Informing Robust Functional Relationship Benchmarks : An Evaluation of the Temperature Sensitivity of Ecosystem Respiration Across the Arctic-Boreal Region
(2026) In Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 131(5).- Abstract
During land model development, simulated carbon dynamics are often benchmarked against observational data sets to evaluate model performance. Functional relationship benchmarks are the relationship between a driving variable (e.g., temperature) and a response variable (e.g., ecosystem respiration) and are a promising tool for assessing model performance by evaluating modeled sensitivities to changing environmental conditions. However, observed functional relationships can be influenced by choices made during data collection and throughout the benchmarking process, impacting the inferred skill of land models. To avoid misrepresenting a model's true performance, it is necessary to systematically evaluate best practices when constructing... (More)
During land model development, simulated carbon dynamics are often benchmarked against observational data sets to evaluate model performance. Functional relationship benchmarks are the relationship between a driving variable (e.g., temperature) and a response variable (e.g., ecosystem respiration) and are a promising tool for assessing model performance by evaluating modeled sensitivities to changing environmental conditions. However, observed functional relationships can be influenced by choices made during data collection and throughout the benchmarking process, impacting the inferred skill of land models. To avoid misrepresenting a model's true performance, it is necessary to systematically evaluate best practices when constructing functional relationship benchmarks. We developed a set of guidelines for constructing functional relationship benchmarks, considering the choice of data set, number of daily observations, temporal extent, and temporal resolution across Alaska and Canada over a 20-year period from 2001 to 2020. The temperature sensitivity of ecosystem respiration from observations, evaluated through an apparent Q10, is highly variable both spatially and as a result of the data processing approach applied in the benchmark formation. When benchmarking 13 models from the Warming Permafrost Model Intercomparison Project (WrPMIP), the range in inferred model skill is substantially impacted by the choices applied in constructing functional relationship benchmarks. The inferred performance of a given model is most sensitive to the number of daily observations and temporal extent, followed by choice of benchmark data set and temporal averaging. Results from this analysis can guide the development of consistent and robust functional relationships for future model evaluation studies.
(Less)
- author
- Poe, Jeralyn
; Huntzinger, Deborah
; Riley, William J.
; Wells, Jon M.
; Schuur, Edward A.G.
; Schwalm, Christopher
; Berner, Logan T.
; Rodenhizer, Heidi
; Bouskill, Nicholas J.
; Brovkin, Victor
; Burke, Eleanor J.
; Ciais, Philippe
; Georgievski, Goran
; Gustafson, Adrian
LU
; Lawrence, David M.
; MacDougall, Andrew H.
; Mekonnen, Zelalem A.
; Melton, Joe R.
; Meyer, Gesa
; Pongracz, Alexandra
LU
; Qiu, Chunjing
; Sulman, Benjamin N.
; Swenson, Sean C.
; Tao, Jing
; Wårlind, David
LU
; Xi, Yi
; Yuan, Fengming
; Zhu, Qing
and Schädel, Christina
(Less) - organization
- publishing date
- 2026-05
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
- volume
- 131
- issue
- 5
- article number
- e2025JG009307
- publisher
- John Wiley & Sons Inc.
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105038356759
- ISSN
- 2169-8953
- DOI
- 10.1029/2025JG009307
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 9d7ccec0-9466-45db-9fd0-8403e1037903
- date added to LUP
- 2026-07-09 14:20:11
- date last changed
- 2026-07-09 14:21:01
@article{9d7ccec0-9466-45db-9fd0-8403e1037903,
abstract = {{<p>During land model development, simulated carbon dynamics are often benchmarked against observational data sets to evaluate model performance. Functional relationship benchmarks are the relationship between a driving variable (e.g., temperature) and a response variable (e.g., ecosystem respiration) and are a promising tool for assessing model performance by evaluating modeled sensitivities to changing environmental conditions. However, observed functional relationships can be influenced by choices made during data collection and throughout the benchmarking process, impacting the inferred skill of land models. To avoid misrepresenting a model's true performance, it is necessary to systematically evaluate best practices when constructing functional relationship benchmarks. We developed a set of guidelines for constructing functional relationship benchmarks, considering the choice of data set, number of daily observations, temporal extent, and temporal resolution across Alaska and Canada over a 20-year period from 2001 to 2020. The temperature sensitivity of ecosystem respiration from observations, evaluated through an apparent Q<sub>10</sub>, is highly variable both spatially and as a result of the data processing approach applied in the benchmark formation. When benchmarking 13 models from the Warming Permafrost Model Intercomparison Project (WrPMIP), the range in inferred model skill is substantially impacted by the choices applied in constructing functional relationship benchmarks. The inferred performance of a given model is most sensitive to the number of daily observations and temporal extent, followed by choice of benchmark data set and temporal averaging. Results from this analysis can guide the development of consistent and robust functional relationships for future model evaluation studies.</p>}},
author = {{Poe, Jeralyn and Huntzinger, Deborah and Riley, William J. and Wells, Jon M. and Schuur, Edward A.G. and Schwalm, Christopher and Berner, Logan T. and Rodenhizer, Heidi and Bouskill, Nicholas J. and Brovkin, Victor and Burke, Eleanor J. and Ciais, Philippe and Georgievski, Goran and Gustafson, Adrian and Lawrence, David M. and MacDougall, Andrew H. and Mekonnen, Zelalem A. and Melton, Joe R. and Meyer, Gesa and Pongracz, Alexandra and Qiu, Chunjing and Sulman, Benjamin N. and Swenson, Sean C. and Tao, Jing and Wårlind, David and Xi, Yi and Yuan, Fengming and Zhu, Qing and Schädel, Christina}},
issn = {{2169-8953}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{5}},
publisher = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
series = {{Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences}},
title = {{Informing Robust Functional Relationship Benchmarks : An Evaluation of the Temperature Sensitivity of Ecosystem Respiration Across the Arctic-Boreal Region}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2025JG009307}},
doi = {{10.1029/2025JG009307}},
volume = {{131}},
year = {{2026}},
}