences, NUIST

Short Summary

This study presents the development and evaluation of ECHAM6-iMAPLE v1.0, a coupled atmosphere-ecosystem model that integrates the interactive Model for Air Pollution and Land Ecosystems (iMAPLE) into the ECHAM6 atmospheric general circulation model. The new model improves simulations of gross primary productivity, evapotranspiration, and leaf area index compared to the original ECHAM6-JSBACH configuration.

Objective

• Investigate the interactions between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems using a coupled atmosphere-ecosystem model.
• Evaluate the performance of ECHAM6-iMAPLE in simulating key carbon and water fluxes compared to ECHAM6-JSBACH.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Global, with a horizontal resolution of approximately 1.875° in both latitude and longitude (T63 spectral grid).
• Temporal Scale: Daily, with hourly meteorological variables passed from ECHAM6 to iMAPLE at each coupling interval.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: ECHAM6 atmospheric general circulation model, coupled with the interactive Model for Air Pollution and Land Ecosystems (iMAPLE) v1.0.
• Data sources: Observational datasets from FLUXCOM, GLASS, and MERRA-2 reanalysis products.

Main Results

• ECHAM6-iMAPLE simulates a global annual total GPP of 126.9 Pg C yr−1, slightly higher than the FLUXCOM estimate.
• The new model exhibits improved performance in simulating LAI, with a higher spatial correlation (R = 0.86) and lower RMSE compared to ECHAM6-JSBACH.
• ECHAM6-iMAPLE effectively captures the seasonal cycles of terrestrial carbon and water fluxes, with annual peaks occurring during the vegetation growing season.

Contributions

• The development of ECHAM6-iMAPLE provides a more accurate representation of land-atmosphere interactions and their implications for future climate change projections.
• The new model offers improved simulations of key carbon and water fluxes compared to existing models, such as ECHAM6-JSBACH.

Funding

• This research was funded by the State Key Laboratory of Climate System Prediction and Risk Management (CPRM) and the Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters (CIC-FEMD).

Citation

@article{Fu2026Development,
  author = {Fu, Weijie and Tian, Chenguang and Zhao, Yuan and Hu, Yihan and Huang, Jingchao and Chen, Haishan and Yue, Xu},
  title = {Development and evaluation of the ECHAM6-iMAPLE v1.0 coupled atmosphere–ecosystem model},
  journal = {Geoscientific model development},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.5194/gmd-19-9395-2026},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-9395-2026}
}