Modelling tools
Here are some of the modelling tools used in the Carbon Cycle group:
JSBACH
JSBACH is a process-based land surface model that simulates carbon, water and energy exchanges between the surface and the atmosphere. It can be applied at scales ranging from site level to global. JSBACH can be driven by different climate scenarios, and various management practices can be represented in the simulations. In our group, JSBACH is used to study carbon balances of urban green spaces, and to assess how different forest management practises affect carbon and energy budgets. JSBACH was originally developed at the Max-Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany.
Contact: Leif Backman
YASSO
FMI hosts the development of the Yasso (Yet Another Simulator of Soil Organic matter) soil carbon model. Our groupuses it to investigate simulating carbon balances of Finnish croplands on national and regional scales. Yasso also forms the soil carbon component in the JSBACH, CARBS and SPY-C models.
Contact: Julius Vira
CARBS
CARBS (Carbon Balances and Stocks) is a data fusion package for estimating annual soil carbon balances in croplands. It uses Bayesian inference to integrate satellite and in-situ data into the Yasso soil carbon model to produce physically consistent soil carbon stock estimates that are simultaneously constrained by multiple data streams. With suitable inputs, CARBS can estimate carbon stocks and balances for both individual fields and larger regions.
Contact: Julius Vira
QUINCY
QUINCY is a process‑based land surface and ecosystem model that simulates the coupled cycles of carbon, nitrogen, water, and energy in terrestrial ecosystems. It explicitly represents plant physiology, biogeochemical processes, and nutrient limitations. The model is particularly used to study vegetation dynamics, productivity, and feedbacks between the biosphere and climate with a strong emphasis on nutrient constraints on carbon uptake.
Contact: Tea Thum
SPY-C
SPY‑C is a process‑based soil–plant–atmosphere model designed to simulate the coupled dynamics of carbon, water, and plant functioning in ecosystems. It integrates key processes such as photosynthesis, plant hydraulics, soil water balance, carbon allocation, and soil organic matter decomposition into a single framework. The model links these components to represent how environmental conditions regulate plant productivity, water use, and carbon cycling in a physically and biologically consistent way.
Contact: Hui Tang
LPJ-GUESS
LPJ-GUESS is a process-based dynamic vegetation model that simulates vegetation composition, ecosystem structure, and carbon and water cycling in response to climate, atmospheric CO₂, land use, and management. The model represents vegetation using plant functional types and simulates processes such as photosynthesis, respiration, allocation, establishment, mortality, and competition. LPJ-GUESS is widely used to study how vegetation and terrestrial carbon balances respond to climate change, land-use change, and forest management. LPJ-GUESS was originally developed at Lund University in collaboration with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry.
Contact: Juha Leskinen
LDNDC
Landscape DeNitrification-DeComposition (LDNDC) model is a process-based model that simulates the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, water.. In our group, it is used to simulate arable land, including agricultural peatlands
Contact: Julius Vira
Emulators
Emulators are simplified, computationally efficient models designed to represent key land-atmosphere interactions, especially carbon sequestration, in different urban vegetation types and in agricultural fields. The emulators build on well-tested process representations from models such as JSBACH and LDNDC. They enable simulations across multiple spatial scales in a user-friendly manner, making them well suited for applications that require rapid and accessible assessments.
Contact: Leif Backman and Julius Vira
CTSM-FATES
CTSM (the Community Terrestrial Systems Model, a global land model) and the module FATES (Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator) implements an ecosystem demography concept into a vegetation cohort model of competition and co-existence. In our group, it is used to develop processes and parameters for arctic PFTs, and potentially for crops.
Contact: Hui Tang
