Publication Abstracts

Kiang et al. 2026, submitted

Kiang, N.Y., C.Y.J. Lui, L. Sohl, and S. Guzewich, 2026: A Köppen-Geiger tool for generating Earth System Model vegetation boundary conditions for alternative climates. Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr., submitted.

To use the Köppen-Geiger biome-climate classification scheme to provide a software tool for predicting maps of vegetation boundary conditions (VBCs) (soil and plant type cover fractions, canopy heights, annual maximum and monthly leaf area index) for Earth System Model (ESM) simulations of vegetation-atmosphere coupling in alternative climates.

A modern Köppen-Geiger biome map derived from observed mean monthly climatology (2001-2010) was used as a mask to characterize statistics of contemporaneous satellite-observed VBCs categorized into the 12 plant functional types (PFTs) of the Ent Terrestrial Biosphere Model. A lookup table of these VBCs was then constructed tabulating the mix of PFTs and their VBCs for each Köppen-Geiger class. For paleo-vegetation back to the Jurassic, additional algorithms were designed to modify the predicted modern VBCs, replacing grasses and deciduous trees with time-relevant cover types. To evaluate the efficacy of the lookup table and paleo-vegetation algorithms to generate alternative boundary conditions for different climates, we conducted both modern and Cretaceous climate simulations with the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies ESM ModelE-2.1 and its generalized planetary version$ Climate simulations for the modern, 2001-2010, using the lookup table-generated VBCs showed simulated climate to have no significant difference from using the original more detailed satellite-derived VBCs. For the Cretaceous Thermal Maximum, given a preliminary simulated climate having bare soil for the land surfaces, predicted maps of cover types largely capture the vegetation type patterns compared to fossil reconstructions, while reflecting a high latitude cold bias of the simulated climate.

Climate simulations demonstrate the efficacy of this Köppen-Geiger classification software tool for predicting broad VBCs for climate models given modern and alternative climates. The tool is made available to the community for future updates and studies with asynchronous vegetation-climate model coupling.

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BibTeX Citation

@unpublished{ki08300m,
  author={Kiang, N. Y. and Lui, C. Y. J. and Sohl, L. and Guzewich, S.},
  title={A Köppen-Geiger tool for generating Earth System Model vegetation boundary conditions for alternative climates},
  year={2026},
  journal={Global Ecology and Biogeography},
  note={Manuscript submitted for publication}
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - UNPB
ID  - ki08300m
AU  - Kiang, N. Y.
AU  - Lui, C. Y. J.
AU  - Sohl, L.
AU  - Guzewich, S.
PY  - 2026
TI  - A Köppen-Geiger tool for generating Earth System Model vegetation boundary conditions for alternative climates
JA  - Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr.
JO  - Global Ecology and Biogeography
ER  -

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