Large-scale estimation and uncertainty analysis of gross primary production in Tibetan alpine grasslands

Abstract

Gross primary production (GPP) is an important parameter for carbon cycle and climate change research. Previous estimations of GPP on the Tibetan Plateau were usually reported without quantitative uncertainty analyses. This study sought to quantify the uncertainty and its partitioning in GPP estimation across Tibetan alpine grasslands during 2003-2008 with the modified Vegetation Photosynthesis Model (VPM). Monte Carlo analysis was used to provide a quantitative assessment of the uncertainty in model simulations, and Sobol' variance decomposition method was applied to determine the relative contribution of each source of uncertainty to the total uncertainty. The results showed that the modified VPM successfully reproduced the seasonal dynamics and magnitude of GPP of 10 flux tower sites on the plateau (R2=0.77-b0.95, pb