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Plant phenology evaluation of CRESCENDO land surface models using satellite-derived Leaf Area Index - Part 2 : Seasonal trough, peak, and amplitude

Peano, Daniele ; Hemming, Deborah ; Delire, Christine ; Fan, Yuanchao ; Lee, Hanna ; Materia, Stefano ; Nabel, Julia E.M.S. ; Park, Taejin ; Wårlind, David LU orcid and Wiltshire, Andy , et al. (2025) In Biogeosciences 22(22). p.7117-7135
Abstract

Leaf area index is an important metric for characterising the structure of vegetation canopies and scaling up leaf and plant processes to assess their influence on regional and global climate. Earth observation estimates of leaf area index have increased in recent decades, providing a valuable resource for monitoring vegetation changes and evaluating their representation in land surface and earth system models. The study presented here uses satellite leaf area index products to quantify regional to global variations in the seasonal timing and value of the leaf area index trough, peak, and amplitude, and evaluate how well these variations are simulated by seven land surface models, which are the land components of state-of-the-art earth... (More)

Leaf area index is an important metric for characterising the structure of vegetation canopies and scaling up leaf and plant processes to assess their influence on regional and global climate. Earth observation estimates of leaf area index have increased in recent decades, providing a valuable resource for monitoring vegetation changes and evaluating their representation in land surface and earth system models. The study presented here uses satellite leaf area index products to quantify regional to global variations in the seasonal timing and value of the leaf area index trough, peak, and amplitude, and evaluate how well these variations are simulated by seven land surface models, which are the land components of state-of-the-art earth system models. Results show that the models simulate widespread delays, of up to 3 months, in the timing of leaf area index troughs and peaks compared to satellite products. These delays are most prominent across the Northern Hemisphere and support the findings of previous studies that have shown similar delays in the timing of spring leaf out simulated by some of these land surface models. The modelled seasonal amplitude differs by less than 1m2m-2 compared to the satellite-derived amplitude across more than half of the vegetated land area. This study highlights the relevance of vegetation phenology as an indicator of climate, hydrology, soil, and plant interactions, and the need for further improvements in the modelling of phenology in land surface models in order to capture the correct seasonal cycles, and potentially also the long-term trends, of carbon, water and energy within global earth system models.

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publishing date
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Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Biogeosciences
volume
22
issue
22
pages
19 pages
publisher
Copernicus GmbH
external identifiers
  • scopus:105022848687
ISSN
1726-4170
DOI
10.5194/bg-22-7117-2025
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2025 Daniele Peano et al.
id
9eee0d4d-729d-473a-8bde-b3dce5d9e68a
date added to LUP
2026-01-22 09:33:46
date last changed
2026-01-22 13:49:07
@article{9eee0d4d-729d-473a-8bde-b3dce5d9e68a,
  abstract     = {{<p>Leaf area index is an important metric for characterising the structure of vegetation canopies and scaling up leaf and plant processes to assess their influence on regional and global climate. Earth observation estimates of leaf area index have increased in recent decades, providing a valuable resource for monitoring vegetation changes and evaluating their representation in land surface and earth system models. The study presented here uses satellite leaf area index products to quantify regional to global variations in the seasonal timing and value of the leaf area index trough, peak, and amplitude, and evaluate how well these variations are simulated by seven land surface models, which are the land components of state-of-the-art earth system models. Results show that the models simulate widespread delays, of up to 3 months, in the timing of leaf area index troughs and peaks compared to satellite products. These delays are most prominent across the Northern Hemisphere and support the findings of previous studies that have shown similar delays in the timing of spring leaf out simulated by some of these land surface models. The modelled seasonal amplitude differs by less than 1m<sup>2</sup>m<sup>-2</sup> compared to the satellite-derived amplitude across more than half of the vegetated land area. This study highlights the relevance of vegetation phenology as an indicator of climate, hydrology, soil, and plant interactions, and the need for further improvements in the modelling of phenology in land surface models in order to capture the correct seasonal cycles, and potentially also the long-term trends, of carbon, water and energy within global earth system models.</p>}},
  author       = {{Peano, Daniele and Hemming, Deborah and Delire, Christine and Fan, Yuanchao and Lee, Hanna and Materia, Stefano and Nabel, Julia E.M.S. and Park, Taejin and Wårlind, David and Wiltshire, Andy and Zaehle, Sönke}},
  issn         = {{1726-4170}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  number       = {{22}},
  pages        = {{7117--7135}},
  publisher    = {{Copernicus GmbH}},
  series       = {{Biogeosciences}},
  title        = {{Plant phenology evaluation of CRESCENDO land surface models using satellite-derived Leaf Area Index - Part 2 : Seasonal trough, peak, and amplitude}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-7117-2025}},
  doi          = {{10.5194/bg-22-7117-2025}},
  volume       = {{22}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}