How to reconstruct aerosol-induced diffuse radiation scenario for simulating GPP in land surface models? An evaluation of reconstruction methods with ORCHIDEE_DFv1.0_DFforc

Abstract. The impact of diffuse radiation on photosynthesis has been widely documented in field measurements. This impact may have evolved over time during the last century due to changes in cloudiness, increased anthropogenic aerosol loads over polluted regions, and to sporadic volcanic eruptions curtaining the stratosphere with sulfate aerosols. The effects of those changes in diffuse light on large-scale photosynthesis (GPP) are difficult to quantify, and land surface models have been designed to simulate them. Investigating how anthropogenic aerosols have impacted GPP through diffuse light in those models requires carefully designed factorial simulations and a reconstruction of background diffuse light levels during the preindustrial period. Currently, it remains poorly understood how diffuse radiation reconstruction methods can affect GPP estimation and what fraction of GPP changes can be attributed to aerosols. In this study, we investigate different methods to reconstruct spatiotemporal distribution of the fraction of diffuse radiation (Fdf) under preindustrial aerosol emission conditions using a land surface model with a two-stream canopy light transmission scheme that resolves diffuse light effects on photosynthesis in a multi-layered canopy, ORCHIDEE_DF. We show that using a climatologically averaged monthly Fdf, as has been done by earlier studies, can bias the global GPP by up to 13 PgC yr −1 because this reconstruction method dampens the variability of Fdf and produces Fdf that is inconsistent with shortwave incoming surface radiation. In order to correctly simulate preindustrial GPP modulated by diffuse light, we thus recommend that the Fdf forcing field should be calculated consistently with synoptic, monthly, and inter-annual aerosol and cloud variability for preindustrial years. In the absence of aerosol and cloud data, alternative reconstructions need to retain the full variability in Fdf. Our results highlight the importance of keeping consistent Fdf and radiation for land surface models in future experimental designs that seek to investigate the impacts of diffuse radiation on GPP and other carbon fluxes.