A New Scheme for Predicting Leaf Onset in Summer-Green Vegetation in the Northern Hemisphere

Abstract

AbstractA modified thermal time model (MTM) was developed to reproduce the leaf onset for summer-green vegetation in the Northern Hemisphere. The model adopts the basic concept of a thermal time model (TM) in that leaf onset is primarily triggered by growing degree days (GDD). Based on global phenology data derived from satellite observations, a new parameterization for the critical model parameter Tb (i.e., baseline temperature for GDD calculation) has been introduced, and the spatial distribution of Tb was calculated. Simulations of leaf onset during 1982–2000 in the range 30–90°N showed a significant improvement of MTM over the standard TM model with constant Tb. The mean error and mean absolute error of the climatological simulation were 1.11 and 6.8 days, respectively, and 90% of the model error (5th and 95th percentiles) was between −12.4 and 13.7 days.