Effect of the Partitioning of Diffuse and Direct APAR on GPP Estimation

Abstract

Accurate estimation of gross primary productivity (GPP) is necessary to better understand the interaction of global terrestrial ecosystems with climate change and human activities. Light use efficiency (LUE)-based GPP models are widely used for retrieving several GPP products with various temporal and spatial resolutions. However, most LUE-based models assume a clear-sky condition, and the influence of diffuse radiation on GPP estimations has not been well considered. In this paper, a diffuse and direct (DDA) absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (APAR)-based method is proposed for better estimation of half-hourly GPP, which partitions APAR under diffuse and direct radiation conditions. Firstly, energy balance residual (EBR) FAPAR, moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) leaf area index (LAI) (MCD15A2H) and clumping index (CI) products, as well as solar radiation records supplied by FLUXNET2015 were used to calculate diffuse and direct APAR at a half-hourly scale. Then, an eddy covariance-LUE (EC-LUE) model and meteorological observations from FLUXNET2015 data sets were used for obtaining corresponding LUE values. A co-variation relationship between LUE and diffuse fraction was observed, and the LUE was higher under more diffuse radiation conditions. Finally, the DDA-based method was tested using the half-hourly FLUXNET GPP and compared with half-hourly GPP calculated using total APAR (GPP_TA). The results indicated that the half-hourly GPP estimated using the DDA-based method (GPP_DDA) was more accurate, giving higher R2 values, lower RMSE and RMSE* values (R2 varied from 0.565 to 0.682, RMSE ranged from 3.219 to 12.405 and RMSE* were within the range of 2.785 to 8.395) than the GPP_TA (R2 varied from 0.558 to 0.653, RMSE ranged from 3.407 to 13.081 and RMSE* were within the range of 3.321 to 9.625) across FLUXNET sites within different vegetation types. This study explored the effects of partitioning the diffuse and direct APAR on half-hourly GPP estimations, which demonstrates a higher agreement with FLUXNET GPP than total APAR-based GPP.